I've been asked to take pictures at a wedding

As a "serious" amateur photographer, I was asked to do a friend's (rather grand) wedding after the "pro" let them down.
I'll give you the befit of my mistakes;

I used digital (Nikon D70, 17-55mm zoom)AND film bodies (Mamiya 7 medium-format, 105mm and 65mm primes). Two tripod, two flash systems, two cable releases. TOO STRESSFUL. As a result of trying to keep the guests posed while I ran between cameras (and changed films), my composition and basic framing was all over the place.
Funnily enough, the newly-weds picked all their album shots from the medium-format proofs, even though the focusing on some was a bit soft due to my haste with the range-finder.
I would NEVER do a wedding with two camera systems again. I'd use a digital SLR with a spare body if available. They wouldn't notice the lack of MF proofs if they never saw them in the first place.
I bought the good quality Nikon zoom specially and it was excellent, and really all I needed.

One of my Speedlights (flashes) failed at a critical moment, despite fresh batteries and being tested that morning. Luckily I had a spare. I think a good flash (and knowing how it will work in different lighting situations) is essential.

I could have taken more shots immediately before and after the ceremony, and fewer at the reception.

The relatives liked the formal group shots, the bride and groom liked the informal fun shots. i would have taken more spontaneous shots if I had stuck to one camera.

I did panic buy a book, and think it relieved my stress a bit, but didn't produce much else apart from a written list in my pocket of shots I meant to take on the day (helpful).

Peak Imaging is my favourite lab, and they were great.

I still haven't got over it really. Good luck.

John
you are there to work and that may well mean having to order a few people about so order them about, guests on the other hand are there to have a good time and to suffer a prod from the photographer every now and then. Stay off the booze until the end of the day.

Here's the best advice I can offer, based on being a keen photographer, having sold stuff to magazines, and having run branches of Jessops and served my time at the late great Fox Talbot stores.



DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!

This is an in-law... if you cock it up in the slightest of ways you will never ever ever hear the end of it.

If you do this, then every person there will know about it and you'll never go to another wedding without getting pressganged... your life will be all but over and your naim system will lose all its' PR&T

Ok, so I lied about the last bit, but I'm trying to help you avoid digging a very large hole, and saving some other poor enthusiastic photgrapher from a fate I once suffered.

My only way out was to sell my SLR's!!!!

I did two weddings kind of off the cuff, you don't need to do a lot regarding photos, set the damn thing to 'P' and get on with it.

You want a decent flash though, and above all else you need to be confident. Because you need to order people around to get into the correct groups for the photo. thats the main part.

NO do NOT do this. Downsides are too steep. My mate is a pro photographer and refuses to do "prime" shots for weddings.

Howard

I tend to agree with the "don't do it" from Mike. I was coerced into doing my brother-in-laws wedding shoot. "don't worry, its low key, not too stuffy, just click away & we'll be happy". Yeah, bloody right! Then the various family members get stuck in. I'd like a shot with these 5 people but not those 3 people, Yeah, & I'd like one of them blah blah blah. Plus it was november, so not much natural light at 3pm, & it was raining, so all shots indoors.
So fwiw, make it crystal clear to all involved that its their choice to choose an amateur, not a pro. Set out a list of shots they particularly want in advance with them, & use it on the day. IE one of the 2 of them, then add the bridesmaids, then the parents, then add the rest of the family, then friends, then a group shot.Only then do the special requests from the guests.
A wide angle lens for the group shots, maybe a tripod ( it gives you authority over the happy-snappers) & as much light as you can.
Get a timetable sorted in advance, write it down & stick to it.
If the video guy, caterers or anyone else hassles you or gets in your way, tell 'em to sod off.
Get them to buy a load of disposable cameras to leave on the tables for anyone to use, collect them at the end of the night & use them for the casual shots. Collate the shots into an album, & don't apologise for anything that doesn't come out right, 'cos it was their idea!
matt

If you do do it, it can sometimes help to do the group shots starting with everybody, then peel of the redundant groups to eventually you are left with the bride, this way you do not have to keep rounding people up. All you are doing is getting rid of people. Be aware of split families and second spouses, get a protocol agreed to so that the divorce proceedings are not rerun for them<g>

Do not take too long to do the pics after the ceremony most peopple want to get to the reception to chat and feed and drink.

Also it helps to have a stage manager that will arrange people, the way the dresses hang and position etc - so a forceful tactful personis needed who understands what you are trying to do.
Remember to check for embarrasing dress /clothes etc - ie unzipped flies, straps etc etc and worse,

If you use flash get hold of a bounce flash device - eg a Lumiquest device - this will soften the light and further help reduce the tendency for red eye. However it will reduce the light by a few stops.

The most challenging picture to get the exposure correct on is a person in a dark suit an a nother in a white dress - the dynamic range challenges mot recording medium. The cake shot can also be a bit of an exposure challenge.

If you can take an inkjet printer along print out a few A4 size images - stick them on a mount and get the guests to sign the mount during the meal/reception.

You can always replace the print with a "good" print later when you have Photoshopped the image.


But the best advice is to offer only to take a few background pictures -

Once you have taken the pics you are then stuck with circ ing the prints, taking orders, getting the prints made, mounting them in albums etc etc.

Remember pro's will charge multiple thousands for a wedding package.

Excatly and presumably your family wants yo to do it for nothing, so don't stress about it, I had a great time, I put both to a DVD with the originals on and gave them to the couple who were delighted.

Thank-you for the advice. I am doing this for nothing, so I'm not going to get too stressed about it.
John

Oh yes, I forgot, the bloody bride will probably blink in most of the critical shots without you noticing, so take two or more of each.

The "I'm doing it for nothing" line won't save you from stress on the day. I guess we all did it without payment.

I was given a tip by a wedding photographer yesterday re the bride (or any one else) blinking

Get the group to close their eyes and on the count of three or what ever get them to open their eyes - then take the picture

however smiling or looking cheerful with the eyes closed and not losing their smile when they open the eyes might be a challenge!

When I am at weddings I just fire the camera off all the time, the pictures that pleased the happy couple the most were the ones that captured the mood of the day, not straight laced eyes open types of shots.

Again I would say don't worry about it. Just tell them that you will do your best and organise the groups. Its not matter at the end of the day because everyone is a budding photographer and at the end of the day there will be hundreds of shots (I also organised people to send me their shots for organising onto a disk)

If you do do it, then you need to play around a bit before you do any external daytime shots to get the fill in flash balanced nicely and understand how that works. Without the results can look flat. Not so much of a problem for the evening/indoor shots.

I did it once many years ago and the results were just what my friends wanted - more by luck than judgement! And that was on my old Pentax ME Super! 26 years old and still going strong. Proper flat earth photography ... I wonder if I'll be able to say that about my EOS 20D in 2030!

One useful thing I've found ... Photoshop, and I presume others, have a "curve" feature which can remedy some seriously underexposed-by-flash pictures.

Duncan

One of your photos is likely to hang fading on some granny's wall for the next 30 years. You owe it to her to do it properly.

My advice would be, as most have already said, don't do it. People will be very fussy once the event has passed and question why you didn't photograph him/her, aren't the colours awful, aren't they dark, etc...

If you're absolutely sure you can handle it, I would advise leaving the 18-55mm lens on all the time.

If you haven't already, I would also practise using your flash in fill-in mode. A very good way to practise a wedding is to ask your partner to stand in many different places in your house whilst you take a picture. Place her with window light from behind, in front and from the side. Take these shots with bounce and without, as you might not have the ceiling to bounce from. Take her outside and do the same (with sun & without). Do not allow yourself more than 15 secs on each shot and see how you cope. This might sound a bit crazy but try it. It will teach you a lot.

It raises concern with me when you mention using a camera with image stabilisation indoors for a wedding!

Take a tripod.

Take loads and loads and loads of shots. Some will be out of focus and some will have people blinking. You can easily swap heads from shot to shot.

This guy is a wedding photographer who has recently started a photography blog. I don't seem to have a link to it and don't have time to look but here's his political blog: http://www.pootergeek.com/

hi John

practice makes perfect?
why not get some practice beforehand? go hang out at a registry office around 10am. tell them you need some practice, would they be happy for you to snap away, and you'll give them a DVD of the images afterwards?

make life easy and fun
I'd agree a *very small* list of must-have photos with the bride and groom, and have them on an A5 or smaller. have them enlist the bridesmaid (one or two of them) to corral the people for you, and get em out of the way *fast*. you can concentrate on the snapping. with those shots out of the way the pressure's off you... then it's all about breezing around and grabbing candids; if people respond favourably on your approaches, you'll likely get some nice poses as well. it's surprsing how stiff folk can be at a wedding in front of the camera - your confidence and friendly charm is all part of putting people at ease before you. Under these circumstances, I wouldn't use a tripod - too slow, too imposing. if people hassle you, point to someone more serious looking with a camera and say "I'm just doing the fun shots - that lady over there is the official photographer".

harness available light:

• Suggest you consider the canon 50mm f1.8 lens also. They're inexpensive, sharp, fast (good in low light), nice bokeh... and at 70mm equivalent, flatten towards the short end of portrait lens. you have to zoom with your feet though. f1.8 is probably worth something like a couple of stops to you. I've a 50 1.8 on my nikon D70, have terrific fun with it.
  
  
• possibly a portable fold-up reflector disc as well - they're very useful, and can slip into your pocket or bag easily.
  
  
• ... or nuke your own
  are you going to use flash? the modern highspeed flashes can deliver stunning results - very popular with the canon fraternity is this one. I'd pretty much stick to the camera-brand flash after buying "an equivalent" years ago for an earlier Nikon, and finding it just wasn't up to the 'real deal'. As Derek mentioned, a diffuser is a good idea. You can make your own very easily - plenty of info on the web. other thing with flash is to consider a bar - gets the flash unit off-axis from the lens, for generally better portraiture results.

talk to friends who've done it successfully before
and (of course) the most important thing, make a date with vuk where you can get on the end of a phone together with salted crackers and freeze-cooled vodka, spend an hour or two talking photography. you may end up with a 50's industro-russian rangefinder and film; you'll be bound to get some good info and technique to try. Also talk to Matthew & Jawed - they've done some lovely candid wedding photos before and are both rather accomplished photographers.

don't forget...
Make sure you've got plenty of memory cards, spare battys for the flash, and spare camera battery if you're likely to run out. something to wipe cake or lippy off your lens.

enjoy!
whatever kit you assemble together, do get familiar with it beforehand. esp a flash. the camera's exposure system will do plenty for you on it's own, allowing you to relax about the technical quality and concentrate on the composition and people. having a job to do at a wedding can be a job; best to turn it in to as much fun as possible. the more relaxed you are, the more relaxed your subjects.

cheers!

Rico,
Thank-you, that was exactly the kind of detailed advice I was looking for.
John

John - you're welcome mate.

something I forgot to mention - if you are going the 'nuke your own' route with the flash (built in or the 430EX), be sure to try rear-curtain slow sync - I've just been learning this myself. much more natural exposure, detail in the shadows etc. The mistake most folk make is just blasting with the built-in flash, and printing lab lightens up the background; result looks terrible.

HTH

PS - build-it-yourself diffusers can be very simple affairs like this one built from a 35mm film capsule

You've had some great tips through this thread.

A couple of suggestions, which hopefully won't overlap too much with the above:

- decide what mode you are going to use and stick rigidly with it.
- Practice, practice, practice with that mode until everything is completely second nature and you don't have to think about it.
- On the day, make sure you check your camera frequently to make sure all settings are as you want them - not all cameras have lockable settings and with the hussle bustle, aperture rings move round, focus point in the display, the programme mode becomes aperture priority, etc - you don't want to find this out after the event! Easily missed.
- Your poor indoor results indicate that you may need a more powerful flash. If you are getting a new one, make sure it has auto exposure and auto zoom. And again, familiarisation is vital.
- With regard to your zoom lense, assuming you are sticking with what you have, I would recommend you try to limit the zoom action and restrict yourself to a few focal lengths if possible. This will help achieve a much more consistant set of photos in relation to the perspective. Use your feet for other zooming!
- Spare batteries and memory cards are mandatory.
- I would be tempted to take a spare uv filter if you have one to provide an instant clean lense should a greasy finger land in the wrong place.
- I'd recommend a tripod for the formal shots - it just gives you a greater opportunity to make sure you have the camera level and everyone in the shot without trees appearing to grow out of their heads, etc!
- I presume some other muggins is lined up to take the video?!!
- Rather you than me! Good luck.

Peter

quote:

I'd recommend a tripod for the formal shots - it just gives you a greater opportunity to make sure you have the camera level and everyone in the shot without trees appearing to grow out of their heads, etc!

This may we help to show that you are indeed a "real" photographer and with any luck it might also slow things down a bit and allow you push and pull punters into position for those sightly more fomal posed group shots.

Hey John - how did you get on?

best

Rico

Better yet, show us some snaps.

Calling John.... you've not taken off with the bridesmaid(s) have you?

looking forward to hearing of/seeing the results.

Rico

No...he eloped with the bride. Poor groom waited over an hour for the bride at the alter. They were last spotted in Rio.
Can't wait to see the photos...