Wedding Photography


desertstrike

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Sep 29, 2008
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hi guys, which of my lens is more suitable for wedding photography in church? Anything that i would need to look out for?

my lens are:
1. 18-105mm
2. 35mm f1.8
3. 10-24mm
4. 70-300mm vr

I am using D90 with SB700, thanks!
 

If u go flashless, i think only 35 f1.8 can just manage .. the rest would not be sufficient even with vr. D90 only produce acceptable image at iso 1600, any higher its noisy.

Fyi, for church wedding, i ofter tune up my d700 to iso 6400 and with a 35 f2 len. Church wedding if very demanding of ur gear, cos mostly no flash is allow.
 

Please attend the pre-wedding briefing. The father in charge will tell you what you need to know.
 

If u go flashless, i think only 35 f1.8 can just manage .. the rest would not be sufficient even with vr. D90 only produce acceptable image at iso 1600, any higher its noisy.

Fyi, for church wedding, i ofter tune up my d700 to iso 6400 and with a 35 f2 len. Church wedding if very demanding of ur gear, cos mostly no flash is allow.

Hmm... The bride told me can use flash... So what's ur recommended setting on using flash?
 

Most church wedding allow flash, but for me i find it rather attention grabbing when shooting w flash, i rather be discreet so as not to distract couple. Returning to ur question, just shoot as per normal w flash, just note the iso level, u might not want to set too high to let in too much environment lightings
 

Most church wedding allow flash, but for me i find it rather attention grabbing when shooting w flash, i rather be discreet so as not to distract couple. Returning to ur question, just shoot as per normal w flash, just note the iso level, u might not want to set too high to let in too much environment lightings

hmm... wun the shadow be too obvious if no flash?
 

hi guys, which of my lens is more suitable for wedding photography in church? Anything that i would need to look out for?
Please do a search for the existing wedding questions, you are not the first one and many advices have been given to people coming with exactly the same question for 'wedding lenses'.
Most important is to know the flow of the ceremony, where to be to get the 'Must Have' pictures and how to guide people for the group photos. Which means: you must know your equipment by heart. There is no time to toy around with exposure or flash settings. Nobody will wait 5 minutes till you got it right.
 

desertstrike said:
hmm... wun the shadow be too obvious if no flash?

Flash kills the mood, so usually i dun mind some shadow.

Most of the time i take note of the lighting conditon before the ceremony so i know where to get the best lighting. As i say earller, u got to prepare urself and know the environment before hand so u could anticipate what u are going to shoot to get the best effect u are looking for.

I always shoot with the following guide in my mind, 1 visualise the photo u want in ur mind, 2 check environment for lighting and composition, 3 know the flow of event thats going to happen (this will place urself in favourable position) to get that shot u want. No point trigger happy and end up with photos that simple not up to ur expectation.
 

Why don't you follow a professional wedding photographer as his/her 2nd photographer and learn along?

It's dangerous to start out as a main photographer as it seems that you don't even know whether your equipment is sufficient and whether you need to use flash or not. Don't spoilt the big day of the wedding couples as they cannot redo the wedding if your photos are badly taken. They deserve nice photos as this is the once in a life time event for them.

You can try look out at the Service Wanted section in Clubsnap as sometimes some professional photographers do look for assistants or 2nd photographer for their wedding assignments. Learning from the professional photograhers can fasten your progress, rather than learning by trial and error yourself and risking the big day of the wedding couples.
 

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Why don't you follow a professional wedding photographer as his/her 2nd photographer and learn along?

It's dangerous to start out as a main photographer as it seems that you don't even know whether your equipment is sufficient and whether you need to use flash or not. Don't spoilt the big day of the wedding couples as they cannot redo the wedding if your photos are badly taken. They deserve nice photos as this is the once in a life time event for them.

You can try look out at the Service Wanted section in Clubsnap as sometimes some professional photographers do look for assistants or 2nd photographer for their wedding assignments. Learning from the professional photograhers can fasten your progress, rather than learning by trial and error yourself and risking the big day of the wedding couples.

i am not the main
 

desertstrike said:
can't i ask more from here also?

Just endure...
 

can't i ask more from here also?
Did we mention the Search function and the Photo Biz subsection? :) Beside this, you learn most when you really do it actually. Once you miss a shot because you didn't know what will happen next .. well, that's a good lesson learned. There is only so much you can talk about here in theory.
 

can't i ask more from here also?

If we were to tell you all the various situations where a certain lens is best, then create another list which tries to recommend types of lenses for certain situations (factors including lighting, time of day, camera model, with/without flash, etc) and then list the "must have shots" and the recommended angles for each type of wedding and every known wedding venue and combination thereof, then still magically predict crowds, positioning, attitude of guests, etc, and then factor in the various styles photographers may have and develop, we would be sitting here for 4 years typing a huge book with a massive excel spreadsheet. And I'm not kidding - there are sooooooo many things to consider.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, will beat actually being there, and being mentored by an experienced photographer on the scene, who is familiar with the type of shots the customer wants. This way you develop the instinct for what to take, with what gear, in what situation, at what time, etc, all catered to *your* style.

You are looking for a magic formula where there is none. You are looking for guidance from people who will not be there, don't know the location, lighting, etc, the style of wedding, the attitude of the customers, etc. You are obviously woefully underprepared for this, and we are telling you what the very very very best way to learn is - talk to the main photographer. Be his apprentice. He will tell you what to do, whether to use flash or not, etc.
 

can't i ask more from here also?

We are trying to help you here but wedding photography is far more complicated.
I experienced what you are now...from fresh to being a wedding photographer, I find the best learning path is to follow professional photographers and learn from them.
 

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ok. here's my negative experience from attending a friend's wedding dinner recently. i had never seen such poor performance before. i was watching two poor young saps shooting with entry level models and i was laughing my ars* off. they were the main and second photographers. and one of them turned up looking like a rapper.

shooting in almost total darkness with infinity bounce at a ceiling 3 floors high, with the bride and groom about 30 metres away, is one thing. another thing that irked me was not knowing how to arrange the guests during the group shots at the tables. and they totally disappeared and only appeared during the table shots and when the bride and groom walked in during changes.

also their lack of confidence put me off. the moment they saw my setup (for just shooting my ex-classmates), they suddenly went all shy and tried to avoid contact with me, when i tried approach them to talk.

confidence is key to letting the couple know they're getting what they're paid for. if the moment you see someone with gear he/she knows how to use and use it confidently, and you're scared and lose confidence, they'll question your ability.

another thing was the videographer was sitting outside drinking beer and eating most of the time. he only showed up when the bride and groom marched in for the first time.

so if you're paid to do the job, do it well.

if you can't, leave it to the people who can.

it's harsh, but i'm sure that the people who hired you don't want the photos of the "best day" of their lives to turn out sub-par or totally horrid right?
 

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Maybe they are not being paid, and could be friends of the couple? Doing a favor for the couple?