Wedding Help

[krista]

Starting to fear the weddings I have coming up - biggest fear is the lighting in the ceremony and the reception. Does anyone have any words of wisdom for me?
I have the Rebel XT and a couple lenses (2.8 18-50mm, 1.8 50mm, 2.8 70-200mm and the lensbaby 2.0 - but I won't use that for the ceremony) and two Sigma Super flashes. I was thinking I'd want the 18-50 for coming down the aisle, getting the feel of the church, etc. and then the 70-200 for during the service.
I guess my Q's are this...
-do you use flash for the aisle usually? Bounce it or straight at the bride/couple?
-I just received a flash bracket today - I find it a beast with the 18-50 on it... can't imagine lifting it with the 70-200. Thoughts?
-Where do you usually position yourself - at the front of church, balcony, etc.
-Do you use the tripod for the entire service? I was thinking of hand holding for coming down the aisle, then moving to 70-200 on a monopod for during the service.

I guess I'm just really nervous about the whole lighting thing during the service mainly. I'll take any advice anyone will give. Even if you have thoughts on aperture and shutter speeds needed - anything! Thanks!

[newgenphoto]

All these are great questions... for ceremony I always have assistants and I place one on each side in the front and then I sit in the back looking down the aisle. I will almost ALWAYS set my two assistants cameras for them including white balance. A lot of churches have really bad lighting as far as color tempeture, etc so thi sis a must in my book.

As far as coming down the aisle, I have never had a complaint with useing direct flash on the B&G, Wedding party, flower girl, etc.... but I do things a little different. I don't get them coming down the asle at the start of the ceremony. They are always to nervous and to concentrated on just getting down the aisle. I always wait until after the ceremony to capture them coming down the aisle. I will usually stop them to at a certain point and maybe raise their hands in the air or something fun.

I always use a Stroboframe mounted to my 20D with a grip and 24-70L lens & 580EX flash. It's a beast for sure and everyone always complaings how heavy my camera is but after shooting a few weddings I wouldn't want it any other way. I love the weight of my camera and I can usuallly get away with a hand held exposure of around a 15th of a second as long as my B&G are holding still.

Anyway, I hope this helps. Like anything it just takes practice and patience. OH AND ONE LAST NOTE.... B&G's don't usually buy to much ceremony stuff at all so I will usually (determining on the available light) shoot at 800 ISO. I've gotten excellent reults with this speed and they make perfect 4x6's for proof albums. If for some reason they do order an enlargment then I just run it through a noise plug-in and whalla, it's fine.

Good luck!!! : )

[krista]

newgenphoto - thanks! Forgot to mention I have one assistant booked for each wedding. I did the reverse to what you mentioned when I did a wedding last year - had the assistent at the back, I stayed at the front. Then once everyone was in the assistant came up the other side of the church and caught things from that angle. Haven't put much thought into how the assistant will work this year! Thanks for the tips!

[Amorous]

You will get many more responses if you post in the "Wedding Photogrpahy" under "Sharing Know How" section.

[Titus213]

krista - the size of the church and the size of the wedding party will play a part in the answers you come up with. Our last wedding I shot a 70-200 f2.8 IS for almost the whole ceremony while my assistant shot the 18-55 kit (it was all we had). Check with whoever is performing the ceremony about using flash during the ceremony (and of course the B&G). Some might not want flash just then because is can be distracting. We were fortunate because the ceilings were low enough for bounce in the last one.

Which bracket do you have? And make sure you are comfortable with it long before the wedding.

[krista]

Amorous - whoops! Never scrolled that far down on the list! Thanks!

Titus 213 - as always, thanks for the feedback! I just posted elsewhere about bracket help - it's so uncomfortable! Going to use it until my arms break to get good practice though!!

[BLINN]

Well here we go....Krista...first off, good luck. Just joking. I would talk with the offical performing the ceremony to see if flash photography is permitted. For the most part catholic ceremonies are the worst for this. But for the most part have no problem with flashes coming down the aisle or after the mass. So to answer you question yes use a flash if you can. In most churches you will not beable to bounce it off the ceiling. I use a Lumiquest pocket bouncer, works like a charm. On a braket of coarse. I would more than likely use the 18-50mm for the entire wedding in the church. I move around alot. I like to get other angles. This now bring me to position. I don't shoot with my assistant. She (my wife) is just there for shot ideas, equipment hand offs, final touches and anything else that I need done while I shoot. (I wish she could pee for me but that is impossible..LOL) Since I am by my self I get the bridal party and bride walking down the aisle. The emotion of this part of the ceremony can not be put into word, only a photograph can capture these emotions the way they were felt at that moment. I try to concetrate on the bride, after all it is her day. I will back of into a corner by the alter on the grooms side until the brides father gives her away. I will then head to the back of the church and shoot from there, or if there is a balcony I will try to get a few from that angle. For the most part I jump back and forth from the back main aisle and the two front corners.

Tripod yes, monopod no! I use a tripod to capture natural lighting a church. For the most part they have large windows, most of which are stain glass. Very soft light. I have shot some in dark (no natural light) chapels. Not fun! A monopod may still cause camer shake at slower shutters. As far as light goes, If it is a standard run of the mill church and daylight wedding , I wouldn't worry to much. Your 2.8 18-50mm should beable to handle the task. You will have to up your ISO to at least 800 if not 1600. Just remember what newgenphoto said, they don't normally order this, however they do want them in an album. Oh yeah, trick of the trade....Black and white can fix many noise problems and make the images looks sureal. I sometimes add noise to these images to give them that old memory feeling. I would suggest going to the rehursle and do some preshooting. This way you will not have as many supprises the day of. Oh, there are all way surpprises. The last wedding I did, my shutter jammed open. Panic city...just as the bride was walking down the aisle. No time to get the camera. ON/OFF reset the shutter. Thank GOD. I haven't had that problem since. Like a mentioned above...Good luck and we are all rooting for ya.

[scattashot]

make a checklist of all the shots you have to take, this eliminates the nervousness and you will be more comfortable. at the rehersal try all the must have shots and evaluate the lighting requirements, if you can use flash, use it. if the ambient light permits to shoot with out flash then reserve your flash for fill light (make sure you have extra batteries) make sure you stake out a few positions that will give you a flattering viewof the BG and preplan your route to move through the ceremony. remember the ambient light changes from the door as the party walks up to the alter so factor in the aperture settings that you will have to make for the different shots. the stroboframe will help you eliminate shadows so practice with it and use a piece of duct tape on the two ends of the sync cord, at the hot shoe and at the flash. it eliminate the posibility of the ends not making contact and the flash not firing. periodically review your histogram

good luck

[jamiewexler]

...The last wedding I did, my shutter jammed open. Panic city...just as the bride was walking down the aisle. No time to get the camera. ON/OFF reset the shutter. Thank GOD. I haven't had that problem since. Like a mentioned above...Good luck and we are all rooting for ya.

This is a good reason why you should try to beg, borrow, or steal a BU body. I have a camera around my neck and one on my shoulder all day long. If one goes down, I simply pick up the other until I have a spare moment to diagnose the problem. For my first few weddings I couldn't afford a second digital body, so I bought an old EOS 650 film body cheap off EBay (sometimes you can get them with a 50 f1.8 for less than the price of the lens alone!). I never had to use it, but it was great for peace of mind!

Speaking of the 50 f1.8, you might want to trade your 2.8 for the faster version. That extra stop-and-a-third comes in really handy in dark churches.

As for flash, I take a shot or three of each member of the processional, then turn it off until the kiss...shooting the ceremony available light, and the recessional with flash again. Never had a complaint from an officiant. Speaking of the processional, those Sigma flashes recycle somewhat slowly, so make sure you change batteries right before the recessional and shoot at ISO 400 or above.

Give the couple images like the ones at your practice weddings, and they will LOVE you!

[wannasmaxx]

make a checklist of all the shots you have to take, this eliminates the nervousness and you will be more comfortable. at the rehersal try all the must have shots and evaluate the lighting requirements, if you can use flash, use it. if the ambient light permits to shoot with out flash then reserve your flash for fill light (make sure you have extra batteries) make sure you stake out a few positions that will give you a flattering viewof the BG and preplan your route to move through the ceremony. remember the ambient light changes from the door as the party walks up to the alter so factor in the aperture settings that you will have to make for the different shots. the stroboframe will help you eliminate shadows so practice with it and use a piece of duct tape on the two ends of the sync cord, at the hot shoe and at the flash. it eliminate the posibility of the ends not making contact and the flash not firing. periodically review your histogram

good luck
What might these crucial shots be? I'm a newbe who just bought some gear to shoot my uncle's wedding. Basically I think I want some of the B&G getting ready, then coming down/back the aisle, maybe a couple "I do" shots from at the rear with my 70-200 IS followed by some posed I do shots up close after the mass. Is there anything else I should add to the list?

[clengster_77]

-do you use flash for the aisle usually? Bounce it or straight at the bride/couple?
i usually bounce it and extending my bounce card from my 580ex or sometimes i use an omnibounce diffuser.

-I just received a flash bracket today - I find it a beast with the 18-50 on it... can't imagine lifting it with the 70-200. Thoughts?
i just got my flash flip cam bracket never tried it yet, just played with it a bit. if ever i'm gonna use it in weddings, i'll use it with my 17-40, i tried playing with it with my 70-200 for a short time and it gave me a sore arm :) i think i'll just shoot with available lighting withmy 70-200 and just bump the ISO

-Where do you usually position yourself - at the front of church, balcony, etc.
being the second shooter i usually shoot at the back, i also do topshots.but for you, you can place you're self everywhere coz you're the main shooter :)

-Do you use the tripod for the entire service? I was thinking of hand holding for coming down the aisle, then moving to 70-200 on a monopod for during the service.
for me i only use tripod on formal group shots with good ambient lighting i don't use monopod but i lways bring it just in case :)

don't get nervous, just fire away and have fun! :) and don't forget to post some pics, yeah? :)

best,
cleng

[canon shooter]

All these are great questions... for ceremony I always have assistants and I place one on each side in the front and then I sit in the back looking down the aisle. I will almost ALWAYS set my two assistants cameras for them including white balance. A lot of churches have really bad lighting as far as color tempeture, etc so thi sis a must in my book.

As far as coming down the aisle, I have never had a complaint with useing direct flash on the B&G, Wedding party, flower girl, etc.... but I do things a little different. I don't get them coming down the asle at the start of the ceremony. They are always to nervous and to concentrated on just getting down the aisle. I always wait until after the ceremony to capture them coming down the aisle. I will usually stop them to at a certain point and maybe raise their hands in the air or something fun.

I always use a Stroboframe mounted to my 20D with a grip and 24-70L lens & 580EX flash. It's a beast for sure and everyone always complaings how heavy my camera is but after shooting a few weddings I wouldn't want it any other way. I love the weight of my camera and I can usuallly get away with a hand held exposure of around a 15th of a second as long as my B&G are holding still.

Anyway, I hope this helps. Like anything it just takes practice and patience. OH AND ONE LAST NOTE.... B&G's don't usually buy to much ceremony stuff at all so I will usually (determining on the available light) shoot at 800 ISO. I've gotten excellent reults with this speed and they make perfect 4x6's for proof albums. If for some reason they do order an enlargment then I just run it through a noise plug-in and whalla, it's fine.

Good luck!!! : )Jasen,

When you say you shoot during ceremony at ISO 800. Are you talking about available light or with flash? And don't you start to get noise at this speed.

[newgenphoto]

Jasen,

When you say you shoot during ceremony at ISO 800. Are you talking about available light or with flash? And don't you start to get noise at this speed.

Great question Jim,
This is using flash. I don't generally have noise problems and like I said in a previous post, I only develope 4x6's for their proof album anyway. If they order enlargments from the ceremony then I will run them through noise ninja just to make sure they are "clean". If exposure is pretty on (at 800 ISO) then you shouldn't have MUCH noise. I hope this is making since.

I also use my AB's a lot now for indoor, family portraits of the event. Then, I can set my ISO at 100-200 and I'm WAY OKAY!! : ) (obviously not for ceremony stuff though)

I'm actually in a medium lit HUGE church this weekend that I know I'll be shooting 800 at. I'll post some ceremony stuff for examples.

Jasen

[newgenphoto]

And many apologies to Krista for getting somewhat off track with this one.........

[canon shooter]

Great question Jim,
This is using flash. I don't generally have noise problems and like I said in a previous post, I only develope 4x6's for their proof album anyway. If they order enlargments from the ceremony then I will run them through noise ninja just to make sure they are "clean". If exposure is pretty on (at 800 ISO) then you shouldn't have MUCH noise. I hope this is making since.

I also use my AB's a lot now for indoor, family portraits of the event. Then, I can set my ISO at 100-200 and I'm WAY OKAY!! : ) (obviously not for ceremony stuff though)

I'm actually in a medium lit HUGE church this weekend that I know I'll be shooting 800 at. I'll post some ceremony stuff for examples.

JasenJasen, what is an AB?

[newgenphoto]

Jasen, what is an AB?

Sorry, Alien Bee's strobe units.....