1st time ROM photographer!


ShiNn

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Nov 26, 2006
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Ahhh!! I am helping out a friend for his ROM shots and it is my first! Anywhere can i refer to for tips and techniques to carry out this event smoothly?
 

composition wise, u can look under the Wedding section for ideas.

equipment wise, u may want to let us know what equipments u have now. Also let us know where the ROM is taking place (indoor or outdoor)?
 

You may want to try a search for ROM or Wedding. We gat about 50 "first time wedidng photog" threads every year. :)
 

Ahhh!! I am helping out a friend for his ROM shots and it is my first! Anywhere can i refer to for tips and techniques to carry out this event smoothly?

Aha. Almost an odd coincidence. I just had my 1st ROM shoot for my bro yesterday! :bsmilie:

Techinque wise, i think you're pretty familar with it already so there no real need to go thu it again.

Bring a flash.

When shooting, it's OK to be thick skin. No need to be so discreet. If someone/thing is in your frame, ask the person to move away...politely. You are afterall, the photographer, and im sure the couple don't want fugly shots.

Bring a spare lens/CF card/body/batt etc etc. Anything that can fail, will fail at the worst possible time.

Of all days, my 70-200 conked out. Swapped with with a 17-40, change settings, change shooting style. Beats having no photos at all.

You'll be damn tired but when you finally get to see your own work, the feeling is awesome.

Good luck! You'll need it! ;)
 

tips,
you have to think/move/shoot very fast, the solemnization ceremony last less the 5mins, since it is solemn (serious) ceremony so you can't directing or interrupt the process if you miss out anything.

the group photos, couple photos, or any details shots, you can slowly arrange them and shoot, keep shooting till you think you got the shots

techniques,
this is an event, so if you are competent to take photos of any type of events, shouldn't be a problem.


gears and equipments,
you should already pass this stage of asking such questions, anyway, any dslr with kit lens plus a hotshoe flash is good enough cover such event. I shot many paid ROM assignments with D100, D70 with kit lens plus a SB800 before, no issue at all.

hope this help.
 

Browse a lot of ROM pictures a few days before the event and conceptualize what you hope to achieve. Helps a lot if you know how the location of the ROM looks like.

Have a good rest on the day before. You'll need the energy and attention to notice potential good shots.

Shoot more.

Ask the newly-weds to go slow during the ceremony (signing of certificate, exchange of ring, kissing etc.) so that you can afford to take more shots at varied angles and framing.
 

Ahhh!! I am helping out a friend for his ROM shots and it is my first! Anywhere can i refer to for tips and techniques to carry out this event smoothly?
are you the main photographer?
 

other than taking pictures of oath, signing, exchanging rings and kissing bride, you can also take a picture of the couple standing and holding the certificate together in their hands.

If you talking about ROM office, please use 18-50 f2.8 with a good flash.
If you using a low iso noise DSLR, the iso hiong hiong bump to between 400 - 800.
 

I think for all first-timers, it's important to test out the camera and flash settings before the actual event. During the event, people will be moving around and it is important to choose an appropriate shutter speed. You may need to increase your ISO. I guess we will rather have a noisy and sharp picture rather than a noiseless and blurred picture.

What you can also do is to check out on the internet on the ROM and wedding photo samples (eg flickr, wedding photographers' port folio, etc). From there, I think you will roughly have an idea how you wanna shoot. For myself, I know I'm not pro so the safest way is to copy what the pros do.

Last but not least, familiar yourself with the sequence of events so that you have ample time to prepare (eg, finding a good spot to shoot, etc).
 

Good thread for me, very useful for me.
 

if you fail to plan, you plan to fail!

go through the sequence with the bride and groom, or whoever is familiar with it. visualize everything in your mind - what settings you're going to use, where you're going to stand, what are the subjects you can shoot.

test and check your settings religiously. try not to do something stupid like jacking your iso up to 3200 then forgetting about it totally for the rest of the event, only to regret when most of your photos turn out grainy on the computer. ;p

i'd suggest using aperture priority mode, decide how much depth of field you want in your shots, and adjust the iso and aperture accordingly. but whatever floats your boat yo!

good luck!
 

All the advice given above are quite adequate.

I think it's very important to visualize everything and move fast. Have a checklist in your head, or written if you cannot remember, all the necessary 100% must-have shots.

Camera settings and usage should come naturally as you would shoot in any event. Either aperture priority or manual if you are comfortable. Set your ISO manually imo, as I hate noisy photos and it's a pain.

Most of all, enjoy the shoot, then you will have nice images. Stressed out and it might do more harm than good!