If you were to offer one piece of advice to someone who is new to shooting weddings, what would it be?
It turns out that I will be doing my first wedding in August. This is a "pro bono" thing for my hubby's cousin, so it's not precisely a "paid" gig (they are paying our travel expenses and that's about it). They know that I'm not a "pro" and that I don't have a lot of the toys a pro would bring, and they're good with that...however, I would like to do a good job on this!
My camera gear consists of an older (2009ish) Canon Rebel with two zoom lenses (one little, one big) and a macro lens and my tripod. Nothing fancy, just the basics (usually enough to get me where I need to go, photographically). I have a couple basic editing programs (they are the ones that came with my camera, but, again, they get me where I need to go). I also have a big piece of white foam core that I haul around in the car trunk to use as a reflector, lol, but might buy a real reflector before this event...
So what advice--practical, technical, or organizational--can you throw my way, 365ers?
That aside, take plenty of memory cards, batteries and if possible a spare camera.
Other advice includes "get to know your kit inside and out" for when you hit that sticky situation that needs quick thinking and finger / dial work.
I also researched where the wedding was going to take place beforehand so I knew what the pitfalls might be and where the best backgrounds for shots might be.
My son did the photography for my daughter's wedding. He hired a couple of specific lenses and took our insurance (just in case!) He visited the venue the day before to check out some good places for taking shots. Something that should have been done but unfortunately wasn't was a list of groups that the happy couple would like photos of. Some family members weren't included in the final photos :oS
When I got married many moons ago, we had two friends take pictures. Both had good equipment but were not "professional" in any sense of the word. But they gave us the pictures for their wedding gifts so it was great. Got some wonderful photos -- having two got a lot of different photos and that was great. When my sister got married a few years later, she put a "throwaway" camera on each table to get even more reception shots. Not quite sure that the cost of developing was worth it (I went through all of them when I scrapped her wedding album) but among the stupid shots (and a lot of adorable pictures of my son, then just a few months old -- and none taken by me), were some gems. But nowadays everyone has a smart phone and is taking pictures -- maybe set up a place where smartphone pictures could be uploaded and shared-- or make a point of gettting to everyone's facebook page and downloading them....just a couple of thoughts to cover all bases.
I would suggest the obvious...have a backup camera and plenty of batteries and SD cards. If you take photos before the wedding, be sure to change to new batteries in both camera and flash.
But the BEST advice I can give you is to do your homework ahead of time. When I shot my first wedding I was so nervous about poses that I spent several hours looking at poses. But I'm human, and I knew my memory would fade under pressure. So, what I did, and my husband thought it was brilliant, was to prepare pose cards with thumbnail pictures of the poses I liked and that the bride liked. Each card held about 10-20 thumbnail poses (front and back). I had a card for bride, groom, bride & groom, bride & bridesmaids, groom & groomsmen, bridal party, and family. The nice thing about it was that I could show the bride or the group the pose I was shooting for and they immediately knew my vision. This made things go so smoothly. We had so much fun because the stress level dropped immensely.
Scouting out the venue ahead of time and attending the rehearsal will also give you a better handle on things than if you just walk in and try to figure things out while people are watching you and the pressure is on.
Check out pinterest for some ideas and scope out the venue early!! Consider things like sunrise and sunsets (where will the sun be in your shots - what time will it be dark...)
@mace508 Mace, i would advise rent (or upgrage) to a pro lens with f2.8 aperture, shoot Raw and upgrade your software, forget the tripod and reflector, use bounce flash, and if in doubt just shoot Auto. Have fun and good luck on your shoot!
Having never shot a wedding I'm not sure how qualified my advice is (although I've taken plenty of photos at weddings and been disappointed with my camera's performance) … but I would definitely look into a lens with bigger aperture and/or a speedlite so you can bounce flash. You are sure to get some tricky lighting situations (especially if it's in a church/any kind of building/you are wanting to take photos after dark) and if your kit is anything like my 450D (also 2009) with my two kit lenses, it probably won't fare so well in these situations. The pop-up flash will look awful :)
@dejongdd@mace508 I will be doing a wedding on March 15th so this was helpful (my 2nd wedding). I am looking at a lot of shots, video's etc. I LOVE the post card (I'll use index cards) idea. I know I won't remember all those ideals I've seen. Today, I saw the church, it is called "the big red church" Milwaukee Wisconsin and you can see the facility. It is a cool building, the lighting is ok, I think the photos will look rather yellow (like the few I took today so I will use a grey card and of course shoot in the RAW
@steampowered LOL, I have to agree with you Paul, but if you insist.... try to keep it natural, get a list of "must have" family shots, and get these out of the way asap. Make sure you have enough light to shoot the bridal party if they want a particular location. No matter what you plan for, you will end up having to play it by ear 'cos things will always go wrong. Oh, take a few big black umbrellas in case it rains - rainy shots can look amazing, and you can't plan for that!
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That aside, take plenty of memory cards, batteries and if possible a spare camera.
Other advice includes "get to know your kit inside and out" for when you hit that sticky situation that needs quick thinking and finger / dial work.
I also researched where the wedding was going to take place beforehand so I knew what the pitfalls might be and where the best backgrounds for shots might be.
My first bit of advice still stands though! :o))
2 ) Buy a 50mm f1.8 lens and practise, practise, practise with it! This lens is cheap to buy and could be your best friend!
3) Shoot RAW and learn how to edit it. A copy of Adobe Lightroom will do the trick and won't cost you a fortune!
4) Practise shooting and posing people, you only get one chance on the day! Be prepared!
But the BEST advice I can give you is to do your homework ahead of time. When I shot my first wedding I was so nervous about poses that I spent several hours looking at poses. But I'm human, and I knew my memory would fade under pressure. So, what I did, and my husband thought it was brilliant, was to prepare pose cards with thumbnail pictures of the poses I liked and that the bride liked. Each card held about 10-20 thumbnail poses (front and back). I had a card for bride, groom, bride & groom, bride & bridesmaids, groom & groomsmen, bridal party, and family. The nice thing about it was that I could show the bride or the group the pose I was shooting for and they immediately knew my vision. This made things go so smoothly. We had so much fun because the stress level dropped immensely.
Scouting out the venue ahead of time and attending the rehearsal will also give you a better handle on things than if you just walk in and try to figure things out while people are watching you and the pressure is on.