Sister asked me to shoot her wedding - Advice needed

Just wondering, you reckon your still going to bite the bullet and do it after all?

Sorry my response is coming so late. I shot my sisters wedding this summer, I'm in a similar caliber of gear as yourself and was hesitant at first. The thing that made me change my mind was a few years back when my oldest sister was married. She didn't want to ask me to shoot but instead chose to have me in the wedding party and enjoy myself instead (I got wasted). The problem was the hired photographer was horrid. Most of the better photos were taken by friends with decent cameras as well as my step dad and his 20D.

This summer my sister was married outside on a lake front in the middle of the day (harsh shadows) I shot photos with my 20D and speedlight flash as a fill. Using a fill flash can be scary but isn't so hard once you start practicing, there are plenty of good places to find info on the technique. What put me most at ease was knowing my girlfriend would be there as well with here D70 as well as a neighbor friend with a 30D. When the party moves inside or under a tent (it ended up raining for part of the wedding) you can bounce a powerful flash off the ceiling to speed things up without the sketchy direct flash look.

Other than what I've already wrote the best advice I would give is to have a plan, let the wedding party know what you plan to shoot and when. Once you've taken all your wedding party photos you can relax a bit a start looking for candids.

 

Good luck.

You have received very good advice.

 

1. PRACTICE on site ahead of time, with other people and some cloth samples. Find out about the lighting plan

and use that in practice.

 

2. Make a real point of setting expectations with the bride & groom and other members of the immediate family

ahead of time. (I still think it's better to be a guest with a camera if at all possible.)

 

3. Plan a few specific shots, perhaps with the B&G's direction, and work hard to get those shots.

 

4. Bracket, bracket, bracket if you are worried about exposure.

 

You could try taking some engagement pictures of the couple at the site as a test, and

see if they are happy with those. If those are so-so, you could try again to convince them to get a

professional. If they like them, then it's a vote of confidence for you.

 

I would not upgrade equipment except for buying or renting a flash. The image stabilized lens will get you one

or two more stops, not four or five. I think in this situation, the return on investment is just too small when

compared

to a good flash. Practice with that flash a few times. Move it off the camera using a sync cord and the

camera's TTL metering. See what that looks like. Head-on flash tends to flatten out the subject.

 

Flash units can eat batteries fast. Bring backup power/batteries for your camera and your flash.

 

About what to meter on, try to remember that the bride's dress is probably the most expensive single thing at the

wedding and has more sentimental value to her than just about anything else there except the groom. Do your best

to get the detail of the dress in at least a few of the shots. Bracketing is your friend in this kind of

situation, and in the mixed lighting you describe.

Jacob,

 

If you really want to shoot your sister's wedding, go ahead. I think you know what you're getting into with all the pitfalls

that it might entail.

 

But if you don't want to, then don't to it under ANY circumstances.

 

If you don't want to shoot her wedding just be honest and firm. Tell her that you don't have the necessary equipment to

properly shoot the wedding nor that you have the experience to pull it off successfully. Tell her that she deserves a real

pro.

 

But as a compromise, to help save your family some money, you might want to offer to shoot some wedding portraits of

your sister and the bridegroom before or after the actual wedding day. That way you could take nice photos of the

couple that they could keep or make inexpensive copies to give to their friends and family, but you wouldn't have to deal

with all the pressure of trying to capture their wedding day on film.

Yuck, what a long thread.

 

Lets get down to the basics:

 

Camera: At 6.3mp you're just pulling even with film. You may want to either upgrade or rent or borrow a film camera shooting Fuji Press 800.

 

Metering: Assuming that lighting conditions will not change dramatically during the ceremony, get a gray card, before things start take readings off it 1) in front of the alter, 2) at the end back of the isle where the procession will start. Write these down and use them to set the camera's meter in manual mode.

 

Flash: Let me sum up years of training in flash photography quickly, point the flash up and rubber band a white index card to the back to throw the light forward. Consider the possibility of somehow having the flash off center (if you have the equipment for it).

 

Lenses: Ok available light is possible in most settings. You're going to want to use your f/1.8 and f/2.0 but ISO 400 is really pushing the slow side. Unless in a well lit indoor setting you're looking at ISO 800-1600.

 

A tripod with a quick release head set up before time so that you can plunk your camera on it and cover the alter might be a good idea.

 

Oh and for those who think shooting weddings is a high stress environment, let me assure you that there are much higher stress things you can shoot. Riots, even relatively benign ones, come to mind.

Oh my gosh......you've had so many responses to your question. I can't possibly read all of them, but I'll give my advice for what it's worth. I guess a lot depends on your sister and what her expectations are. I shot my sister's wedding (50-yr old first marriage, and she didn't have money for a photographer). I also catered her wedding with help from my other sister (yes, I know I'm a glutton for punishment!). But my sister is the kind of person who has never 'composed' a picture in her life. She isn't very discriminating when it comes to pictures, and she just just grabs quickie pictures when she shoots. I've always been the photographer of the family, and she thought my pictures over the years have been pretty good. So she figured my level was good enough for her. I had a serious talk with her though, and I told her 'you get what you pay for', and of course I was doing it for free.......so I warned her that if something went wrong with my equipment she would have no memories of her ceremony. So I advised her to ask someone else (a friend) to also take pictures......she actually had someone videotape the ceremony. So that covered the bases somewhat, and it took some of the pressure off me. The one thing I felt a little conspicuous about while shooting her ceremony was where to stand. I had no experience in this, and I was trying to get the ring exchange, the kiss, the vows, etc. without being obtrusive......easier said than done when you're doing it for the first time. And the last bit of advice would be to go the day before or very early before the ceremony and get your lighting and camera set up. At my sister's wedding there was bright sunlight coming in on one side of the church, which made for difficult lighting situations. I think it would be a lovely gesture on your part. I know my sister is forever grateful to me for giving her such a gift. So I guess only you can determine whether to do it after considering all of the variables. Good luck! Oh, and don't forget to take a picture of everyone at the wedding. A good time to do this is prior to the ceremony while people are sitting in the pews because at the reception people are milling around and it's easy to miss someone.

I just have to add my two cents worth...Really, shooting a wedding is not just about the equipment. With all your current gear I could cover the event and have the same quality shots I normally have at my weddings (I would bring my flash though...)

 

In your bio, you mention the expression"f8 and be there". The photographer I used to assist was always shouting that expression when we were shooting in the church...the reason was simple: with a Hasselblad, a Metz and your camera set to 1/60 & f8, you could shoot until you would run out of film and your exposure would always be bang on...the trick part was to get the shot and getting the shot meant shooting it right.

If you want to have a career as a wedding photographer, then do it. Jump. I can guaranty that most of your shots won’t turn out. First you will shoot with available light only and second since you never shot a wedding you won’t know what and how to shoot it...But that’s ok, this is how you will learn...at the expense of your sister!

 

On the other hand, if you don’t want to pursue a wedding photographer career, then listen to the majority of the posts here...don’t do it and enjoy the wedding.

Tell your sister that you will make her a dress instead...

See what she says.

 

:)

I shot my sister's wedding, turned out only medium terrible. Had some small idea of what I was doing, but not enough.

Have (a long time ago) shot some other weddings, also not very high on my list of good accomplishments. The only

salvation was the aforementioned Vivitar 285. If you overcome the urge to follow the basic good sense advice to not shoot,

invest in the vivitar and practice with it. I still have and use mine, but not for ANYBODY'S wedding. Swore off and have

refused to consider several efforts at persuasion to shoot them.

You should look at other wedding photographers websites to get some ideas, do you know how to do any fancy editing?

I don't really get why most people seem to object to him helping out his sister. If he is the only option, she is aware of his lack of skills and he is willing to do that for her then there can't be any complaints. He does not have to do a pro job. It won't be expected that every shot will be excelent or that every moment will even be captured. It is not like he is endangering anyone with his actions. She probably would just like a set of photgraphs from the day. By asking her brother who likes photography she hopes to get something a bit better than aunt Mable's dodgey snaps with missing heads.

Why not see this as a great opportunity and rise to the challenge? It's an event like any other. Just because it's a WEDDING doesn't mean that you are unqualified--it's a situation that requires your patience and skill, your interaction with people, and your judgment. Why would your sister's wedding be any more difficult than any other thing you would like to shoot? If you refuse opportunities because they seem hard or risky, what's the point of photography? Reading these response, it seems as if people think you are embedding in Baghdad. It's just a wedding, there's nothing to be scared of, and if you believe in yourself and your talents (you sister believes in you), you'll do a fine job.

Take it from all of us that have done weddings for family and friends. Don't do it. Just be firm and tell your sister that you want to enjoy her wedding as a guest.

If you do it. On herding cats. Get somebody to be a handler and use radios. Wrangling everyone together for group shots requires at least one extra person. Preferably two....one for each side. Use equipment you know. If you are going to do it with available light what happens when the weather forces you inside? Good luck. You are up to the challenge but you are not letting her down by saying no.

 

-Shane

Hi,

I have photographed a few weddings. The first thing I would make a list in order off the photos your going to take being flexible and talk to the Bride and groom and give them an idea what you are going to do

.

You could start by taking some photos at the brides house before the wedding eg Bride on her own, Bride and Mother ect, this saves time later.

You will need a flash gun one with some power. In the UK the weather is not to kind sometimes I have had to take the photos indoors so a powerfull flashgun was handy.

 

Fill in flash I always tried to avoid but I have had some good results but that was before digital. I would experiment before hand, I took some photos recently with my digital camera with fill in flash and was suprised with the results. I would use no more than 200 iso 100 beter still

 

In bright sun light I always tried to take my photos in the shade under a tree my favourite, just watch for the harsh shadows in the faces. Also watch out for the back ground so you dont add people not in the photo.

 

You could look at other peoples work this will give you some good ideas what to take.

 

Best off luck Michael

Did it once. Daughter of a friend, her second wedding, no church, outdoors. Never again! But assuming you can't

get out of it, three pieces of advice that helped me get through it relatively unscathed. (1) Be sure to have a

serious conversation about why you are hesitant to do it. Lack of experience, of course. But most important, lack

of proper equipment. So that you are absolutely sure that you don't leave them with falsely high expectations. In

other words, cover your ass, so you can honestly say "I told you so." (2) Do your homework. Anticipate,

Anticipate, Anticipate. I scouted the location in advance. With bright sunny sky forecast, it was mostly under

the shade of large trees, but with patches of sunlight everywhere. I knew fill flash, both on camera for random

shots, and off camera on stands for posed shots was critical. Had I not it would have been a disaster. And (3)

don't do it alone! I enlisted a photographer friend to do walk around shots, while I concentrated on the priority

shots. But mostly, he provided someone to bounce ideas off. 2 heads are way better than one. And most important,

minimized the panic of being alone. Good Luck. Bill

They key thing is - what will your sister say if your camera breaks and you get no photos at all?

 

Did a cousin's wedding. They waited until a week before the wedding to ask me, via their dad - probably to make it quite clear that if I

didn't do it, they weren't getting anything. Primarily, they said, they wanted someone to do the group photos. I phoned them up,

guaranteed they'd get what they paid for (nothing), phoned a friend who's a pro and borrowed a decent flash (Metz CL4). I used a 300D, a

28-135 IS (also borrowed), the 18-50 kit lens purely for the group shot, and had a spare (but slightly broken) 300D as well... Got there

early, scouted around, asked questions. I settled on using manual exposure all the way through, with two settings I pre-checked for

inside and outside.

 

I showed them about 90 pictures, out of probably 250 taken. Out of those 90, maybe 10 were good shots, the rest were so-so, and my

wife had to persuade me to leave a lot of them in. I did a lot of post-processing to rescue all my mistakes with exposure, composition,

colour balance, and all the rest. I then printed all of them using an online print place (Photobox.co.uk), including some enlargements, and

uploaded everything to a Photobox album so that they could order more and I wouldn't have to worry about colour profiles going wrong.

 

I had a lot of things on my side. I knew all the key people at the wedding, which helped massively. They didn't want *any* photos in the

ceremony - including signing the register - which made my life a lot easier, as I only had to worry about brides arrival, and the couple's

exit from the church. Everything else was slower-paced. Out of the 50 or so pictures I got for the couple, I would consider maybe 10 to

be OK, and maybe and obviously there were about a hundred which they never saw. I screwed up exposure, colour balance, and

composition left right and centre.

 

End result? They LOVED the results, and I got to do a favour for a couple who would otherwise not have had any formal photos.

 

My conclusions? The 300D's buffer is a real pain for weddings - but I knew that, and with a faster camera I'd probably just have more

junk, unless the flash could keep up. I would never ever ever again be first shooter, unless it was a similar situation for similar people

who would still speak to me if it all went wrong. The lenses were fine - though obviously something which opended up more would have

been nice. I'd have liked another couple of years experience with the flash - as opposed to the evening's practice I got....

 

If I'd had better equipment, I'd just have ended up making more sophisticated mistakes. Upgrading my camera for a wedding would be

the last thing I'd do.

They key thing is - what will your sister say if your camera breaks and you get no photos at all?

 

Did a cousin's wedding. They waited until a week before the wedding to ask me, via their dad - probably to make it quite clear that if I

didn't do it, they weren't getting anything. Primarily, they said, they wanted someone to do the group photos. I phoned them up,

guaranteed they'd get what they paid for (nothing), phoned a friend who's a pro and borrowed a decent flash (Metz CL4). I used a 300D, a

28-135 IS (also borrowed), the 18-50 kit lens purely for the group shot, and had a spare (but slightly broken) 300D as well... Got there

early, scouted around, asked questions. I settled on using manual exposure all the way through, with two settings I pre-checked for

inside and outside.

 

I showed them about 90 pictures, out of probably 250 taken. Out of those 90, maybe 10 were good shots, the rest were so-so, and my

wife had to persuade me to leave a lot of them in. I did a lot of post-processing to rescue all my mistakes with exposure, composition,

colour balance, and all the rest. I then printed all of them using an online print place (Photobox.co.uk), including some enlargements, and

uploaded everything to a Photobox album so that they could order more and I wouldn't have to worry about colour profiles going wrong.

 

 

End result? They LOVED the results, and I got to do a favour for a couple who would otherwise not have had any formal photos.

 

My conclusions? The 300D's buffer is a real pain for weddings - but I knew that, and with a faster camera I'd probably just have more

junk, unless the flash could keep up. I would never ever ever again be first shooter, unless it was a similar situation for similar people

who would still speak to me if it all went wrong. The lenses were fine - though obviously something which opended up more would have

been nice. I'd have liked another couple of years experience with the flash - as opposed to the evening's practice I got....

 

If I'd had better equipment, I'd just have ended up making more sophisticated mistakes. Upgrading my camera for a wedding would be

the last thing I'd do.

"ended up making more sophisticated mistakes" I love honesty! A priceless statement and one we won't often admit... thanks Ben!! It made my day... Mike

I've recently done my first family wedding. I really regret it. Mainly because I had to work all day instead of catching up with cousins I don't see very often and enjoying the day. instead I was working really hard and found it extremely difficult to get anyone to take me seriously as they did not see me as a hired professional. I was looked upon as just another family member taking snap-shots...so when it came to asking the best man to come away from the bar for a few photographs, I wasn't taken seriously. Don't get me wrong, I love wedding photography, I just think family(especially immediate family) weddings don't come around often enough to not enjoy them. You can still take photographs at the wedding, you will just enjoy it more. Get someone else to do the hard work... and remember, when you're the sole professional...it is WORK! I think any experienced wedding photographer would say the same.

If you were a waitress, would you want to serve them dinner?

 

Just my two cents, but I do hope you enjoy the wedding.

You will definitely want a flash unit. The Vivitar 285 is an excellent and cheap unit. Also, the "auto" modes on it are quite accurate.

 

Russ

Wow! Thank you everyone for all of the advice.

 

I suppose I should have mentioned in the first post what a lot of people already figured out; by stating it was an El Cheapo budget wedding, I assumed people would understand they aren't expecting anything great. They just know that I have a good camera and can take some good shots. To them, that means they might get some photos that are good where they might not have gotten any at all because they weren't going to pay for a photographer anyway.

 

It isn't going to be a big wedding. Just the groom and the bride, their immediate family, and some close friends. Its one of those wedding chapel, good, better or best package deals. There is a small building, some pews, they officiate for you and serve cake and punch.

 

I forgot to say that the wedding day is two weeks away and I'm a student in chiropractic school taking my second set of national board exams the weekend before. I don't have time to learn a flash; I have to study two years worth of school to take two days worth of tests. The wedding is also five hours from where I live, at ten in the morning on Saturday. I won't be able to get there before the big event. I'll get in late Friday and will be "flying blind" so to speak the following morning.

 

I've listened to everyone's advice about not buying new equipment. I thought at first that renting a 70-200 2.8 image stabilized lens would be a good idea, but the place will most likely be too small to use a lens with that much reach. (Why hasn't someone come up with a 17-100mm 2.8 image stabilized lens? Man, I would step over my own mother for something like that!)

 

With my trusty 50mm, I should be able to get some decent shots handheld inside. The 100 will give me some nice shots outside where I have more room, and the 17-70 will do the work for any group shots. Like I said, they're not expecting greatness, they just want photos of the event. They have to be happy with what they get.

 

To everyone who thought the wedding was going to be a bigger production, I apologize that I didn't clarify better from the start, and I appreciate your advice.

 

I want to say a very appreciative thank you to those that looked at my portfolio and gave me votes of confidence. You guys summed it up pretty well; I have a decent idea of what I'm doing and I'll do the best I can. I should get some good shots. I might not get an abundance of pro shots, but I'm sure I'll get at least a handful of good ones they'll appreciate.

 

Thanks,

Jacob

If the place is small enough use the 50mm as much as possible.

 

For portraits look for consistent outdoor shade, no mottled lighting sneaking thru the trees.

 

Try to have contrast between the clothing and the background. No dark suit and dark green foliage.

 

Good luck

Read all you can here and where ever you can find information.

 

You sound pretty well versed in the use of a camera, so I won't teach you to suck eggs. However, I think you should try to grab a basic flash, perhaps an ex430 and learn to bounce it with a bounce card attached.

 

The situation you are in is familiar to me (a little). My older sister asked me to her wedding about twenty years ago and forgot to mention I would be the only one there with a real camera. At least you will be prepared.

 

Best of luck.