My First Wedding

[whenpaulsparks]

thanks a million to all the help i've received, not through asking but just by browsing this forum. i shot my first wedding this past weekend! while i've filmed quite a few, you all can attest that photographing one is a lot more involved, and i experienced the first time "i'm going to screw up" nausea. but afterwards it was such an adrenaline rush, it was crazy!

The only thing i missed was her father kissing her before giving her away, which while important, was not a 100% crucial shot. i did (barely) get 3 shots of the kiss.

i learned quite a few things:

- make sure to check your ISO setting before shooting. i shot the entire outdoor ceremony accidentally on ISO 1600, so i had to go back and remove the digital noise from each photo. it was so bright i probably could have shot ISO 100 and still had shutter speeds greater than 1/250 at f/8.
- i needed a faster memory card. i had a 2 GB Sandisk Ultra II and i learned that it is way too slow for bursts of RAW shots. i almost missed the kiss due to it saying "busy" as it was writing to disk. i picked up a 4 GB Extreme III from eBay for $50, and it i can tell is WAY faster.
- the formal portraits require a delicate balance between leadership and submission to their needs.

My equipment:
two 10D bodies, one with vert grip. as far as flash goes, i had a 430EX with lightsphere. for the pre-ceremony shots, i used a Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 on the body with the flash/lightsphere and a Canon 50mm f/1.8 II to get those tight and low-lit shots in the dressing room. for the ceremony, i used a friend's Canon 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM at f/8 with the vert grip, i used this for most of my shots, and the 10-20mm f/4-5.6 for those cool wide shots of the wedding party and ceremony. luckily since i had almost the entire zoom range from 10-200mm, i didn't have to change lenses. for the portraits i used the 50mm f/1.8 and the 10-20mm. for the reception i used the 10-20mm and the 28-200mm with flash.

so all in all, i am forever indebted to the valuable information i found on this forum for helping my career start out. i've already got 3 other weddings booked, and i'm really excited!

[suspectim]

Any Shots

[tim]

i needed a faster memory card. i had a 2 GB Sandisk Ultra II and i learned that it is way too slow for bursts of RAW shots. i almost missed the kiss due to it saying "busy" as it was writing to disk. i picked up a 4 GB Extreme III from eBay for $50, and it i can tell is WAY faster.

Bull****. See data here (http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-7303). In the 20D the Ultra 2 does 4.9MBps, the Extreme 4 does 5.29MBps, a negligible difference. The 10D probably has less of an improvement. Even the 1D2N barely improves. The only time you'll see a speed improvement is copying the cards to the PC, and then only if you have a good card reader - usually the same brand as the CF card is fastest.


- the formal portraits require a delicate balance between leadership and submission to their needs.

You have to be flexible but you have to be in charge too. Get whatever photos you like but don't let people mess around, it wastes too much time.

[forkball]

I want to know why you felt a need to shoot bursts up to and during the kiss... I find it's best to anticipate the kiss and get a few well timed shots.

[tim]

I shot a burst during the kiss for the first time last weekend, it worked pretty well.

[EOS_JD]

- make sure to check your ISO setting before shooting. i shot the entire outdoor ceremony accidentally on ISO 1600, so i had to go back and remove the digital noise from each photo. it was so bright i probably could have shot ISO 100 and still had shutter speeds greater than 1/250 at f/8.!

I've done this. Shot my cousin's christening at ISO3200 on a 20D!!! DOH!!! Luckily B&W prints looked great. THe grain was a bonus!


- i needed a faster memory card. i had a 2 GB Sandisk Ultra II and i learned that it is way too slow for bursts of RAW shots. i almost missed the kiss due to it saying "busy" as it was writing to disk. i picked up a 4 GB Extreme III from eBay for $50, and it i can tell is WAY faster.

I've used both and don't see a difference. The limiter is probably the fact the camera can only shoot 9 frames at 3fps. After the 9 fromes, it's about 1 every two seconds.

Although I do use continuous mode, I rarely shoot like this at a wedding. The only time I do is when shooting a confetti bomb and I only have about 3 secs to get a decent shot. I usually get a few good ones with the right expressions.


- the formal portraits require a delicate balance between leadership and submission to their needs.

Many people moan about their pro photographer being a terrible guy....do this, do that! If you're not able to manage properly, you'll find it tough!

[Lorem]

can't do a post like this without photos! ;)

[whenpaulsparks]

will post photos ASAP!

as far as the memory card goes, my Ultra II must be defective then, because there is a huge speed difference in the camera. even scrolling through them... with the Ultra it takes about 2-3 seconds to load a RAW image, it takes less than a second with the Extreme III. and i wasn't purposefully shooting bursts beforehand, but i had shot enough in a short amount of time (the wedding was about 7 minutes long, stuff happened fast!) and the card was so slow that it had to catch up and i got the "busy" through the viewfinder. if it shouldn't be doing that, my ultra must be defective.

[whenpaulsparks]

also, as far as price goes, i picked up the 4 GB Extreme III for $50 on ebay, so in comparison, i don't mind paying extra for that bit of faster speed!!!

[EOS_JD]

will post photos ASAP!

as far as the memory card goes, my Ultra II must be defective then, because there is a huge speed difference in the camera. even scrolling through them... with the Ultra it takes about 2-3 seconds to load a RAW image, it takes less than a second with the Extreme III. and i wasn't purposefully shooting bursts beforehand, but i had shot enough in a short amount of time (the wedding was about 7 minutes long, stuff happened fast!) and the card was so slow that it had to catch up and i got the "busy" through the viewfinder. if it shouldn't be doing that, my ultra must be defective.

also, as far as price goes, i picked up the 4 GB Extreme III for $50 on ebay, so in comparison, i don't mind paying extra for that bit of faster speed!!!

Just wondering at that price and especially if you buy Sandisk cards on ebay..... they may be fakes......

If the Ultra II is that slow, it may not actually be an Ultra II!?

[mmahoney]

had a 2 GB Sandisk Ultra II and i learned that it is way too slow for bursts of RAW shots

You shooting a wedding or a roller-derby:lol:
Mike

[JAcosta]

Hahaha


I shot a burst during the kiss for the first time last weekend, it worked pretty well.

[Tish]

The real limitation here isn't the CF, it's the 10D. That body is notoriously slow to write to CF--I saw a huge improvement when I switched to the 20D instead.

Congratulations on surviving! Now we'll be waiting on pictures....... :)

[wilky95]

You shooting a wedding or a roller-derby:lol:
Mike


:D :D I shoot with the cheapest cf from 7day.com and I have never had speed problems 2gb card £13.99 the last ones and I shoot equine events with burst and its the camera not the card that slows.

Who shooting a wedding needs the fastest cards?

Look at me, lady with the big hat step to the left pleeeaassee LOOK at me ..................................... SNaaap chimp look up, LADDDY why were you looking behind you:evil:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Martin

[Phil V]

I agree with (almost) everyone about fast cards - the limiting factor BY FAR is the camera, and has been for several generations of cards. The burst mode on the 10d is inadequate for sequences of RAW.

Managing groups of people is about being ASSERTIVE, if you can understand and master assertiveness it's (almost always) a breeze. I don't know what you mean by 'leadership', but a positive assertive attitude, smiles and jokes and confidence can manage most situations.