Help!!! How to shoot wedding event using simple SLR?

[stormjumper]

just wanna add my 2 exposures worth, having covered a few wedding for close frens, with satisfactory but unspectacular results.

1. it's better to have a standard zoom lens than a super wide angle if you have only 1 body. the super wide is for effect shots, otherwise mainly used for the bread and butter dinner table production line.

furthermore, the album looks funny (for lack of a better word) if it's predominantly shot in 28mm or wider.

2. go to the venue beforehand, and do a mental simulation of the events that take place, the more detailed the better. then visualise where you stand, who you shoot, and how you compose.

3. if you're shooting the wedding banquet only, dun put too much pressure on yourself. most *normal* couples just expect passable dinner table shots.

4. if you can, borrow/rent/steal a big flash, test it beforehand and use iso 200 film. haven't been able to control the grain on iso 400 print film (esp Kodak), but maybe i'm technically not up to par.

5. why not consider getting a few close frens to pool an "extra" wedding gift of a amateur wedding photographer? you can still shoot, without the pressure. in all likelihood, your photos will come out better and the couple will be impressed with you as well.

have fun, and have a good shoot.

 

[espn]

u mean wat you say...RUDE.. :angry: ...how did you qualify to say I have not been shooting? I'm not confident as I have never touched wedding photography before....and wat best film and equipment....I know that 2...It's the skills that count....Dun you have your first time to take photo....Please dun comment without any justification as I consider that RUDE and even RUDER

Skill is one thing but understanding your equipment and knowing what film to use and when to use what len is another issue.

Cheers,

 

[Virgo]

I agree with catchlighs on this. Ladybird, 2100 is trying his best to give you whatever advice he can give, and for him to be able to do this, he needs info on what lens you have, how confident you are with your cam,etc. You may be holding a good cam, but taking good wedding pics is another cup of tea altogether. Keep cool bro!

You may be a pro in other areas of photography, but not in weddings. IMHO, 2100's questions are definitely valid. Don't just feel offended OK?

Now my 1 cent worth, if you don't mind. You should first let your friend know you're no expert in wedding photography, although he/she may see that you can take good pictures in other areas. Try to be frank with him/her, so that you manage his/her expections, not the other way round. We here just don't want your relationship with your friend to turn sour. I have seen too many of such cases! Believe me, wedding photography is definitely very different from the rest. Not only is taxing in the mind, it's triple stressful physically too.

Secondly, you may want to call any one of us here to tag along, maybe to give some guidance or what. Don't have to feel shy about this. We're all here to learn. I'm sure a lot of us will be more than happy to help you along, me included.

Lastly, you may like to view some of my wedding pics here. May be you'll like it, may be you don't. May be your friend will like it, may be he/she don't. It's all about communication and managing of expectations here. You should be the one managing it. All the best.

 

[wshooter]

Please take this positively, allow me to add some points. A wedding easily spans from 6am to nearly 11pm at night with just a few hours of rest in the afternoon, if you are lucky. Being the role of 'brothers' or 'sisters' is already stressful and tiring enough for so many hours, not to mention having the official role of taking pictures. The wedding process usually does not halt for anyone, once you have missed something that's it. You will be taking pictures under demanding situations like backlighting, indoors, outdoors with sunlight, very dimly lit banquet with spotlights and chandeliers, just to name a few. Murphy's law will definitely apply, what can go wrong will go wrong. Do you have enough batteries? Can you change film fast when it runs out? Can you manage your shots so that you have enough to last for a process and not having to change another roll thus panic? And this is just the very basics, it doesn't guarantee good pictures with soul and a story to tell.

Please do not be mad, I am sure all the advice here meant good. It is obvious you are still figuring out the basics of photography. If you have ample experience in other areas similar, then at least you might just scrape through even though you have no experience in this.

For your own sake, I really advise hiring someone to do the job. Even then you can enjoying shooting in the background covering things. What people have said is right, friends and relatives have the false impression that X and Y can do the job because he or she has a good camera, but there is much more to it in reality.

Good day! :lovegrin:

 

[Yildun]

I am not a wedding photographer.

I have taken ROM pics for one of my friends b4 and done videography for another. Those r good experiences and fun, probably coz I simple turned up on the day with my SLR/videocam without them knowing, 'out of goodwill'.

End of the day, i just drop my rolls at the photo shop and dump the processed negatives and prints/cdrom of the video to the respective groom. The pictures didn't turn out nice, coz its my first attempt, but I didnt care, coz there were no expectations whatsoever in the first place. (video was nice thou, cos its my 2nd try at ROM). They thanked me, and we r still friends.

Now imagine I was actually being asked to do it.


I have read an article about why u should not be the main wedding photographer for your friends and family and engage a pro. To summarise:

(1) U r the friend/family, u r invited to celebrate and enjoy the occassion, not stress yourself out.

(2) Its a once in a lifetime thing they want to record. no opportunity for failure. Failure can mean being late, equipment failure, etc.
(DSLR r not foolproof also)

(3) Because they requsted for it, expectations r there. Not just from the couple but their family and friends as well.

(4) Its stressful because u dont know how to react when problems arise. (may be due to u or someone)

(5) The "assignment" does not start when the bride/groom wakes up on that day, neither does it stop when the dinner ends

(6) They deserve better, and u know it.

(7) Murphy says u shouldnt do it. Let someone else screw up.

(8) Your friend wont hate u if u engage a pro when he/she doesn't have to spend a penny

(9) Enjoy the wedding

 

[arttl]

There are Pro Wedding Photographers in the States who use Leica ONLY to shoot the entire wedding.

It is not even a SLR but they charge from US$5K and above.

So what do you think is the factor that sells the photographer? The equipment or the photographer himself?

If you are going for TOTALLY journalistic style of photography, even a rangefinder can do the job. It all depends on your style and what is most comfortable to you, as the main photographer.

Just trying to help you 'see some light' into professional wedding photography. Hmm... but I'm not even there yet myself! :bsmilie:

Enjoy! :thumbsup:

 

[catchlights]

I hate to say this, but want to say this for the rest of the readers here also:

When a wedding couple say due to budget constrain, so the resort of asking friends to help out in wedding day photography. But have everyone seriously do a calculation, how much can the couple save in term money if the qualities are the same?

Lets compare this amount and the total budget they throw in their wedding day preparation. The wedding day photo album is the only record of the wedding day and is for them keeps for the rest of the life, can this saving be justified? Is it worth it?

If couple don’t have any expectation on wedding day photos, that's fine, in this case, many of our CSers here don’t have any stress at all in helping out friends in shooting wedding day.

Why don’t get some sponsors for your friend’s wedding day? So you may enjoy on that day and she will treasure the friendships and wedding day album even more.

Hope this help.