Wedding Newbie

[Meghan]

Hello All,

I was asked this morning by a friend if I would take her sisters wedding pictures. I know the family pretty good. They are a laid back family and don't pick at every detail.

Back to the wedding....Its a low key wedding not a lot of hub bub. The girl that was going to do it got pregnant and may not be able to attend the wedding. She knows basically nothing about photograhy. So i am a couple steps a head of her.

So I am still thinking about if I want to do it or not. I have heard horrier stories about wedding photography so I am a little nervous.

So I come to you to help me. even if I dont end up doing the wedding I still want to lean about it.

Exposers for churches, posing ideas, pictures to take during the wedding...anything that has to deal with wedding photograpy.

I have never done weddings before..heck I'm only 19. But if there are any sites you would care to share or any personal experiences you want to share it would truly be appriciated. Anything will help.

Thanks guys

Meghan:)

[KevC]

Hey Meghan.

You and I are in the same boat. Hell, we're both 19 :D My friend is getting married in September.

I mean you no offense, but I don't think you should do the wedding. A wedding is one of the most important things in a person's life. Something that only happens once (well, if it goes well) and something that has ought to be remembered for a lifetime. Now I'm not saying you're a bad photographer, but it sounds like you're a little new. If it were my wedding, I wouldn't want a newbie to handle the photos.

This is what I'm doing. I'm going to bring my Drebel to my friend's wedding. I think you should bring your camera to your friend's sister's wedding too. But I've already arranged for a professional (well, he's pro, but he's always my friend, and his work is absolutely awesome) to handle the wedding for my friend.

It'll be an experience for you, and you may also make a few bucks. But since this is your first wedding, I say leave it to a pro. You never know, maybe your pictures may come out better than the pro's!

//edit: However, I do recommend a good book. I'm reading Jonathan Hilton's Wedding and Studio Portrait Photography: The Professional Way and it seems alright. But then again, I'm probably newer to photography than you. Soo... I'm gonna wait for more experienced people to chime in so I can learn something too :)

[Meghan]

I understand what your saying. I said the same thing. The thing is thou...they don't have enough money for a pro. The girl that was going to do it and the bride and groom where ok with her doing it new absolutly NOTHING about photography so that kinda makes me feel like I can do it.

My friend is going to talk to her sister and see what they say. But we will see.

Thanks
Meghan:)

[KevC]

Makes sense. Whereabouts are you though? Just wondering.

Well, how long do you have for the wedding? I'm sure with enough practise (have you got a digital? .. take pictures of EVERYTHING. NOW. Play with lighting!!) and reading (here, books, etc...) you'll do a nice job :)

[Meghan]

The wedding isn't till september 24. This family is not picky at all. They arent concerned about my age of me having no expiernce either.

I have a little less then a year to learn and play around with my camera. There will be other people taking pictures as well so if I do happen to make a couple mistakes There will be other pictures. I am not the sole photographer I guess but yet I am.

I'm not that worried anymore. I work at a photography studio and I put all the wedding alblums together so i know poses and the order of events in a wedding. Just need to learn more about my camera (got it for christmas) I'm still learning.

Other then that I will be here asking tons of questions and reading else where and asking questions where I work as well!

Meghan:)

[robertwgross]

Meghan, first of all, study some previously-shot wedding albums and decide what you like and what you don't like. When time gets closer to the wedding date, make yourself a "shot list." I generally work on a chronological basis, but others work on the basis of priority. So, I have ten shots that I do before the ceremony, ten shots during, ten shots immediately after, ten shots of family, twenty shots at the reception, and then one special shot that finishes the whole deal. I generally shoot 200 in all throughout a whole day, but that varies with the total time involved.

Practice shooting friends or family in similar poses. Then it gets more difficult on wedding day, because a typical B&G are wearing white and black. The dynamic range can get problematic. Figure out how to deal with that in advance.

Know your equipment very well, have plenty of charged batteries for the camera, for the flash, and anything else. If possible, get an assistant to help, depending on the size of the bridal party. The assistant can be good as a mother-in-law wrangler.

---Bob Gross---

[Meghan]

Thanks. The bridal party is the bride bridesmaid and a flower girl and i think its the same for the groom. Not a very big party at all. Im glad for that.


If you guys have any shots you have taken if you could please show them to me..that would be great to give me some other ideas.

Thanks

Meghan:)

[IndyJeff]

First thing is to sit down with the B & G, make a list of shots they want, i.e.us and parents, grandparents, uncle Ed & aunt Marty etc. Also groom and his boys, bride and her gals, ring bearer & flower girl etc. Just make sure you make a list of everything they want.

Second get an assistant to keep track of what you have shot and what you still need to shoot.

The key to good wedding photography, and I am sure Bob and Bloo Dog would agree is preperation. I have done very few weddings but, what I did was try to get the largest group shots out of the way first and then release people as you don't need them anymore. It is easier to keep 6 popel around rather than shooting 6 with 12 standing about waiting on you to be ready for them. Be sure to take more than one shot of everything. You would be surprised at how many times uncle Ed will close his eyes or mom or dad looks away just as you snap the shutter.

[OceanRider]

sooner or later you got to do your first wedding. Take a ton of shots and do your best. A laid back wedding is the best to start with!

Joel

[Meghan]

thats what I was thining. I already told them I am going to do it and they are ok with everything and excited for me to do. I have plenty of time to learn so im good to go!!!

Meghan: )

[OceanRider]

Why stop at 200 pics?seems a tad low to me. I find the more the better (within reason and as long as you are not becoming a nuisance.) Be sure of this.

Take lots of candid and for sure get all the key/requested shots. Better to have too many and cut them down, than to wish you'd taken more I think. Heck, what if the Bride is blinking on that ONE shot!!??

Also if you are new to this and your ratio of usable to not is low. I remember reading one time in a national geographic magazine this big time photographer took 10 rolls to get the one shot for the magazine.

I plan on using 2- 1 gig cards instead of 1- 2 gig, in case it goes belly-up right in the middle of the day.
Just some thoughts

Cheers.

Joel

[IndyJeff]

BlooDog take a crash at Indy in turn 3. AP had 18 guys shooting in that turn now each one of us would fire off an average of 16 frames on a crash. 16 x 18 is 288 images of 3-4 seconds of that crash. They would choose one image to run across the wire.

I never really understood why photographers would shoot 3 rolls of film to get that 1 shot they would use. Then I did a job once where I shot a driver for a brochure. I shot 72 frames, headshots and body shots in driving suit and suit and tie. It came down to 3 headshots we both liked and 2 each of the body shots. He used 1 headshot and one of the driving suit.
Thing is you don't know what you have until your done. Now of course it is easier with digital but, in film days you didn't want to have to go back and shoot again because you didn't want to spend and extra $20 on film and development/prints. The cost on returning to do the shoot in your time alone was worth more than the $20 you might have saved.

[KevC]

I think the biggest advantage of 'limiting' yourself is so that you take your time and actually consider everything while shooting a photo. I know ever since I got my lil digi p/s, I've been nuts with my camera. ~1MB/image. 256MB CF card... shoot shoot shoot. That's exactly what I did last night at my friend's birthday party. Half of them were garbage pictures.

Meghan, don't limit yourself. But do keep this in mind, every single photo you take... make sure it's a good one. Quality over quantity. Even though you have a gig+ storage, don't think of it that way. Don't think "oh, the next shot will be better. oh, i don't really hafta make this one perfect cos i've got n more shots to go". I'm not saying you will, but I think a tendency comes from just having the ability to take virtually unlimited photos.

Limit yourself, pace yourself, but more in the sense that you shall cherish each shot, not go nuts :)

That's just my take on things. Oh, and Meghan... lol I think I'm doing another friend's wedding (actually me this time) so I need to learn as much as you do, and probably even more :D

[OceanRider]

I agree Indyjeff, totally. I have a very quick decision process and an even faster delete finger. I line up ten images of same thing and Bang-0 pick the good one delete the rest--then edit. I do hear what you are saying bloo dog, for sure, but I would rather error on too many then too little. I would never show a client until I have erased the poor shots. 1600+ that s maybe a bit much... but I am sure hundreds would not even be worth a second look.

Cheers

Joel

[IndyJeff]

When I did a wedding, which were far and few between, I did at least 2 shots of the wedding party and similar shots. Glad I did too because in one of the whole family grandpa was looking left and not at the camera. What he was looking at I will never know but I was glad I shot the second one. I didn't even see him look away when I shot the first one.

I think maybe I pulled off about 3 of the cake cutting and maybe 6 of the garter pull. A burst of 4 or so on the garter toss and bouquet toss each.

BlooDog I'll bet you just about died when that guy came back with all that film...Here boss.

Ocean rider I have a similar situation in shooting sports. Yesterday I did a high school wrestling sectional, concentrating on two schools and my nephew from a different school. When I editted I pulled up all photos from the championship matches. Generally about 25-40 each. Anything which didn't have a face of one of the schools I was covering was closed. I narrowed it down to maybe 7 of the ones with faces. Then got to looking at the physical aspects of the shots...good faces and expressions, good action, backgrounds, full frames narrowed it down to one or two and transmitted the images to the publication which hired me. Oh did I mention I hate the editting part?

[D Boone]

Meghan... I was dropped into wedding photography recently, last weekend to be exact. Not new to photograpy, but very out of practice. My wifes gonna have a baby, so I had gotten a DRebel a month ago in preperation. Was very apprehensive, was just doing this for free, sounds like the same kind of situation, family friend needs help kind of thing. Well, I shot 400+ and after going through them trying to get them 1st time culling out the blinks, drunks, etc, have about 370 left. Still gotta go through it tonight again to get it down around 300 - 320 (to fit on one cd). My advice, have fun, take as many pics as you can, but, depending on what kind of camera you have be carefull. My buffer filled up a couple times and left me in a lurch while something memorable was happening. I think Bloo Dog said it already, but get someone to kick everyone the H#LL outta the place afterwards except the people whom you want to photograph in groups. I had to compete with Uncle John/Aunt Whomever for elbow room while trying to take the family photos. Also left me with me with the bad angles(sometimes). I had talked to the B&G and sat in wait for the shots they really wanted, to make sure I got them, rather than just snapping off. I too had a list of must have shots I went through, you can find a comprehensive list if you google it... I added some of my own. If you can, extra batteries, storage, external flash, are pretty much essential. I did it without the extra batteries and just used the built in flash, but can definitly see where that hurt some of the photos... And unless you can tell when someone blinks when the shot goes off, then take at least 2 or 3 of any setup worthy of snapping at all. Outta all the ones I took, I definetly feel I could pull 100 +/- to put together a book with if they wanted. But that wasn't included in the price (free) and after getting all the shots backed up a couple times, I am feeling pretty good about the whole thing. Just have fun and do your best though, if you can just hit the most crucial points that the Bride really wants to remember, and the unexpected stuff she will forget but want to remember, then you should be ok... Oh, and be sure to keep the camera going, I let mine go to sleep at a couple inoportune times too!

[Meghan]

Wow. thats a lot of stuff to remember. I'm not shooting digital thou. The bride wants film so im going to go film for her. I have already started to think about poses and things i need to bring. But from what you have all told me I have a lot more to do with a good amount of time to do it. I dont know what she wants so i dont know my limit yet cause shes buying the film and all but I will be taling with her soon and I will figure all that stuff out then.

Other then that thank you for all your guys imput it helped a lot.

Meghan:)

[robertwgross]

If you have an assistant for a wedding shoot, that is good.

If you have a really good assistant, that is even better. We had an assistant who came equipped with just about everything:

1. A single tall candle
2. An extra black men's bow tie
3. Safety pins and straight pins for emergency clothing repairs
4. Black marker, for writing times on film cans, and labels for times on CF cards
5. Shot list. Not anything official, but just a list of ideas.
6. Name list. List of names of the key members of the wedding party.
7. Gray card

---Bob Gross---

[epeace]

Not sure if these books are good but I came across them on amazon looking for other suggested reading . . . perhaps someone here has read them and can provide some insight . . .

Wedding Photography : Creative Techniques for Lighting, Posing, and Marketing (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1584281421/qid=1107197653/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-4988188-2904869?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)

Professional Techniques for the Wedding Photographer: A Complete Guide to Lighting, Posing and Taking Photographs That Sell (Photography for All Levels: Advanced)
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0817456023/qid=1107197653/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl14/002-4988188-2904869?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)

[mhiser]

Seeing you have a whole lot of time to get your feet a little wet, my advice is to find a local photographer who shoots at a professional level to offer you some training in exchange for your assisting him as a “grunt”. I have been shooting the last 5 years professionally under a full time area wedding photographer with 30 years under his belt. (my apprenticeship was 2 years of that) Though your friend and her parents seem laid back now, believe me they have no idea the pressure they have put you under, and you may be surprised at what they later will expect from you. Yes, you are just taking pictures of an event, but then no, really you’re not. Though these forums often offer good verbal advice, believe me, the advice will not compare to the expatiations and pressures you may encounter. Most weddings run smoothly, but occasionally a little confusion can turn mild into "the event from hell"

I find parents often getting too involved in the extravaganza of impressing their guest, and the bride and groom have other worries, leaving wedding images to become a last priority.

I’m not trying to put the fear of god in you with my post, but to offer you the very best advice from experience, after all, in time, these image will become a treasured investment of the day, and you will want to capture them as professionally as possible

Good Luck

[Meghan]

No you havent overwhelmed me. It is a lot for me to take on at once but i think i got it...kinda....Thanks guys your a huge help!!!

Meghan

[Sundevil]

Hey- Im pretty new at it as well (and my name happens to be Megan too) I have done a few weddings for friends and I must say aside from posing the wedding party I absolutely love wedding photography.

I guess you should make sure you capture the important things first. Like the Bride walking down the isle, the lighting of the candle, the exchange of rings and the kiss. In-between those shots I like to look for the moments that just happen. Is the flower girl doing something super cute? Did the Pasor or Officiant say something to make the Bride laugh like you've never seen her? Is there a bridesmaid wiping her eyes? Little things like that make each wedding special and personalized for the couple.

Hopefully I've given you some helpful advice. (and haven't mis-spelled many words) Don't be afraid to try a new angle or tip your camera slightly left or right for a unique crop. Not so snapshot looking.