Wedding On The Beach

Hey everyone, this is my first post to these forums, I was referred by this photographer I met at a wedding this past weekend. Looks interesting.

I live in California, and the couple will be getting married at a country club so the sun will be over the water with the sun coming at me.

The reception is held in a white tent (kinda like a circus tent, but just plain white).

There will be track lighting inside the tent.

My setup as for right now until I get suggestion is.

Canon Rebel XTi w/Battery Pack mounted to the bottom
24-105mm 4.0/L IS USM
100-300mm 2.8/L IS USM
17-40mm forget specs.
430EX Flash

Need suggestions or opinions on flash brackets as well as diffusers and bouncers

When did they start making "100-300mm 2.8/L IS USM"?????

My apologies, it is the 100-400 4.5-5.6 L IS USM. Wow, I blew that one.

Here's some things for you to chew on:

• You need a faster lens for the dark spots - like the reception: EF 17-55 f/2.8 IS is a good lens. There are similar lenses made by Tamron/Sigma/Tokina if the price for the Canon is too much.
  
• Sigma 30mm f/1.4, EF 50mm f/1.4, EF 84 f/1.8 are all good options for fast primes
  
• Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 is a good value. A very capable lens, though it does, sometimes, have problems gaining a focus lock in dark environments - like the reception. I used it to shoot my first two weddings and missed some shots because it wouldn't reliably focus lock.
  
• I would avoid the EF 50mm f/1.8. It's cheap, it's noisy when it focuses, has problems locking focus in dark environs.
  
• Brackets - I like the Newton Di100FR2 Flash Rotator (here). They say it's a flash rotator, but it works like no other flash rotator out there. It's quite nice, very stable and rigid, and when you're done, will compact nicely into your bag.
  
• Diffuser - check out the Joe Demb Jumbo on this page.
  
• Bouncers - I'm guessing you mean reflectors How about a ceiling, a wall, the white shirt of the guy next to you. Sounds funny, but I'm not joking.

What if you get sand in your only body? Better have a backup.

Thank you very much for your input, I've researched the items listed above, and it all looks good. Have a great day.

I think you should be fine with the assortment of lenses that you have for now if it's your first wedding and it's going to be all during the day in the sun. But future work where low light conditions are involved, f2.8 seems like a must.

I'd invest in a second body as mentioned above.... you can really ruin someones special day by not having back up equipment

I would think light should be ok, tents usually let in ambient light as well as the indoor lighting, of course they make lovely flash bouncers too!

So f4 should cut it ok. With IS you can technically pull off a shot in lower light than with a f2.8 non IS, so its 50/50 really.

awesome, again thanks for the input, do you get what you pay for when buying a flash bracket? or is there some type of happy medium that you could achieve?

as far as the camera body goes, should i get another XTi body? i really wish to invest in the full fledged D series, but that might take some time. hope everyone is well.