First Wedding- a bit of help

[chrisisonfire23]

Hello POTN'rs. I was offered to do a wedding, and I have a question about flash.

I am shooting both the reception and wedding, do you think I will need to use off camera flash such as pocketwizards, light stand, and an umbrella

I have a 580EX ii right now, or I could get a Q-Flash. I was wondering if alot of wedding photographers dont even bother bringing off camera flash and just use on camera flash.

Thanks for ANY help

-Chris

[obnoxiousmom]

Ive only done one wedding indoors. I used my 580 bounced off the ceiling. Make sure you know the rules of the church though because you may not be able to use a flash during the ceremony. At the church my SIL is getting married at the photographer isnt even allowed to come any closer than the back of the church with is about half a foot ball field away from the front.

I wouldnt use an on board flash personally. Im sure there are some seasoned pros here though with much better advice than I can give

[tim]

If you're not already confident and proficient with off camera flash a wedding isn't the place to learn. Just use on camera flash.

I use off camera flash extensively, though I have a little experience with weddings and an assistant to help me with it.

[Christopher Steven b]

I'm certainly not an expert in wedding photography only having shot 3 very smalls ones, however, my advice would be to avoid the hassle of setting up off camera flash except perhaps for the formal shots. The smaller number of things you have to worry about in terms of set up, reliability etc., the more attention you can devote to getting the shots. If this is in fact your first, you'll likely find, as I did, that weddings move faster than our brains can cognize them--as photographers, I mean.

[chrisisonfire23]

I do baby photography and portraits, so I have alot of expereince with off camera flash, I was just wondering if it was necessary for the wedding since I've never been to one before :\

[tim]

I'm certainly not an expert in wedding photography only having shot 3 very smalls ones, however, my advice would be to avoid the hassle of setting up off camera flash except perhaps for the formal shots. The smaller number of things you have to worry about in terms of set up, reliability etc., the more attention you can devote to getting the shots. If this is in fact your first, you'll likely find, as I did, that weddings move faster than our brains can cognize them--as photographers, I mean.

How do you define formal shots?

I do baby photography and portraits, so I have alot of expereince with off camera flash, I was just wondering if it was necessary for the wedding since I've never been to one before :\

Necessary? No. Nice to have? Yes, for some parts of the day. I use it for couple portraits, as well as reception photos. I don't use it for the family/group photos, and rarely use it for the wedding party as flash coverage often isn't wide enough or there's not enough flash power available.

[Christopher Steven b]

I'm probably speaking a private language, tim :)
By formal I mean posed shots taken not during the ceremony. Shots where time is less of an issue and 'missing shots' is far more difficult.

edit: of course, my presumption, not necessarily correct, is that the best case would be to use off-camera flash; though I myself have only used flash on-camera.

[jongobongo]

I know of several wedding photogs who use off camera flash with amazing results. Just make sure you have the time for setup. But not sure if I would not bring the umbrella though, it stands out.

For us, we just use 580exII's and bounce off the walls.

[hofajoab]

I love using off-camera flash and can be quick getting the look I want but I couldn't imagine using it at a wedding at my stage without having an assistant to help out.