Beach Wedding Pointers

Hi All,

Well here's the thing. My Sister and her Fiance have decided to get married on the beach in the Caribbean this summer, from what I understand they are going to have a photographer friend there, but would like me to do some as well. Bride will be in white, groom in white/black dress uniform.

I have an XSI + 18-55mm IS kit lens, 10-20mm, 24-105mm IS, 70-200mm f4 IS. I am thinking a flash will be in order.... would the 580EX II be the best to get or will any suffice? I have not done any wedding photography as I usually just shoot wildlife, scenery, vacations, etc. Any other recommendations on gear to pick up before the big day? I am asking early so I can gather the stuff I need well in advance and do a bit of praciticing locally. Any other pointers with expoures etc would be much appreciated.

Thank you in advance!!

trophy_23 wrote in post #8974923
Hi All,

Well here's the thing. My Sister and her Fiance have decided to get married on the beach in the Caribbean this summer, from what I understand they are going to have a photographer friend there, but would like me to do some as well. Bride will be in white, groom in white/black dress uniform.

I have an XSI + 18-55mm IS kit lens, 10-20mm, 24-105mm IS, 70-200mm f4 IS. I am thinking a flash will be in order.... would the 580EX II be the best to get or will any suffice? I have not done any wedding photography as I usually just shoot wildlife, scenery, vacations, etc. Any other recommendations on gear to pick up before the big day? I am asking early so I can gather the stuff I need well in advance and do a bit of praciticing locally. Any other pointers with expoures etc would be much appreciated.

Thank you in advance!!

Your gear is more than enough, especially if you're not the main shooter.

a 580 would be the ideal, but really, any speedlite would work. If you haven't used one much before, make sure you practice a bit before you use it on real people.

THanks for the reply.... yes practice is why I am asking a good 8months early. Pretty much as soon as I was asked I want to start figuring this out.

Cheers!

I just came back from Nova Scotia where I was a guest at my niece's beach wedding. One thing to be careful about: the wind blowing hair in the bride's eyes. My niece was too caught up in the moment to even realize that it was happening or that it mattered and every single shot, in formals and otherwise, had hair in her face and eyes. She was devastated when she saw the prints and the photographer was clueless. You might want to point this out to her ahead of time so she is conscious of it. (Brides with beach weddings should consider their hairstyle, many don't....) It is YOUR job to remind her to brush it out of her eyes, or you need to wait for the wind to blow it out. Also, she probably won't have a make up artist with her, and if it is hot, you want to avoid having hotspots on her face from sweat. During ceremony, you deal with what is, but in the formal posed shots, you can do something about it. Bring tissues for blotting her forehead/nose/cheeks, and powder to dull the shine. it is much easier to deal with those things BEFORE, than it is to try to photoshop it out afterwards. Just sayin'.

That's a good tip about hair in her eyes. Perhaps reviewing the first image or two in each formal set is a good idea. I don't seem to though, but I have an assistant to watch out for details.

At a beach wedding you'll probably need lots of flash, to balance the strong sunlight. A 580EX II would be a great flash, and it can take a CP-E4 battery pack. That'll help with recharge time, and the 580EX II has thermal protection. If i'm taking lots of photos in strong sun I keep one flash in the shade and swap occasionally, as the top of the flash gets pretty hot otherwise.

Shooting on the beach is kinda hard. Wedding dresses are reflective, so they're often 2-3 stop brighter than the brides face. That means expose for the face and try to bring back the highlights a bit, or expose for the dress and make the face brighter later. I tend to go for the former, personally.

I have just finished my 1st beach wedding....full sun and strong wind. The wind was so strong during the ceremony the bridesmaid had to hold her veil down the whole time. Lots of PP cropping and cloneing .

Another thing to watch out for is sand. It was also being whipped up from the wind and as I realized after veiwing my shots at home...a grain of sand was in almost all of my shots.....
stuck to my lens. More PP.

Yet another thing I found difficult was veiwing my screen in the sun....trying to check my shots and the histogram was a nightmare. I felt I was flying blind most of the time.

All this said.....the shots turned out fine and I have a couple of great beach shots to add to my portfolio.
As stated above...I exposed for the faces and used a 580exII speedlight.
good luck cheers Val

You definitely want to be careful about the sand and sea spray. I would recommend picking a lens and shooting with that one the whole time on the beach - you don't want to be changing lenses and have salt spray or sand get inside. Even worse, you don't want to drop either the lens of camera into the sand when the two are seperated. Since you are not the main, I am not sure how much of the formals shooting you intend to do. One thing that can be nice is taking a different angle then the main for a different perspective. If he is shooting tight, you go wide and vice-versa. I for one like a few shots of the B&G or wedding party looking off camera, but don't go crazy with it. As for flash, you may or may not need it on the beach depending upon the time of day and direction of the sun - but you WILL need it for the reception if you plan to shoot that. If you do need it on the beach, you should get either a colored diffuser of soemthing like the demb flip-it that can hold colored gels. You'll probably have to fire the flash directly, but the flip-t's filter holder will come in handy if you can take several colored gels to match the late day sun.

What time is the ceremony?

If the main is paid... please stay out of his way. There is nothing more annoying. Be aware of where he/she is and don't block any shots. Same with formals if he is a paid photog. Just let them do it. Take all the candids and details you want. Even snap a few of the B&G just dont go around acting like the main.

However, you said they are having a photographer friend there. If this is just a friend with a camera such as yourself, do whatever you want. Take control and let the guest think you are the main!

I'd probably pop on the 24-105 for the ceremony shots if you will be behind them any. If not, use the 70-200. Don't do too much switching on the beach. If you do, do it quickly and carefully. Bring something to clean your lens with as ocean spray will surely get the lens wet. If you don't flip it around and look at it every now and then you might not even notice. So pay attention to that.

timbop wrote in post #8996923
You definitely want to be careful about the sand and sea spray. I would recommend picking a lens and shooting with that one the whole time on the beach - you don't want to be changing lenses and have salt spray or sand get inside. Even worse, you don't want to drop either the lens of camera into the sand when the two are seperated. Since you are not the main, I am not sure how much of the formals shooting you intend to do. One thing that can be nice is taking a different angle then the main for a different perspective. If he is shooting tight, you go wide and vice-versa. I for one like a few shots of the B&G or wedding party looking off camera, but don't go crazy with it. As for flash, you may or may not need it on the beach depending upon the time of day and direction of the sun - but you WILL need it for the reception if you plan to shoot that. If you do need it on the beach, you should get either a colored diffuser of soemthing like the demb flip-it that can hold colored gels. You'll probably have to fire the flash directly, but the flip-t's filter holder will come in handy if you can take several colored gels to match the late day sun.

all excellent advice! I highly recommend not switching lenses on the beach.....especially since you are just there as a friend and not a main shooter. Sand travels into the tiniest spaces!

1downfall wrote in post #9002539
all excellent advice! I highly recommend not switching lenses on the beach.....especially since you are just there as a friend and not a main shooter. Sand travels into the tiniest spaces!

I learned that the hard way the first beach wedding i did. changed lenses, and almost instantly sand was EVERYWHERE inside my camera!