The same old novice Wedding photographer

There are a lot of postings here that usually start with: I'm an

amateur photographer that have just bought a digital camera reflex.

This weekend I'm going to photograph a wedding for a couple of

friends. Any hints?

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The best advice available is simply put: Don't do it!

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Last January I had the pleasure of taking pictures, as a secondary

photographer, of two friends of mine that were celebrating their

wedding. Despite having more than 20 years of experience taking

pictures I found it a very very difficult project full of surprises. I

would like to invite you to see a sample of 10 images of the wedding

at the following site:

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http://www.holos-photo.com

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Just click on the central picture and then follow the "Gallery #5"

link (on a Windows system, pressing F11 gives a better view).

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The two main problem I found were 1: Timing (things happen very fast

in a civil -no religious- wedding in Spain) and 2: Ilumination. I'm

used to take pictures with available light, but well managed

ilumination is a must.

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Bottom line: leave the work to a pro, or go only as a secondary

photogapher!

Looks like you handled the available light well Luis.

 

And a nice self portrait on photo #6.

Thanks very much, Jammey. The selfportrait was my personal signature on the reportage for my friends :)

Some very cool shots....I like the grain and feel of silver. If I wasn't such a control freak I'd love the opportunity to be a second shooter. Good advice to most of the novice first time shooters.

Luis,

I guess you are saying "don't try anything new" ...."you will never be a good photographer"..."you don't have to take wedding pictures to practice wedding photography"..."I tried and failed so will you!"....

Luis, Photography of any kind takes time to learn and requires lots of practice. Doing them for free or for family is a great place to start.

Reading your post, I expected terrible photos.

 

Your post say's "don't" but your images say "do!"

 

But I agree- In most cases, don't. That being said, I was just asked to do a wedding.... Hmmmmm......

Luis, that is of course a common way to start, the way I started. Your images on your web-site are beautiful. Wonderful street photgraphy. You are obviously very skilled and could easily become a wedding photographer were that your desire. Curious what you shoot with (camera and media) and how you choose the guest photgrpahers for your site.

Luis, your photos are fantastic!

Thanks very much for your words, Paul. About equipment I always try to keep it simple: The pictures were taken with a Leica M2, 50mm f/2 Summicron (my preferred, by far, focal-length) and a 35mm f/2 Summicron (only about 10% of the pictures taken with it). No secrets also for film: Standard Tri-X exposed at nominal speed developed in D76 (stock). In my experience, this combo of film+developer works without changing development time from 200 to 800 ASA, with only minor adjustments while scanning.

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About Guest Photograpers at Holos-Photo, I always try to keep a good standard of quality and I've had the luck of finding excellent photographers (and persons at the same time) on the Internet.

You forgot to mention.... only post your best images on the web... ;-) I love your street

photography.

 

I see you!!! ;-)<div></div>

Anne, how did you manage to know that one is my preferred one? :)

I have seen a couple of your wed pics here on PN, but "admiring" them in your site, it is far better. I like number 7 ; ), and also the one that the couple is on focus, looking at the camera...