Shooting weddings? what do i need?

[Canon10Digital]

ok, im just starting out, and i have a wedding for Feb., my firends sister. she wants to be cheap, so instead of hiring someone with lots of exper. and pay lots, she is taking me, and im doing it for $500. Since i want to do this for a living, this will be good practice. But what all do i need, i have a 10D, already bought 550EX flash, getting a 24-70 in august. of course the obvious, CF 512, do i need more? thanx for your help.....

[robertwgross]

After February, you may need a good lawyer.

---Bob Gross---

[Belmondo]

I'd get a lot more memory so you can shoot in RAW. Your chances of recovering marginal shots will be a lot better than if you shoot in JPEG. I would also say that equipment is probably much less of an issue than experience.

Practice, practice, practice.

This is a huge responsibility you've taken on, and as long as you're accepting money for it, regardless of how much of a bargain you are, you have a responsibility to the bridal party to know what you're doing when you get there and not to experiment on their 'special day.'

Good luck.

Tom

[Lamplight]

After February, you may need a good lawyer.

---Bob Gross---

It may be a good idea to talk to one beforehand to find out what to do to cover yourself as much as possible. :D Also, since you have until February, I would practice, practice, practice. Also read as much as possible about wedding photography, especially from people on this board that do it for a living. I have learned quite a bit about it just from reading threads on this forum, and I have no intentions of doing a wedding anytime soon! :lol: Do a search here on "wedding photography" and you will find hundreds of threads chock full of useful information. :)

[robertwgross]

It may be a good idea to talk to one beforehand to find out what to do to cover yourself as much as possible.

Actually, the time for the lawyer is in writing a good foolproof contract/agreement. Then get the bride and groom to sign it and make a deposit.

---Bob Gross---

[Penguin_101_1]

It may be a good idea to talk to one beforehand to find out what to do to cover yourself as much as possible.

Actually, the time for the lawyer is in writing a good foolproof contract/agreement. Then get the bride and groom to sign it and make a deposit.

---Bob Gross---

Yes! Then if you forget to take off the lens cap you won't be in court!

[Lamplight]

Actually, the time for the lawyer is in writing a good foolproof contract/agreement. Then get the bride and groom to sign it and make a deposit.

---Bob Gross---

^^ Good advice, in my opinion.

[Penguin_101_1]

Actually, the time for the lawyer is in writing a good foolproof contract/agreement. Then get the bride and groom to sign it and make a deposit.

---Bob Gross---

^^ Good advice, in my opinion.

Yes!

[Ken Fong]

I would try it this way: don't charge any money for the shoot since you are doing it for experience anyway, especially if you are not depending on it for income right now. Post your images to an online album site and have them pay for the prints only if they like your work. The per print charge is where you can recover some of your expenses (anywhere from $12-$24 for an individual 5x7 print.) Do not give them your RAW files because that is your property. Depending on whether this is being done as a 'favor' or not, you might not need to sign a contract to protect yourself...if this is unclear however, you should get an agreement signed.

From my experience, I did not get anything signed because the work was done for a sister-in-law, who didn't expect much anyway (and I am not a professional).

Are you planning to do portrait work? If so, you may need to add an extra 550EX (or 420EX), an ST-E2 transmitter, a stable tripod, remote shutter release, a pair of 60" umbrella reflectors, a pair of 6' light stands, and a pair of umbrella 'multi-brackets' with built-in shoe mounts...this setup is incredibly portable (fits in a long duffle). I would avoid shooting portraits with the flash mounted on your camera...it makes their faces look too full. I ended up using the 50mm 1.4 the most for portrait work. The 85mm lens was hardly used.

For candids and snapshots, I think it's okay to use the flash mounted onto your camera...just add a $20 omnibounce attachment to it. I couldn't tell the difference between this and using a flash-bracket (flash off of camera), plus it was much simpler to set up.

Here is what I learned about wedding photography as an amateur:
If you have a tight schedule, be careful and plan to avoid delays. I missed the cake cutting becuase of delays (the cutting was at a different location from the church); fortunately, I had a backup and sent him ahead while I was packing up my equipment from the ceremony (designate a backup!). Delays were caused by having too many additional people wanting to try out their new digital camera taking pictures of the poses that I had set up. I am not protective of my work at this stage, but having to go through several iterations of 'one more shot over here' for each pose added significant delays...and I had to keep ducking out of their way. PLUS, having many photographers behind you is inevitably going to cause at least one of your subjects to look at the wrong camera during your shot (visual overload) EVEN if you say 'look at me!'...very frustrating. My suggestion is to set a policy and either only allow your backup to shoot alongside you, or to designate one of those snapshotters to be the only other photographer allowed and have him/her e-mail his photo to everyone else (if you don't mind).

[Gokulananda Hari]

Perhaps you can make a photography session before the wedding (weeks before), there the couple and the photographer begin to know themselves, and everybody will start to know what to expect from each other on the day of the wedding.

The photographies that do not have to lack: the entrance of the fiancèe. The ring. The kiss. the exit from the church. When the fiancèe throws the branch. The photographies with the guests among others. I do not know, perhaps there are other customs in your zone, could change a little.

With respect to the money, if you are beginning (and practicing), I agree with Ken. Do not charge. Let them to see your photos and sell those wich they like.

regards,
Gokulananda

[Canon10Digital]

Thanx for all the 'real' tips, as far as the money thing, i tried to not charge her, i said i have never done this before. i have only done portrait work, never on-site to anything where you cant control lighting. she said she wouldnt feel right not paying, i said 200, she said 600, finally decided on 500. As far as doing protriats, im actually looking at http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=220684&is=REG is that a good kit? should i get a soft box too? my best friend owns a photo lab, they are getting a Noristu 3213 (prints digital), if anyone knows what that is, so im gonna get this as well... http://www.expressdigital.com/products/epportraitwedding.shtm It'll package everything up and print exactly what the customer wants. also thinking about green screen backdrop, in addtion to regular ones, anyone have any experence with green screens? are they worth it, or do customers prefer the real thing? thanx again....

[robertwgross]

Let me venture a wild guess at how your wedding photography will work out, based on modest experience.

The technical aspects of setting up a shot... composition, exposure, etc.... you will get that fine.

What will come as a shock is the fast pace that happens during a wedding. In general, there is none of this "try this, try that" going on. A family group is formed up, you shoot it perfectly, then they move out and another family group forms up...

You really don't have a lot of time for clear thinking. Most of what your camera is doing and what you are doing had better be fairly automatic and instinctive and foolproof. There are rarely any opportunities for "shoot overs".

---Bob Gross---

[Harry Settle]

Some more tips:

Bare minimum, omnibounce and or pocket bounce/big bounce. I know several people that achieve excellent, high $$$, results using only this system.

I missed what lenses you have, but a decent all around for a wedding is the 24-70. After that, anything else, up or down, from there is good to add on to your inventory.

More and more are doing the formal pics before the ceremony. This works well, people are fresh.

Keep the Bride's personal attendant handy, for makeup, arranging dress and general noticing small details that you may miss. Find someone who is strong willed and sensible to help you round up people for shots.

"Put together a shot list", go over this well before hand with the bride, groom and any available mothers.

Put someone in charge of keeping the necessary people waiting for their turn in one room, or you will be chasing people around for every shot. Very time consuming. Keeping people around for their shots is like herding cats.

Have everyone at the photo site at the same time. If you let them tell some people that they won't be needed until sometime later than your scheduled start time, the process will stop until they arrive and you will be rearranging people all over again. You will invariably screw up your shot list.

You'll run into a lot of people that screw around and don't pay any attention to what is going on. "Take charge"

Try and keep people with their cameras away from the formal shoot. It confuses and slows things down.

Start anywhere from 2 to 3 hours before the ceremony. You'll be surprised at how tight your time will be.

I find the formal shoot to be the easiest, if you use your shot list. Make sure you don't forget to put vows, kiss etc on the shot list.

Think ahead of the flow.

Attend rehearsal so you know what's going on, until you are comfortable with wedding shoots. I still attend most rehearsals.

Act professional and you will command attention and respect. People expect you to know "What's next". Don't run around telling people that you are unsure of what you are doing. Pretend like you do. You are the photographer, you belong. The Bride and Groom are depending on you for a quality product.

Plan your shoot. Shoot your plan.

Take charge!