Wedding photo help?

[Tlee05]

I was thinking to my self i could do some free wedding shoots to understand the movement of it all and build a portfilio , How did you get in to wedding photography any tips?

Also

Is it posible to do a wedding with a 300d and a 50mm 1.4 lense?.. :)

[NGrinerPhoto]

i think the best way is to start as an assistant. that's what i did and i am sure you will find many other wedding pros out there that did the same.

[Tlee05]

oh ok, i just thought of this idea it was because one of my friends is going to film weddings and was wondering if i wanted to help, as part of the package they could chuck in photographs (wedding ablum) too,

[tim]

You have to take it seriously, it sounds like you have a very caviler attitude to it. Wedding photography's hard, both physically, mentally, and skill wise. You have to have backup equipment, you have to be able to work your equipment blindfolded (except the viewfinder ;) ), and you need skills in people, posing, and business.

Get a job as an apprentice to learn the basics.

[Tlee05]

thanks guys, for your input :D, i been looking for a job as a apprentice for awhile now, have not came across any yet its quite sad, :( apart from one was was about 2-3 or more hours away.

[tim]

I started by reading 3 or 4 wedding photography books, reading posing books, spending days reading stuff on the web and on fredmiranda.com, and practicing as much as possible. I prepared for 3 months before my first wedding, did one for a friend of a friend, and went on from there.

[Tlee05]

cheers tim,.. there would be 3 of us in the group, all set on different parts of the bussiness, it wont kick off till next year we been thinking about it for awhile, and been drawing out plans etc, we will be shooting for free an ways for a few of them getting to grips lol 3rd camera man? also do some friends family weddings too like you said :) etc, i have been researching it but as the idea has came through even more i thought i would ask about it on here, also the 300D cant go up to full size A3 if they asked for a certian image to get enlarged i would not be able to do it?, so would it be best to invest in to a camera like 20D/350D then the 300D would act as backup? cheers for the site tim looking in to it now :D

[tim]

I have images from my 300D printed at 20x30 inches, they look great so long as you don't stand too close. The 300D's too slow for wedding photography IMHO, get a 20D and use the 300D as a backup. Doing a few for free is a good idea.

[cmM]

Is it posible to do a wedding with a 300d and a 50mm 1.4 lense?.. :)
Sure you can, but all your shots will look similar... I'd suggest you diversify a little, get a wide angle lens or something.

Also, kind of hard to take group shots with a 50mm lens.

[tim]

Is it posible to do a wedding with a 300d and a 50mm 1.4 lense?.. :)

Didn't notice this question before...

You could probably manage it, but like cmM said it'd probably look boring. At the wedding I did last weekend I used my 12-24 quite a bit, my 28-75 a lot, my 70-200 quite a bit, my 100mm macro for cake/ring shots, and my 50mm F1.4 for narrow DOF cake shots. I could've gotten by with only the wide, the tamron, and the 50mm f1.4, but i'd lose something by giving up the other three lenses. For some of the formals i'd shoot with the tamron for a wide shot, then the 70-200 @ 200mm for a closeup shot, both were across a small lake.

[Tlee05]

Thanks guys as you know tim your talk about the 12-24 has made me want it even more each day, hopefully i will have it soon,

so this would be my basic list going in to photography on weddings,
12-24 tamron
50mm f1.4
and... a lense what people hate or love the (lense baby), :D
+ 430ex flash + Omnibounce Light Diffuser

the 20d will be a bit hard to save up for thats one problem but i do have a few month's, so i need about £1.6-8k *faints* hehe,

you spoke about marco too i was thinking of the 180mm macro,

[tim]

180mm macro will likely be too long for weddings, you could get away with a 60mm but I like the 100mm for versatility. The 12-24 is a Tokina. The 50mm F1.4 is optional to me. The most useful is the 28-75 or 24-70 range lens, I use that for 80% of my shots. Don't forget to get a backup flash. The omnibounce is only really useful when you're inside bouncing the flash, I tend to use a small softbox on my flash instead. I don't ever use my omnibounce actually. Don't forget a flash bracket.

[Tlee05]

28-75 would be more likely the one i would buy as its cheaper :D

oh yeh a flashbracket silly me

cheers tim for your help! and NGrinerPhoto and cmM :D

[tim]

It's a serious investment to get all the gear you need for wedding photography, I can't estimate exactly how much i've spent but it's probably US$7K+. Don't forget you may want strobes sometimes too.

[Tlee05]

Wow how many jobs would you say you get a week or is it more part time work?,

[tim]

Wow how many jobs would you say you get a week or is it more part time work?,

Weddings only tend to happen on weekends here, i'm only new to it, I only accept 2 per month because the post processing time is quite significant.

Also, I should add that you could succesfully do a wedding with one 20D, a 28-135 lens, and a single 420EX flash. I wouldn't, but it's possible, and i'm sure there are quite a few people who do. The photographer's more important than the equipment, but backups are important.

[Tlee05]

Thanks Tim, for the input once again :D, il look in too it,

[Shekinah]

I have images from my 300D printed at 20x30 inches, they look great so long as you don't stand too close. The 300D's too slow for wedding photography IMHO, get a 20D and use the 300D as a backup. Doing a few for free is a good idea.

I looked at your photo gallery, lots of great shots BUT what lens were you using like with the macro shots?? What lens with the landscape shots???

[tim]

I looked at your photo gallery, lots of great shots BUT what lens were you using like with the macro shots?? What lens with the landscape shots???

Click the little i over each photo to see exif data. If it says 100mm, I used my Canon 100mm F2.8 macro. If it says between 28 and 75mm, it was my tamron 28-75, or there's a small chance it was the 50mm F1.4 (very small chance in that gallery). For landscapes I used my Tamron until I recently got my Tokina 12-24.

I keep my commercial photography site separate from my personal site, PM me if you'd like to see my commercial site.

[Shekinah]

Click the little i over each photo to see exif data. If it says 100mm, I used my Canon 100mm F2.8 macro. If it says between 28 and 75mm, it was my tamron 28-75, or there's a small chance it was the 50mm F1.4 (very small chance in that gallery). For landscapes I used my Tamron until I recently got my Tokina 12-24.

I keep my commercial photography site separate from my personal site, PM me if you'd like to see my commercial site.

Silly me!!! I got it, I went back and had another look, I found the information I wanted, now I know what lens you used. Thank you so much for that, I appreciate you sharing with us all of your lovely photos!! Keep up the good work.

[tim]

Silly me!!! I got it, I went back and had another look, I found the information I wanted, now I know what lens you used. Thank you so much for that, I appreciate you sharing with us all of your lovely photos!! Keep up the good work.

Thanks :) Actually I consider those photos to be good, but not great, I just have to get some time off doing paid work so I can take some cool photos again! This weekend I should have some time to wander around :)

[Harry Settle]

I read a pretty good dissertation from "Dragonfly" over at the FM site, I believe he said it's on his website as well. You should look it up.

[Tribug]

I think you mean this? http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=112304

Someone posted it below,,lol.

[jj1987]

It's a serious investment to get all the gear you need for wedding photography, I can't estimate exactly how much i've spent but it's probably US$7K+. Don't forget you may want strobes sometimes too.
heh......when I first heard that it threw a BS flag.

Then I got to thinking

2x 20d's - $2800
2x 580ex $800
2 Good lens $1k
Tripod with good head - $300
Total - around $5k.

and thats not including strobes, promotional materials exc.

[tim]

heh......when I first heard that it threw a BS flag.

Then I got to thinking

2x 20d's - $2800
2x 580ex $800
2 Good lens $1k
Tripod with good head - $300
Total - around $5k.

and thats not including strobes, promotional materials exc.

Two lenses isn't enough, I have six I think, including the rather pricey 70-200 F2.8 IS ($1700), 100mm F2.8 macro, 50mm F1.4, Tokina 12-24, and more. Add on 8GB of memory, a flash bracket and two off-shoe cords (need a backup), AlienBees with accessories, etc, it's probably closer to US$8K and maybe more like $9K.

[jj1987]

Two lenses isn't enough, I have six I think, including the rather pricey 70-200 F2.8 IS ($1700), 100mm F2.8 macro, 50mm F1.4, Tokina 12-24, and more. Add on 8GB of memory, a flash bracket and two off-shoe cords (need a backup), AlienBees with accessories, etc, it's probably closer to US$8K and maybe more like $9K.
I was referring to just bare essentials. No doubt it can run way over this price.

[tim]

I could shoot a wedding with less than what I have, but i'd not really want to. Redundant equipment is essential, because if equipment fails it always fails in high pressure situations. I had one 20D fail in the middle of a ceremony, I just grabbed the other one and kept going until I had time to fix the broken one.

[PIXI_666]

Id say get your equipment up to scratch with backups and THEN venture out and start with portraits.
The problem you will have is things like "What if you lose all the wedding photo's?" that's where backups are handy, plus then you can always have a different lens on each.
Another problem, what if your camera and all cards are stolen? These sort of thigns need to be considered before you take a light hearted approach to wedding photography, not to put you off or anything, but you need to think it through before hand and probably also get more experience up before anything.
I jumped in and did a wedding with hardly any experience, it turned out well....but i was probably a bit silly to do it? Be behind a pro for a while, offer your assistance to photographer's out there, send a letter to maybe 10 pro's - see which one comes back to you?

Del

[kawter2]

I shoot 99% of weddings with 2 lenses and one body

24-70 | 70-200 IS | 5D

BTW If i were on a 20d I wouldnt be able to use the 24-70 as much because of the crop factor

I do break out the primes for avail light, but more for portrait sessions