Wedding Advice....

[DegasGoneDigital]

My Daughter is getting married in Nov. I'm going to do the pictures, but I have never done this before. I have a 580 and 430EX flashes with umbrella stands. My question is;


1) Do I use a wireless trigger and put the flashes in the stands? How would I position the flashes in relation to the B&G?


2) Or, use one flash on camera?


Any advice would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

[Bob Sherwood]

Best advice is do your daughter a favor and hire a pro to do the job?

[Paul Lowell]

Don't take this the wrong way but get someone else to shoot it

[Mike]

The suggestion to get a pro to take the photos is a good one. However, if you are set on doing the photos your 580ex on camera will work fine to save you from rigging up lighting. You'll have to have a plan to work out how to get yourself into some of the shots though too!

Have a read through this post (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=5999915&postcount=2) and the links in it for some wedding help.

[tim]

I give advice about this sort of thing in the wedding FAQ (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=255604).

If you're doing the photos you won't be involved, or in the photos - being behind the camera makes you an observer of the day, not a participant. Do you really want this for your daughters wedding? Wedding photography is hard work. If you give the camera to someone else so you can be in a photo they're likely to stuff it up. I think the best thing you can do for both yourself and your daughter is to hire a pro, even if just for the ceremony, the group photos, and some nice photos of the two of them together.

[sapearl]

Hello Sam - congratulations. My daughter was married just a couple of months ago and it was a wonderful day for all. For 35+ years I'd watched other father's daughters come down the aisle, but now it was my turn to be a participant and not the hired gun. Not to be nosy, but is there some reason you are not being a part of you daughter's special day? As others have said, I would certainly hire a pro who will 1. do things right for you and not experiment, and 2. allow you to be part of the celebration.

That being said, if you are intent on doing the job I would mount the flash on the camera and not worry about complicated setups on stands or other arrangements. If handled properly you can get very nice results in this fashion.

I will offer similar advice I posted in another recent thread. For dim areas (dark hall or church) simply put the camera in manual mode, set the ISO for about 800, mount the flash in your camera shoe or bracket, bounce it using a card or some simple inexepensive diffuser, set the shutter speed for around 1/30 to 1/60 sec, and use a wide aperture.

Set the flash on Auto-ETTL and it will figure out just how much light to splash into the immediate subject. Dragging the shutter a slow speed will allow ambient light to creep into the exposure. A wider aperture will also help to avoid the "portrait in the coal mine look" where the background goes totally black.

Anyway Sam, good luck and I hope it all works out for you. But please have somebody else do it to avoid adding one more stress to what should be a joyous day. - Stu

[Borbor]

My Daughter is getting married in Nov. I'm going to do the pictures, but I have never done this before.

You sure this is the best time to make a debut?

[egordon99]

Agree with the others, hire a pro. Even if you had done this before, I'd think you want to enjoy and help your daughter celebrate. Shooting a wedding is hard work (it can be fun though), and you're in a completely different mindset than you'd be as a guest.

[sapearl]

Absolutely agree with the others here - besides, how can you take pictures of your daughter and walk her down the aisle at the same time? ;) - Stu

[egordon99]

Self-timer and tripod :lol:

Absolutely agree with the others here - besides, how can you take pictures of your daughter and walk her down the aisle at the same time? ;) - Stu

[sapearl]

I confess I had not thought of that ;). 'Course I'd be paranoid that the bridesmaids and flower girls would knock things over going up the aisle. But I get your drift :lol:. We haven't seen OP in a little while... wonder if he's coming back?

Self-timer and tripod :lol:

[egordon99]

Hopefully he's looking through the yellow pages for a photographer :)

[DigitalSpecialist]

I am wondering if anyone from the Virginia area would be willing to shoot for him? I see plenty of people posting from that general area, so why not volunteer to help a fellow photog from Potn?

Congrats on your Daughters Wedding!

[Wilt]

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=6495986&postcount=3

[nicolerork]

This is a disaster waiting to happen.