First dance advice

So, my sister's wedding is this weekend, and to my own surprise I'll be shooting the first dance!
(apparently the hired photographer doesn't want to stay long enough)
She already understands that I can't guarantee any results and any shot she gets from me is a bonus.

My available gear is 5DmkII, 600D (t3i), Speedlite 430, 50mm 1.2, 16-35 F2.8 (or Tamron 17-50) and 85mm F1.8.

I was thinking I'd put the 16-38-5 (or my tamron 17-50) on the 600D and use that with flash, and have the 50mm 1.2 on the 5DmkII. My reasoning being that I don't need the most light sensitive setup when I use flash, and if the available light allows it, the 5DII with 50mm might work. I want to take some shots with each setup so I have the best chance of getting a result that's good.

Does this sound like a good strategy?

Do you guys have any protips to share? (photography related, not family management related)

I could get my hands on a remote trigger for the flash, but since I have limited experience and this is a one time only event, I don't feel comfortable using new techniques unless I really have to.

I would definitely use the 50 1.2 on the 5D because that combination on the first dance produces amazing shots, I use my 50 1.2 for first dance all the time. If you put the 16-35 2.8 on the T3i that will roughly be equivalent to 22-49 with a flash (flash in second curtain), that will give you good flexibility if you are wanting to get a larger field of view of them with the everyone looking at them.

When using the 50 1.2, I wouldn't go below 1.4 to give yourself a little extra cushion of DOF and not below 100 on shutter speed, just adjust your ISO for correct exposure. Once you hit 100 and below, the risk of camera shake/blurry pictures increase by a lot.

With putting the flash in second curtain, you have drop your shutter speed on the T3i down to 1/20th max and a lot of the pictures will still be sharp but the background slightly blurry.

Good luck and happy shooting!

I'm thinking the 1/100 may be a touch too slow considering there will be subject movement due to the dancing. I'd suggest keeping it simple so that you can concentrate on your composition and nailing focus as the song will be over before you know it.

jefzor wrote in post #17517096
So, my sister's wedding is this weekend, and to my own surprise I'll be shooting the first dance!
(apparently the hired photographer doesn't want to stay long enough)

My guess is that it's probably because that hired photographer isn't being paid to stay that long. You get what you pay for, depending on the quality and demeanor of the photog, of course.

idkdc wrote in post #17517532
My guess is that it's probably because that hired photographer isn't being paid to stay that long. You get what you pay for, depending on the quality and demeanor of the photog, of course.

thats what i was thinking
the bottom line is every wedding is different there are no formulas so assess the situation and use the best tools for the job good luck

If the ceiling is white and low you can bounce and get fantastic results. But sometimes you don't get that lucky.

Definitely pick up the triggers, they're so cheap that it's inexcusable to not have some!

To give you another perspective
I
f you're taking some with flash, take some without too, you can get beautiful photos without flash with more mood of the moment in them.

or have it down low so you still get some movement, This one the flash fired but at low power

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/raEh​co

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/rQd3​wa

Moved out of the photo sharing forum to the Talk forum.

Thank you very much for the quick responses, I knew I came to the right place.

I'm going with these settings:
5DII with 50mm 1.2 at ISO 3200 or 6400, 1/160s (or slower if needed) F2 (or faster if needed).
600D with 16-35 at 1/15s, flash at -2/3, experiment with focal length, bounce if the ceiling allows it.

Of course if the lighting situation is radically different than what I expected, I'll adjust.


The hired photographer is the kind that specialises in posed shots, not candids, and I'm pretty sure she's already paying more than enough. I don't really care if I'm being taken advantage of, it's my sister and I'm willing to do this for her. I'm planning on doing wedding photography in the future, so experience and portfolio building are a nice bonus.

Sounds great, good luck!

get an idea of what the venue is like, then plan appropriately. Hard to go wrong with the 50L, at worst, you'll have good results.

+1 on the guy that said try with and without flash. You do get ample time to experiment, a dance will be a few minutes. Just try every angle.....

jefzor wrote in post #17517746
The hired photographer is the kind that specialises in posed shots, not candids, and I'm pretty sure she's already paying more than enough. I don't really care if I'm being taken advantage of, it's my sister and I'm willing to do this for her. I'm planning on doing wedding photography in the future, so experience and portfolio building are a nice bonus.

Specializing in posed shots. Ew. Unless they're gorgeous shots, but it sounds like the pre-newspaper-fall (where the pulitzer winners and staff photographers quit and followed the money to wedding and brought their photojournalism with them) type of style. If they can't handle the dance, then your sister is really paying too much. I would do the same in your situation. Good luck and let us know how it goes or if you need a after-the-fact critique/debriefing. Grabbing focus will be your biggest challenge, depending on your venue.

So uhm, one more question: I was going to use M at first, but if I fiddle with settings 10 seconds per body I'd lose 20 precious seconds, and it might not even work well if the lights change. Is Av/Tv the way to go then? (Tv on 600D with flash, Av on 5D)

About the photographer: They're a team I think. The posed shots in the portfolio look very good, so I think it's more about specialization and style than not being able to handle candids.
https://www.pinterest.​com/MotionPictures1/we​dding/

Only if you're outdoors during the day and the light's changing a lot, or there's enough light in general. If you're indoors, and the lighting ain't changing much, use manual unless you really don't have confidence in that mode. It shouldn't take 10 seconds of fiddling. Av will lead to way too long exposure times in the dark (I'm guessing the first dance is in the evening). I think 100% of the wedding photographers that I've worked with shoot 100% of the time in manual, but I think there are times for Av. I never shoot Tv because I like to control my aperture for weddings. It's more of a sports photographer setting. If there's a garter or bouquet toss and the light's changing a lot, then maybe Tv has its merits.

I guess. Do you know how much they're charging her? Still seems strange to me that a company with motion in their name refuses to capture event stuff; kind of the point of wedding photography: capture memories and such. My opinion is that posed photos are last decade, but just voicing preferences here. First dance is kind of a big deal. Good on you for picking up where the company won't.

So if you think you can handle manual, use manual. Use Av/Tv as a crutch or if the light changes too frequently for you to keep up, at the risk of trusting the camera's metering too much.