1st wedding as 2nd shooter in 5 hours...

[jgogums]

yes I'm new. yes I've tried to read as much as I can in the past few hours on this forum (ongoing thread from the photog student asking about first paid gig...busted his teeth comments, etc...Tim's and everyone's advise in that thread has been very helpful).

2 hours ago got a call from a wedding photographer friend and she asked if I could be her 2nd as hers bailed out... she knows I'm new to photography but also knows I'm extremely hungry to learn and I'm quite teachable...

She's good to go with back up bodies and lenses...and could really do it on her own...she's just throwning me a bone, with the clients approval of course.

So no real pressure on me to 'get the shot'... but I still want to make the most of the opportunity and this literally just fell in my lap a few hours ago. Hense this post that will probably make some here say 'search, read, think, practice, then ask'. I normally do. Sorry if this makes some of you want to throw your cat at me...:o.

What I know so far...again I'm just the 2nd here...(My sig has all my equipment).
- small outdoor wedding. 10-12 people. late afternoon 4 to 7pm.
- 1 to 1.5 hours of just portrait work with the couple
- beach/grass/lava rock setting overlooking ocean into setting sun...yeah Hawaii...beautiful. Forecast is for no rain, little cloud coverage, light wind (friggin hot though...). That side of the island is pretty consistent whether wise...

Some Q's:
I'll shoot RAW. Probably AWB as I haven't ever done a custom white balance before. Any quick tips/recommendations on AWB vs. another setting?

Probably Av mode since I want to focus most on controling depth of field. Pros or cons to that game plan? (no flash is planned, but I'll have it with me).

In camera settings: PICTURE STYLE - all are set to their defaults. Any suggestions on which setting. Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, Faithful? (Yes, since shooting RAW I can tweak later, but again, want to try to 'get in close with the camera'...at least that's the school of thought I've enrolled in so far).

5D does well with high ISO's and noise so as light fades would going with my 100 2.8 be a 'better' choice for say the lava rock/water/backlit sunset shots? I know just enough about f stops to be stupid...like 2.8 allows twice as much light in then 4.0...albeit DOF will change a bit. I know composition will play into it...comments/groans?

Meter off sunset, black rocks, or white dress then recompose? I tend to naturally underexpose my shots. Quick advise on what colors/temps to meter off of then recomposing here would be great!

I'll probably be using my 70-200 f/4 L IS and 17-40 L f/4 most of the time. Given they aren't 2.8's and the conditions 'I think' I'll be shooting in, is there any real advantage to including my 100 2.8 in the mix?

For the ceremony, is it best to turn off the auto focus beep? Might sound silly but just want to be respectful...of course I won't be up in their face so I doubt they will hear it...but just wanted to know.

batteries charged, cards formatted, lenses clean, water, snack, bible all packed.

Ok Tim,... blast me.:lol::lol::lol:

Thanks for reading, sorry again for newbie questions and the length...I do want to learn from you all. :rolleyes::lol:
Aloha!

[lil_miss]

You'll be fine! :) Just enjoy it and have fun!

[bigjon0107]

You will do fine! The sun should still be giving off some pretty good light at 7, nothing worried about there. Yes i would turn the beeping off on the camera. And also i would bring that flash to use as a fill when shooting them in the sunset. Might as well bring that 100 2.8, whats it gonna hurt? It will also allow you to get more separation of the subject and background with the 2.8. Relax, and have a great time!

-Jon

[ryancr711]

Don't worry about WB or picture style...that is why you're shooting in RAW. I agree with Jon, bring the flash for fill. As far as ISO goes, I don't see that you'll have much need to shoot at any kind of high ISO. I probably wouldn't shoot much toward the F2.8 or F4 end unless you're only trying to get some nice DOF effects...but that's how I like to shoot. Bring all the gear you've got, that way you won't be stuck wishing that you would have brought something. My $0.02.

It sounds like you're pretty much good to go, enjoy.

[Knightshade]

You'll be fine, being a second is fun.

Use your zoom to get different angles, vantage points than the primary.

I'd go over the camera settings w/the primary before hand as well if you haven't already. Unless I'm shooting sports, I always shoot RAW, "Neutral" and Adobe RGB.

First time working w/one particular photog as a second and find out later in the day that she can't view my raw files due to the fact that she uses PS7 and since she's a Nikon shooter, no DPP either.

I processed all my raw files into tiffs and send her a DVD of the images, but it slowed down her workflow a little.

[jgogums]

Thanks for the votes of support! All went well...although there were lots of overexposed and underexposed pics! Had a blast. Couple was great and I learned much. Just reviewed over 500 photos and they look better on my monitor then the LCD..lol! Shot RAW so I can use these to practice tweaking.
She already wants to use me again for her next two bookings. Then again...she hasn't seen my shots from today yet, sooooo....!
Overall, very grateful someone is willing to teach me using their clients...
I'll continue to lurk, search and read previous posts and stickys. Thanks again for your responses!

[italianfemmy]

I'd love to see a couple of the shots you took with that beautiful background. Please share.