Please help(first wedding shoot on Sat)

mmahoney wrote in post #2864178
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

Appreciate what you said here. Thx

bcap wrote in post #2864349
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

Maybe i stated my Q crap but then atleast ask or do your homework before crapping on people. Have been on this site 2 or 3 weeks and just in these threads i get comments like this. All rude and .... Ag whatever dude. Do your homework before you judge people.

WLR wrote in post #2868867
Bravo...Bravo........

WLR

PLease explain you comment

Re: Quote by Curtis N via Bcap.

Bravo. BRAVO !!

WLR

Shooting birds and shooting people aren't so different. It's all about the light.

here's my advice since you've taken some time to look at PP with PS: Shoot all your pics in RAW. At least then you have a better chance of saving them if your settings aren't quite right. Be sure to come back and post them so we can see.

csm328 wrote in post #2868894
here's my advice since you've taken some time to look at PP with PS: Shoot all your pics in RAW. At least then you have a better chance of saving them if your settings aren't quite right. Be sure to come back and post them so we can see.

Thx for your advice but why would i bother posting it here when this is the way people reply. Not intrested thx.
Always shoot in raw thx

Your choice. I think you really need to '...eat some rocks and harden up...' instead of being so pathetically weepy. Let's face it, you asked a pretty silly question and backed that up by stating that you were the lead photog for a real wedding and now you're surprised, hurt, let-down, sad, shallow, feminine about the fact that you got some honest, negative comments. grow up. in reality, everyone was trying to dissuade you from getting in over your head and potentially ruining a day that will be captured forever (or at least 40 years) by your little camera. don't ask questions that you don't want real answers to and especially don't expect sympathy when you won't listen. don't care if you're interested in posting here or not although a lot of us could show you some great PP tips that might acctually help you. don't let the door hit you on the way out.

KTollig wrote in post #2868547
Maybe i stated my Q crap but then atleast ask or do your homework before crapping on people. Have been on this site 2 or 3 weeks and just in these threads i get comments like this. All rude and .... Ag whatever dude. Do your homework before you judge people.

Man, I am not knocking you as a photographer at all.

I saw your postings in the bird section, your bird shots are absolutely incredible. They are honestly stunning and I know don't worry about not getting many comments on them over there, because, seriously, they are drop dead gorgeous shots. You obviously have a great tallent.

This is where I get confused. You can take these STELLAR shots of these rare birds using your 400mm 2.8 IS (which I'm sure isn't easy to use), but then you come onto a wedding forum and ask "what settings do I use for a wedding?" This is implying that you don't understand the basics of photography: DOF, Focus issues, etc.

Again, I am not knocking you, but simply asking you to do YOUR homework before posting something like this. There are posts all over the place with "favorite lens", "favorite camera", "list of great shots for a wedding", "favorite angles", etc.

To ask "what is the best setting" is WAY too general.

What if I asked YOU this: "I am going out to shoot some penguins this weekend, what setting I should use?"

You can't answer this! No matter how incredible you are at shooting birds! There are way too many variables involved. That is all I'm saying.

Best of luck at the wedding, and no hard feelings I hope.

Bryan

WLR wrote in post #2868888
Re: Quote by Curtis N via Bcap.

Bravo. BRAVO !!

WLR

I'm lost

csm328 wrote in post #2869132
Your choice. I think you really need to '...eat some rocks and harden up...' instead of being so pathetically weepy. Let's face it, you asked a pretty silly question and backed that up by stating that you were the lead photog for a real wedding and now you're surprised, hurt, let-down, sad, shallow, feminine about the fact that you got some honest, negative comments. grow up. in reality, everyone was trying to dissuade you from getting in over your head and potentially ruining a day that will be captured forever (or at least 40 years) by your little camera. don't ask questions that you don't want real answers to and especially don't expect sympathy when you won't listen. don't care if you're interested in posting here or not although a lot of us could show you some great PP tips that might acctually help you. don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Well put

I don't understand why there is so mush hostility in towards new-be wedding photographers. Its just this group -Weddings- Any of the other areas of this board seem extra willing to help someone who needs it and offer up advise. I guess the Wedding forum needs some kind of disclaimer on it. One word comes to mind when I read these posts arrogance.

Best of Luck on the wedding KT. Don't let a few ruin what you can learn from this thread, there are more good teachers here than what have posted here.

I have no hostility towards new-be wedding photogs.

I am no where NEAR the calliber of a wedding photog and hope to be able to get up there one day. I shoot sports portraits and action photography.

I am in no way arrogant, but you are saying that you have no problem with somenoe saying they are doing a wedding on their own and asking us what setting to use? That shows me that the person isn't confident in their skills and doesn't udnerstand the basics of the camera.

It is not like other forums because weddings are a very serious affair. Please refer to the link I provided a few posts up regarding this.

I see that KTollig has been pretty well beat up already - some of it deserved, and the nasty stuff not really warranted - so I won't throw any more gas on the fire. But I did come across this nicely written article on Photo.net :

http://photo.net …a-fetch-msg?msg_id=009H0z

Even though it was written back in 2004, I feel it's well done and hits on the salient points of the WEDDING DAY and your importance in making sure that all goes well. Some of the reader comments are quite interesting also. It is quite relevent though to the current discussion.

Bottom line, when we are asked or contracted to do a wedding we are entering into an implied "sacred trust" to create images of certain things that will NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. The article points this out. That trust may not be precisely spelled out in the body of the contract, but it certainly is there in the minds of the participants. How we pull this off is frequently debated and discussed on these pages.

People who are bitten by the wedding photography bug should consider where they fall on what I like to refer as the Competence Triangle. The 3 points on this triangle are EGC: E - Experience, G - Gear, and C - Confidence. You must have ALL of these in some measure to do the job.

It is possible for a very experienced individual with strong confidence to do a beautiful job with only modest gear. But conversly, you can have the best gear in the world and make a hash of things if you lack the experience and the confidence to pull things off. All of us here have these three components - they just vary in proportion and depth. And that variance shows in the type of work we produce.

A true 'pearl' of wisdom. And when someone won't listen to what we're saying when we're trying to help, they deserve some directness.