Wedding photography tip's, gear, experience.....

[wseed]

OK I know a few people here have had a go or are intending to so lets share a few tips and tricks and maybe pics.

I've done a few weddings now, a couple with JohnDavis0, and am keen to learn more and up the standard of my shots. I would have been embarrassed to have charged for some of these images.

Matholwch asked the question of fill flash and so as not to take his thread too far OT I'll put my input here.

In my attempts for the flash you want to try and get the flash off camera and diffused if possible to avoid the nasty side shadows you often see in indoor shots. I tend to take a meter reading and set the camera up for those parameters in M the flash will then act as a fill rather than the source of the light. Indoors this often is going to leave you with a longer exposure than you would have liked so your going to have to balance the exposure to get an acceptable level somewhere so that your flash is between fill and the sole source of the light.

I also find that by bouncing the light the spread is often more even on the subject and background. Don't forget you can bounce off walls behind you too.

[Matholwch]

Thanks wseed, I've got an omnibounce diffuser, but would need a remote transmitter for my flash (or buy a 580ex) to have off body flash. I currently do tend to bounce, but without satisfactory results. Meter readings - does that mean you've invested in a meter reader over the camera's meter?

Excellent idea for a seperate thread btw! :thumbs:

[wseed]

I do have a light/flash meter but I use the cameras meter when I'm experimenting.

I have an offcamera cord to take my flash away but this is really only of benefit when using a flash bracket. These are awkward gits and I abandoned using mine during a wedding as it kept twisting. When I'm not rushed I find it's great for throwing the shadow down behind the subject but I think a more basic approach is better if your getting used to a new shooting style extra new gear is a hindrance rather than a help.

I've seen many pro's work with nasty shadows down the sides of the subjects and they obviously think it's acceptable. I think to help avoid this you want to use as much ambient light as you can and have your subjects not too close to walls. Bouncing light off the ceiling or walls is great and I found if I'm not adding too much light to the shot I can bounce of walls quite a distance away.

My wife bought me a course to do for wedding and portrait photography so I hope to have better advice soon.

[Radiohead]

I almost always use a diffuser indoors, and generally will bounce of a ceiling if it's low enough, or a wall if one is convenienty positioned. With the SB-800 I'll generally use TTL outdoors except when I only want fill-in and then use TTL-BL. Indoors I use TTL-BL more and rely on flash EV to ramp up or down as necessary.

[johndavis0]

I have found that the lumiquest softbox (http://www.lumiquest.com/lq925.htm) fitted to my 430EX to be very effective for reducing the harsh lines/shadows produced by direct flash.

For bouncing the light from a flash but with no ceiling I got a link from wseed for the plans to a luniquest type pocket bouncer (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1025&thread=10645209) which as a trial I made from laminated A4 paper (sad I know) but works quite well.

[puddleduck]

I'm interested in a diffuser for my speedlight too - the SB-600 doesn't come with a diffuser - I've heard good things about the Stoffen onni-bounce.

I swore I'd never try a wedding, but a few people who've seen my "Japan" pics have (wrongly!!) assume I know what I'm doing, and I'm getting a few offers - right now though I really need to improve my flash technique - I find the naked SB-600 far too harsh and over powering.

[Radiohead]

IMO Andy, you have to really enjoy photographing people to do a wedding well, so approach with caution as your aversion to that area is well know. In terms of the SB600, a combination of a diffuser, bounced light and the right mode should see you right, and you'll quickly get a feel for what sort of EV comp to use.

[puddleduck]

IMO Andy, you have to really enjoy photographing people to do a wedding well, so approach with caution as your aversion to that area is well know. In terms of the SB600, a combination of a diffuser, bounced light and the right mode should see you right, and you'll quickly get a feel for what sort of EV comp to use.

Thanks - I agree I'm not naturally inclined to "do" people, although I quite enjoyed doing candids in Japan, so not quite as adverse as I once was...

I tend to find with the SB-600 about 0.7 -flash comp works nicely generally for straight TTL - for TTL-BL I'm finding that I'm not needing any flash comp as a rule. I guess with a diffuser, I'd need to be less aggressive -fc on the TTL flash comp in particular? BTW when you use a diffuser on the SB-800 I think it automatically "zooms" the head out to wide? I don't think the SB-600 does this, so the head needs to be zoomed manaully, if using a diffuser (I assume).

I'm not ashamed to admit I find flash a bit of mystery!

[aliflack]

For what its worth, here our my thoughts on wedding photography having just shot tons of pics for two family weddings (both had a pro doing the ceremony, I was mopping up after!) and seeing pro's in action at other weddings.

1. Doing the formal group shots is 90% logistics and organisation, 10% photography (how to fit everyone in etc)

2. You have to learn how to direct people to look at you and smile, without coming across like an over zealous security guard!

3. Technique for exposure with flash can be nailed within 2 events - I was afraid to use high ISO levels on my 300D on my first occasion and came away with some fairly shadowy backgrounds. On my second I used 800 or 1600 to get a really pleasing background with no noise due to 'proper' flash exposure of the subject

When shooting flash, I use manual on the body and ETTL on the flash with FEC set to -2/3. Manual seetings are: shutter of 1/80 or faster, aperture of f2.8 for front-on shots, F5.6 and upwards where angled. ISO set to whatever required to bring out the background.

4. Equipment needs to be up to the job -
* lens with large apertures to focus in low light (indoors), wide angle for getting auntie Marge in, zooms for picking up candids from across a room/lawn.
* flash must be bouncable and be either diffused or off camera. I've seen 1 pro use a bracket, 3 use on camera with diffuser (which I use as it's easier and does a reasonable job).
* body is not a huge factor beyond high ISO noise handling for indoor shots - I never maxed out the buffer despite shooting on RAW. Having 2 would be great as you never know when you'll suddenly want to switch from wide to tele...plus it gives you a backup in the event of failure

5. Shoot RAW!

[johndavis0]

Try and view the venue before hand this gives you a better idea of a few thing the layout, the lighting (position of windows, type of lighting and so on) and where people will stand/sit and possible locations for shooting (presuming they allow it)during and after the ceremony
ask the B&G if they have a contingency plan if it should rain on the day is there a location at the reception you can shoot

if possible speak to the person performing the ceremony and find out what they allow
the ones that warren and I attended had completely different rules, one would not allow any photography apart from the mock signing (we persuaded them to bend slightly but was not allowed to use flash)
The other did not mind as long as it was not at an important part of the ceremony and distracted people.

Have an assistant helps with the organization of the group shots and lug any equipment around

[puddleduck]

Does anybody use any white balancing kit? I know all this can be fixed for RAW - I suspect that for a wedding white balance would be important to nail.

[sideshowbob]

Does anybody use any white balancing kit? I know all this can be fixed for RAW - I suspect that for a wedding white balance would be important to nail.

I asked about White Balancing a couple of months back and got little enthusiasm for doing / buying anything other than perhaps fixing white balance in the post processing stage.

Apparently a Pringles lid is almost as good as the expo-disk ... might be worth investigating. I'm pretty sure that the Lee Cap (made by the Lee Filters folks) is pretty much the same thing.

[Boink!]

Don't forget it always helps if the bride isn't a munter. ;)

[wseed]

Does anybody use any white balancing kit? I know all this can be fixed for RAW - I suspect that for a wedding white balance would be important to nail.

I have every confidence in he camera getting the white balance correct and just shoot auto. I once used a custom WB and found that the light changes so quickly when your moving around that I fouled up more shots due to this than I ever have by using auto. I also shoot jpg and just make sure I get the exposures are correct in camera. I found shooting RAW that it's harder to get a group of pictures to look like they are part of a set shooting raw and batch converting often leaves a whole load with colour casts.

Boink, you're not wrong there. Also helps if they've not skimped on having the hair and makeup done by a pro.

[puddleduck]

I have every confidence in he camera getting the white balance correct and just shoot auto. I once used a custom WB and found that the light changes so quickly when your moving around that I fouled up more shots due to this than I ever have by using auto. I also shoot jpg and just make sure I get the exposures are correct in camera. I found shooting RAW that it's harder to get a group of pictures to look like they are part of a set shooting raw and batch converting often leaves a whole load with colour casts.

Boink, you're not wrong there. Also helps if they've not skimped on having the hair and makeup done by a pro.

Interesting! Now I'm normally a JPEG shooter (+RAW) myself but for weddings I was thinking RAW with the sole purpose for correcting WB if needed, so thats a good perspective - especially concerning images not looking like they are from the same set!

I've done some wedding candids in black and white (film) and they came out REALLY nice, but no WB issues with that obviously, but this was a bit of a concern for doing it digital. I must say generally I've always used Auto for WB, so what I thought could be an issue appears like its not going to be :)

[billybuttons]

I did two weddings, both for mates, and hated nearly every minute of it. Everyone else was having a good time and getting drunk etc, and there was me worrying about the position of the sun etc, had I got all the shots I wanted. I found the hardest bit was dealing with the guests, arranging them for the group. Now, I am a Royal Navy Photographer, and am used to taking photos of large groups of servicemen (biggest group so far was 350 people) and they are used to taking direction from photographers. I can just shout at them to attract their attention...... They all do as they are told as well. I can order them around as well, ie front row peeps arms folded, sit up straight, you get the idea. With joe public, to be honest, most of them haven't got a clue how to behave in front of a photographer. You get some of them just chatting away, not looking at the camera, people with their hands in their pockets, people not taking their place in the group when you want all the brides family etc. There will always be one not paying attention, and it holds up everything while you wait for someone to find 'uncle pete' or whoever.

The second wedding that I did, I had a word with the bride beforehand, and she sorted out all the groups. Getting her to ask for all of her side of the family, or all the parents got instant results, rather than the photographer, who some people seem to ignore. Some couples may be more than happy to do this, others will figure that they are paying you to do the job, you sort it out. Obviously she just gathered them all together, I then stepped in to arrange them properly.

Kit wise, I had two D1X's around my neck, one with an 18-35, the other with an 80-200. This covered most things. I actually did more on the 80-200 than anything else. Got loads of candid shots, and some good closeups. I had borrowed more batteries from work, so had 8 fully charged ones, I also had a spare D1X body, in case. A reflector to cut down on some of the shadows when I did some portraits of the bride and groom (they detailed off one of the page boys to hold the reflector for me :D). I also had a bowens studio lighting kit in the boot of the car, in case it rained and I had to do the groups indoors.

The one shot that worked well on both weddings was a group of everybody there. After doing all of the formal groups etc, I just got the bride and groom in the middle, and got everyone else to just arrange themselves in a loose semi-circle behind them. I then got a bit of height (went upstairs, shooting out of the window) and got everyone to look up at me. Blatted of a few shots, and they shouted for everyone to wave at me. They were a bit half-hearted at first, but then got the idea. A whole group waving and smiling. That one turned out to be the one that the bride and groom liked the best, as it had them, their friends and family all enjoying themselves.

I only did these weddings as a favour to friends. It is not something that I am keen to repeat, but each to his own.

Ray