Lighitn/Equipment advice sought

NOTE: an essentially similar question was cross posted to the FourThirds Photo

web site.

In order to save money, my niece has asked me to shoot her wedding and in a

moment of weakness I said I would even though I haven't shot a wedding in over

30 years. (They're good kids without much money and the family wants to give

them as good a day as we can)

The wedding and reception will be held outside during the long summer days in

the early evening. The reception party will undoubtedly extend past sundown

though I expect there will be a tent over the dance floor and dining tables. My

wife can act as an assistant, though the young woman who shot my daughter's

wedding did it alone.

I don't want to spend any more money than I have to, so I intend to use my

Olympus E500 and probably my elderly Canon AE-1s as backup, but I'm going to

need some lighting equipment for sure, and I need assistance in determining just

what equipment I will need.

How many gigabytes do I need in flash cards? Though I've been shooting raw, I'm

thinking of shooting SHQ or HQ jpg for the storage advantage. I seriously doubt

we will print anything higher than an 8X10. I will probably put together a

traditional album and a DVD slideshow built with ProShow Gold.

"Back in the day", I used a Honeywell Strobonar 800 and A SunPack potato masher

both mounted on the side, so I'm not unfamiliar or afraid of manual flash units

or holding a flash unit off camera for bounce.

Will the larger Oly flash units be adequate? In a pinch, could they be made to

work with my elderly Canons? These things mount over the lens, I know they have

a tilting head for bounce, but I'm used to holding the flash up high so the

shadows fall on the floor. Is this technique still used/recommended? Would I be

better off using a manual flash considering my situation and experience?

I'm thinking for more formal group poses I may need some secondary light. If we

do the poses under a tent I don't think I'll have to worry about light

dissipating into the sky, but if we do the poses without a tent, I'm not so

sure. Do you think a single additional unit with umbrella will suffice? should I

get two? How powerful should this unit be? What about some sort of continuous

light source? They'd probably be cheaper and possibly easier for an old dinosaur

to work with. I've been wanting to get some lights for portraits anyway. Brands,

and specs appreciated!

I intend to read up on modern wedding photography just to make sure I have my

bases covered on technique and I do have some experience in the distant past, so

the shooting part I'm 'reasonably' comfortable with, but it's the new technology

that worries me. I don't want to commit myself to spending more than $600 - $800

USD on new equipment. (any more $$$, and I might as well just pay for a

photographer myself - I really don't think I want to do this regularly but I do

love buying photo stuff!)

Am I being realistic? Any advise you guys can give would be greatly appreciated.

The following makes my assumptions as noted.

> I intend to use my Olympus E500

Assuming only the kit lens then shooting at F3.5 or above yes lights needed, consider another faster lens for available light? And another for tighter portraits?

> How many gigabytes do I need in flash cards?

Depending upon the guest number and the expectations of the client (and you) and your shoot to success ratio: 300 images at a 50 guest wedding would be a conservative starting point. Easy to do the Maths once you get an idea of the number you want to shoot and how many you think you will use from what you shoot.

(My advice is be comfortable that you have enough space, to cover your . . .)

But I know studios that `guarantee at least 1000 images` from their Wedding coverage. (which I think is silly).

> I'm thinking for more formal group poses I may need some secondary light.

Depends how big the Formal Wedding Group is and at what time of day you do the Formal Group Shots: in the hour before sunset you could backlight and fill with one strong flash: you seem to know manual flash procedure. I think timeline planning here is necessary.

> I intend to read up on modern wedding photography just to make sure I have my bases covered on technique and I do have some experience in the distant past, so the shooting part I'm 'reasonably' comfortable with, but it's the new technology that worries me.

Go to a Wedding and watch, look at the coverage your daughter got and analyse how it was done, better than a book if you`ve done it before.

Technology is technology: I am sure how to do it will come back, I`d suggest that once you have a look at what flash or lighting kits are available in a pro store you will not be worrying about technology that much: rather have a plan as to what to shoot and a time line in which to shoot it (relative to how much sun you`ll be working with)

Regards

WW

If you decide to go with an on camera flash, with your experience, I'd recommend an auto flash unit like a Sunpak 383 or Vivitar 285. They are reasonably inexpensive and reasonably powerful. Certainly powerful enough to provide fill for daylight shots. For more power, faster recycles, and still not much money a Sunpak 544 would be a good choice. Then all you have to do is select the aperture that the flash dictates and the flash handles the exposure. You could get Oly's shoe mount TTL flash, but it is not cheap, won't work with the Canon, and if you're not likely to need it later why spend the money? But if you want one, now's a good time to get it.

Most continuous lights require a pretty long shutter, as they are never as bright as they seem, and subjects get too hot. Still, they are easy to work with.

Whatever you choose, make sure you have plenty of practice time with it.

Shooting RAW doesn't necessarily mean you get better prints above 8x10--so shoot whatever you wish and are most comfortable with. RAW really helps in difficult light and if you make serious exposure errors, though, so consider the safety margin you are likely to need or want. It also gives you more precise control over your images. You can consider shooting some images in RAW and others in JPEG. The number of gigabytes you need is figured by estimating the number of images you might shoot for the whole wedding, if you are shooting RAW or JPEG or a combination, and then add some for saftey/backup.

The Olympus flashes, as long as equivalent to at least a guide number of about 100 and up, should be fine if you want to go that route, but they probably won't work with your Canon except in manual mode only. Whether to use manual flash is up to you. Flash with digital is a slightly different thing than with film, so maybe rent an Oly flash first, play with it, decide if you like it, and then decide from there. Handholding a flash up high is a perfectly fine technique, although modern practice is to bounce the flash whenever possible. A white tent is a great surface to bounce off.

If you've used a second light before for formals, then fine--up to you. Under a white tent, I wouldn't think you'd need the umbrella, as you can bounce off the tent surface. I wouldn't get two, and as for the power, depends on what f stops, ISOs and subject distances you use. The tendency these days is toward higher ISOs and wider apertures, meaning shoemounts work fine. I wouldn't get into continuous light sources. If you want more powerful lights, I personally would get a Lumedyne kit. The classic, used kits can be gotten pretty inexpensively. You can accomplish outdoor fill flash with the shoemount and/or off camera flashes in any case.

Get Steve Sint's book on Wedding Photography (second edition)--traditional enough that you will recognize the material, modern enough to provide learning material.