My first wedding shot as a second shooter. Tips needed

[professorman]

Well,I found out that WITH a flash, auto ISO does not work anymore, and my ISO sticks to 400. What ISO do you guys recommend for 'in the chapel' shooting? My shutter speeds were WAY too slow with my f/2.8 Tamron with flash. I realized after reading the manual that Auto ISO is fixed to 400 whenever there is a flash attached, no matter the mode.

[tim]

In churches i'm typically at ISO1600-3200, F2.8, 1/30th to 1/100th. Since you're not using an IS lens you may need a tripod.

[professorman]

Oh, okay. I did not know I had freedom to go that high on the ISO and still get quality printable wedding shots. I think I used ISO 800-1250.

[PMCphotography]

Well you can always clean up some noise after you get the shot, but if the shot is blurred because of a slow shutter speed, there's no fix.

[professorman]

I think I did pretty decent for my first wedding. I ended up using the 50 f/1.4 for most of the shots in the church. When I took sample pictures before the ceremony started, I liked the pictures from the 50 1.4 without flash more than the Tamron with flash. The main photographer was using direct flash with a flash bracket on his Nikon. The ceilings were too high to use any sort of bounce flash. I normally use a index card bounce on my flash, but I did not want to risk anything crazy happening, so whenever I used my Tamron, I used direct flash. I know I still have a lot to learn, and practice. I also need to "know" my 50D as much as I "know" my rebel.

[PMCphotography]

even if the priest says flash is okay i've only used flash in a church once, at an afternoon wedding in winter when it was pouring rain and even using a 50 f/1.4 at ISO 3200 shutter speeds were still a bit too low. I think flash ruins some of the ambience inside the church, personally.

But to each their own.

[EnglishBob]

I've shot 3 weddings in churches and Flash photography was banned during the procession in and out, as well as the actual ceremony. I was allowed to use flash for the formals taken in the church before and after the ceremony but not during.

Definitely go to the rehearsal, you will need to see what lighting you are going to have to deal with. The last one I was at had a mixture of Flourescent and tungsten lighting, made the WB a nightmare to deal with.