Wedding - Photojournalist Style, Tips and Techniques

[dslr_eos]

I'm interested to know about this topics and maybe we can share it together.

I've viewed some of PM members eg. matt on wedding shot. I like that kind of style. And also surf other forum, seem their member share the same style together.

My question :

1) How we can get a very good story telling in every wedding we involve in (photography of course). How to think, what to cover, to make it interesting ?

2) Equipment : camera of course but what lense suitable wide, normal or tele lens since it be very difficult to change all the time.

3) Do we need 2nd photog to covers different angle ?

4) what to prepare before the shooting ?

assuming we in Reception Wedding (Hotel indoor/outdoor)

Hope we can share it together !!

thanks.

 

[Stoned]

1) I really don't know how to answer this one. How to think... You really got to handle this yourself. The best i can offer is to be alert and respond quickly.

2) Ideally for the general proceedings you should have a mid wide to mid tele zoom, something like 35-70mm. This should be able to cover just about everything. If you're using a second body, you might like to fit a 70-200, which can be clunky and inconvenient, or you could go with my personal preference, fit a prime(85mm or 135mm), depending on the situation and preference. This is useful for close-ups and the good thing about primes, they're light and you can operate your second body with one hand if need be.
A second body would also be useful as unless you can change lenses in under 5 seconds consistently, you may miss some moments.
For the dinner and group shots a super wide would be good, like 20mm so you don't have to stand too far back. Watch out for distortion at the corners though, people can look fat(esp the bride), and the couple might not be too pleased.

3) This would put less stress on the main photog., but thats what you're being paid for right

4) A flash unit or 2 is necessary of course. Extra batteries, and all the lenses you'll need. Generally i think its best to avoid bringing a tripod or monopod as the extra bulk and weight is really a killer. Too much equipment isn't really a good thing at weddings.
Prepare yourself, make sure you're in the right frame of mind to shoot.

 

[arttl]

Well, all I could say is that wedding photojournalism is not everyone's cup of tea. It involves more than technical skills.

It's your eye for unique composition, detail that makes you different and your value. Go read up some good books especially on wedding photojournalism. :thumbsup:

There's no fix and hard rules.

Happy shooting!