Canon Rebel Xsi (be gentle)

My wife's god daughter is getting married in a few months and she has a low low low almost to the bottom budget . At first she asked one of her girlfriends to "shoot some pictures". I felt kinda bad for her and I opened my big mouth and told her I could do it with my Canon Rebel Xsi with standard EF-S 18-55mm lens. The wedding will be outside in May here in southeast Georgia, so hopefully it would be nice and bright outside. I also have a tripod that I can use.
I have always used the auto settings on the camera and pictures come out great.
I am just going out there and have fun. I just want to reach out and see if anybody has any good advise for me while I am out there.

Please be gentle

Ron

The XSi is capable of great pictures in the right hands...but...

I would strongly suggest avoiding Auto. Crappy exposure parameters aside, it will limit you to JPEGs with no latitude to rescue things in post.

Is the bride aware of your intention to "just go out there and have fun"? She may have no budget but that doesn't mean they don't have expectations (sometimes very lofty ones!).

My suggestions, in order of priority;

1 - Understand and MANAGE her expectations. Champagne tastes on beer budgets are common and CAN spell disaster for friendships in this scenario
2 - Learn enough to get off Auto...P mode is virtually as easy as Auto but give you lots more flexibility
3 - Start hunting for backup equipment (spare lens/body). Beg/borrow/steal some backup gear so that you're not pinning everything on one entry-level body

Steve,

Thanks for the kind advise!!
I have spoken to her on several occasions and she definitely does not have too high of expectations on a small budget. She really understands.
I will read my book and play with The camera in P mode the next couple of months to get familiar with the functions.
A friend of mine has a different lens for the camera but I am not sure what lens. The only thing I know it has more of a zoom capability. I will find out what lens it is.

Thanks again

Ron

A wedding, even one where the bride has low expectations, is not the place to experiment. Do what you know how to do. That being said, learning how to use exposure compensation in P mode during the next few months will probably help you a lot. It is a better way to deal with varying light situations (such as backlighting) better than the auto mode. The other thing I would recommend is to get used to using your flash for fill light when shooting outside. This is very easy to practice in the p mode and will give you much better photos.

My 2cents..
1. Get a back up camera and lens. It would be better to have it up and ready to go right away just in case your cam or lens fail.
2. Shoot in raw. Learn how to process raw files too
3. Get extra memory cards and extra batt for your cam.
4. Use a ttl capable flash, as well as extra extra batteries for it too.

Good luck and have fun. And dont panic.

Andrew

I still keep (and use very wedding) an old 8mp Rebel XT, albeit it is relegated to rare use and only with a fisheye lens. Nonetheless, consumer-grade SLR's are amply capable.

I agree with all of the recommendations thus far. The only thing I might add is to unders how to use your flash. Not sure of the nature of the day but you'll probably need to use one often. Good use of your flash can make for wonderful photos, bad use can make for awful ones. Learn how to bounce it (and why you're doing that) as well as how to balance the flash with your ambient light.

Just keep in mind some people (not all) will get their expectations up even if they pay "bottom budget". Once money is exchanged all bets are off. You would like to think that people are reasonable, but that's just human nature.

So instead of "low expectations", I would try to set "no expectations" by not accepting any payment....that is, if you are accepting a "bottom budget" payment.

The camera and lens combo should be fine outdoors. Do you have a speedlight? If not, thinking about renting one.

You need to set up shop near some of the local wedding picture spots and practice when people come through. Wedding dresses are really hard to photograph, especially outside if you don't know what you are doing. They will look so bright white that they will look like a large white blob in the pic if you aren't careful. That may be overkill on the words, but you get my point. Even in manual mode, if the camera says you are good with exposure, you are most likely not. I give the guys here lots of credit for the images they share as they really know their craft.

Shoot raw. Why not do an "engagement" shoot with them as a dry run? Most of all keep it simple (if you are going to do it)

Cheers Rob

First of all I would like to mention that this question has been received very well and the kind advice is awesome. I was kind of leary as an amateur asking proffesionals their opinion about photography. Thank you all very much!!!

1. I have talked to her again and she is definately oke with me shooting pictures and her expectations are not high. She also has her boss taking pictures as well so I will communicate with her. I guess that will be my backup camera since i don't have one besides my iphone 4s

2.I will definately not use the auto mode like a lot of you guys mentioned. I am going to practise with exposure compensation.

3. Using the flash and balance it at daylight is something new to me, probably because i have never done it before and maybe for an amatuer it does not make sense? I will look into this further so i will understand better. There is a function to change the flash brightness so I might play with that.

4. I will use the L + Raw setting so it will take 2 pictures, unless anybody suggest otherwise. The one will be large jpeg and the other one a diferent format so it will be editable on the PC. I have one 8gb and backup 2gb cards so that will be at least 400+ pictures.

5.I have a backup battery and will not panic

6.I have never heard of a speedlight, I will have to look into that.

7.The dress is ivory and not bright white so that might help a little bit. I am kinda leary about setting up shop and take pictures of strange weddings

8.They already did an engagement shoot

Again you guys...thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my question!!
It must be fun to do this for a living maybe????

Ron

Borrow a speedlite and learn to bounce the light. Shoot RAW. Don't be afraid of high ISO when it gets dark, 3200 is fine. P mode is good, and shoots RAW if you let it, auto won't shoot RAW. Forget about balance between different colored light sources for now, fix it in raw (CS6/LR) or just make it B&W - you have other things to worry about. Concentrate on building a good relationship with the couple, involve the groom - the better you get on the better the photos.

Plan your locations, and EXACTLY what photos you'll be doing there, down to where hands, feet, etc go. Then be prepared to abandon it. I just put people in a nice location/light, make them comfortable, and either engage them or tell them to ignore me.

It's fun to do it professionally, but hard work too. Last weekend I was carrying a 25kg back pack and a 15kg ladder up a hill in 30 degree heat (90F maybe) as there wasn't time to go back for anything.

Ronaundi wrote in post #15780661
6.I have never heard of a speedlight, I will have to look into that.

Speedlight = flash