Please help(first wedding shoot on Sat)

lol. thise quote is priceless!

tim wrote in post #2862672
Wedding FAQ: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=255604

Given your question: P mode, flash on ETTL, it should do ok.

Dude..........
Asking this kind of question NOW only tells me you are about to throw yourself to the wolves.

Here is the thread, give it a read:
https://photography-on-the.net …+about+shooting​+a+wedding

For convenience, I have quoted the OP's post:

Curtis N wrote in post #1918601
Before you book your first wedding, consider this.
Author’s note: After seeing yet another “What lenses do I need to do weddings?” thread, I decided to write this instead of launching into a ranting tirade.

After my grandmother’s death we were cleaning out her house and sorting through her belongings. I looked up on her living room wall and noticed two photographs – pictures that I had seen hundreds of times and studied thoroughly.

They were full-length bridal portraits, printed 16 x 20 and nicely framed. They were my grandmother’s two daughters (my mother and my aunt).

Each was a fantastic photograph in its own right. Two beautiful young women, two stunning bridal gowns. They were taken by different photographers, in different churches, and yet they were so similar that they made a matching set.

These prints hung on my grandmother’s living room wall for over forty years until she died. They were a perfect representation of a mother’s pride in the girls she had raised. Forty years. Every guest she ever had in her home looked at them. They were too prominent not to notice. Over the years, my grandmother redecorated several times, painted, replaced furniture, and rearranged things. She replaced other artwork on her walls. But these two pictures remained. They were that important. They were irreplaceable.

They represent the essence of wedding photography. They captured that moment in a woman’s life when she embarks on her own journey toward motherhood and raising kids of her own. That moment when a woman must now take all that her parents have taught her and use that knowledge and wisdom for the next phase of her life. It’s that moment when a mom and dad will look at their daughter in a wedding gown, then look to each other, with a knowing smile that exudes pride in the accomplishment of raising a little girl and preparing her for the world.

And that moment, captured timelessly through the magic of photography, was preserved in my grandmother’s heart for the rest of her years. She went through good times and bad in that house. My grandfather died young and she lived the second half of her life as a widow. There must have been lonely times, but she could always look up at those bridal portraits of her daughters proudly and remember happier days.

So, all you would-be wedding photogs, are you ready for this kind of responsibility? Are you prepared to capture flawlessly a moment that will only happen once? Are you prepared to create images that will hang on someone’s wall for the next forty years?

Are you ready to have your pictures compared to the ones from the bride’s sister’s wedding? Because they will be. Do you have the confidence to display your work next to that of a seasoned pro? Because sooner or later, that will happen. And your skills will be evaluated by hundreds of people who gaze upon the same prints over a period of decades.

And the parents of that bride will either see their daughter, with her beaming expression captured at a triumphant moment of her life, or they will see a lackluster image and forever wish they had hired someone else to take the pictures. You see, forty years later, they won’t remember that they saved a few bucks by hiring someone cheap. They won’t remember that you told them you don’t have any experience doing weddings and not to expect great results. The only memories they will have will be the photographs themselves.

You could bake the best wedding cake in the world, and a year later no one will remember if it was chocolate or vanilla. You can expertly videotape a wedding, and the tape will be viewed a few times before collecting dust in a drawer.

But if you photograph a wedding, your work will be displayed to the world for years to come. Your pictures will be on the wall in the bride and groom’s house, and the parents of the bride, the parents of the groom, and probably grandparents, too. On a daily basis for decades to come, someone, somewhere will gaze upon one of your images and remember that day.

You have one chance. Failure is not an option. Are you ready?

bcap, great point BUT, as he has pointed out, he has been practicing on his sister with over a 1000 shots and has done 2 weddings for fun AND is doing this one as the main photog for cheap. Surely he is more than ready and capable??

lol

LOL I hope you are joking csm328, are you smarter than that

"What setting to shoot at"? Comon! LOL

Here, shoot at these settings and let us know how the photos come out:

ISO 100, f/22 and 1/2000.

did you see the post by tim? I thought that was pretty funny. and, yes, i was joking. i'm getting married in September and have 2 pro's coming to shoot it. I need all the professional help I can get to look good in a photo.

csm328 wrote in post #2864083
I need all the professional help I can get to look good in a photo.

Haha!

Yeah when I get married I'll probably have like 18 pro photogs and I'll interrogate each one of them to make sure they knwo what the hell they're talking about lol.

It is so easy to say to a beginner that they are not ready and should forget shooting a wedding. Some think the world is a better place if they simply either went away or maybe carried equipment around for a "seasoned" pro for a year or two and slowly picked up the inside skinny on settings and techniques while developing a bad back for no money.

But I always give people the benefit of the doubt and assume that they are going to give it their best and maybe the couple they will shoot for do not have any other options for photography. And maybe the new shooter has something to say creatively and has a wonderful eye that will not produce the typical sterile "posed" wedding shots?

So what is gained by telling this person not to shoot because they lack the experience? .. is it so difficult to simply answer with a tip or two as others have?

I would think if some shooters have the time to reply to this thread three & four times adding nothing but attempts at humor at the OP's expense then they have a lot of time on their hands .. is their wealth of hard earned knowledge and perfected techniques not keeping them busy enough?

The OP asked for suggested settings, not career advice.
Mike

Mike,

I am all for encouraging someone along the way. I love helping people. Always have and always will. If this was a post like "I am attending a wedding as a guest, any tips you guys have to produce some nice shots?" that is different.

The OP is going out as the main photographer and asking us what settings to use. I would have reacted differently if the question was somethign along the lines of "which lens would you guys prefer to use for the church at a wedding? Portraits?" or even something like "What ISO does you guys usually shoot at in the church?". But not "What settings to use".

How is it that one can do 2 weddings and not have a grasp on the basic principles of photography?

I am not discouraging or putting him down, I am saying that I think he should learn the basics before going onto shooting weddings.

Bryan

Mike,

I'm with Brian. I'm all for giving tips, suggestions, advice and comments, but when it comes to questions like "what settings to use". I see nothing but red flags go up all over the place that this person doesn't have a clue! It's like, what's the best camera...what's the best lens...what's the best flash? Answer...there is no "best" one, and if there is, it's based on your own personal opinion or experience. Oh, experience, and how do you get that? Yeah, you go out and shoot and get a good grasp of the basics before moving on to more challenging things like weddings. Everyone experiments a little (with photography) at a wedding, but the whole event should not be an experiment.

davidgr wrote in post #2864454
Mike,

I'm with Brian. I'm all for giving tips, suggestions, advice and comments, but when it comes to questions like "what settings to use". I see nothing but red flags go up all over the place

No problem .. and I don't disagree with Bryan's sentiments but he has made 6 posts on this thread and I'm pretty sure the OP got his point the first time .. but the other five

Anyhow it's not my business .. I offered a setting suggestion and others did as well .. maybe the OP can help us someday, and maybe some have misjudged his experience level.
Mike

Or maybe we're just having a bit of fun with a fellow photog? I'm sure his skin is thick enough to take a little bit of harmless banter, after all, if he gets it wrong, he'll get a lot worse from the client.

First i would like to say Thx to all that has given me i nice reply and helpfull ones. And then to all the not so nice people and snobs out there go............ Let me leave it at that. Simple Q simple answers no need to be rude or being ....... Guys and girls like you that causes people not to ask Q. Well it was still worth asking cause there was people that was nice enough to actually answer the Q.

I know my cam and know how to shot go see the Bird thread. I am doing a friend a fav and thought i would do some homework cause i know shooting people and shooting birds is not the same. I have spend 78 hours doing my homework and practised on PS for PP works. All i asked was the best setting for shooting people(wedding). Any seeting is fine with me and i know how to use it.

In the end thx to all that replyed nicely and P.... off the rest off you. Oh and if the glove fits.

I think if you want some good suggestions and help, you should grab a book on the topic and read read read. Or try some websites on the topic. Tips are good on a forum, but they are too scattered and non-structured to really help.

Asking for the best setting to shoot people isn't really a good question honestly. If you shoot birds, then u should know that all settings really depends on the lighting condition and such. Also, this questions has been asked numerous of times, and have never really gotten good results.

Cheers and good luck.

bcap wrote in post #2863352
I am not trying to sound harsh, but, I don't understand why people who are asking what settings to use are shooting weddings.

You may be a very experienced photographer. But, if you were, you wouldn't be asking what settings to use. No one can tell you what settings to use. They don't know what kind of overhead lights are in the church, how much outside lights are coming in from the stain glass windows, whether it is even in a church, or maybe it's outside.

You didn't give any specifics, just, "What settings should I use for a wedding". Well my response, is "any setting that produces a great image".

Sure you need to start somewhere but you don't start at weddings. You do casual portraits, sports, fun family photos, etc, for several years before you even consider doing a wedding.

Just my opinion. Sorry for being harsh.

I am no where near ready to shoot a wedding, but I have landed an apprenticeship as an assistant with a local wedding photog this summer. This is the kind of experience you need. Learn from the pros, observe what they do and figure out why their shots come out so great.

When you are completely comfortable with your shots and ready to shoot a wedding, you won't be asking "what setting do I use".

The Wedding is on a beach in South-African sun Maybe i should add that for more info on my Q