1st wedding shoot

[steven_pavlish]

Hello, I have been pouring over the "wedding" forums to learn as

much as possible before I photograph a wedding for my wife's best

friend (now only 2 weeks away). I've spent the majority of my shots

on sports photography: surfing; skating; wakeboarding. The friend

said she liked my photos and asked if i would shoot her wedding.

Relax and/or stop laughing, I told her that its not that easy to

pull off. She said she had confidence in me...and added that they

were not planning on getting a photographer otherwise. I agreed to

give it my best but that I would probably need to buy a proper flash

(at least). She offered to pay for a new SB 800, approx:$275-$300.

 

The wedding is on the beach (S.E. Florida)at 5pm and the party is at

a dim-lit restaraunt. Should I get the flash or should I get a fast

inexpensive prime lens and another CF card I appriciate any advice.

 

I currently have:

Nikon D70, Nikon N80, 18-70mm 3.5-4.5 ED (kit lens),80-200mm 2.8D

ED, 1 GB Lexar Pro CF card

 

Thanx in advance!

[EricM]

Can you rent some gear? You should go with some wide fast prime's and more cf cards...

[nolan]

You'll definitely want the flash for fill outdoors as well as for inside the dark restaurant. Do

research on flash brackets as well.

 

For portraits with nicely blurred backgrounds the 80-200 will be excellent *if* you can get

back far enough from the subject. The 18-70 will be a good general coverage lens, and it

can also be a workable portrait lens if you shoot wide open at the telephoto end. But a 50/

1.8 or 50/1.4 might be very useful, and would let you get more ambient background light

in the restaurant.

 

You should have at least one more CF card, and if you shoot RAW then get as many cards

as you can afford because they will fill up fast. Consider taking a computer or portable

hard drive on site, too, for backing up image files and allowing you to reuse CF cards if

necessary. And have a backup for every critical piece of equipment.

 

That's all just technical advice. Obviously, read everything you can about wedding

photography, look at some of the online galleries of brilliant wedding photographers,

and practice as much people photography as possible beforehand!

 

Good luck, Steven. I was in a similar situation last year, and I lived to tell the tale (even had

fun!). Who knows, you might even get more wedding work out of it.

[russ_butner___portland__or]

I agree with the flash and flash bracket advice. I would never shoot a wedding without my back-up flashes and brackets.

 

Russ

[joel rodriguez]

Steven, it is not just about equipment. My first wedding will be in a month from today. I took a few volunteer assignments as an assistant photographer to learn. Check this website to lear what to shoot and when. http://www.dfwlookingglass.com/weddings.html

 

Good luck

[bill_sooby1]

One other thing - when I got married many years back, the photographers were a Husband and Wife team. He took (very good) photos and said very little. She made sure that the groups were arranged properly, that everyone's ties was straight and so on.

 

If you have the chance, get someone - eg your wife or partner - to check that the details are right.

 

Bill S

[paul_sokal___dallas__tx]

Steve, definitely get the SB800. It's a great flash and allows you to take advantage of Nikon's strong flash system (the built in flash on the D-70 is for emergency use only or as a commander). When you get into multiple flashes you can add the cheaper sb600's to your system and you'll have at least the one 800 to run the show. If you can rent one, you might want to try the 70-200VR in place of your 80-200. And a fast 50mm is a relatively cheap investment. And way more CF cards. Absolutely shoot raw and expect to shoot minimum of 500 images. Prepare for 1000 at least and then double it. CF cards are pretty cheap to rent where I live. Hopefully that's true in FL.

[chris m., central florida]

Definitely go with the flash. Bounce it off the cieling if you can with the white bounce card directing some of the light forward. Works like a charm!

 

You can get 1GB Lexar cards at Sam's club for $70 each and 512MB cards for $40 each. I have several and have had no problems with them whatsoever.

 

A Nikon 50mm f1.8 lens is a great item to buy at around $100.00 or so in mint used condition.

 

I shoot all over Florida. Email me if you need specific problems addressed.

[steven_pavlish]

Just got in from the day job and was happy to find your replies. I have (and will have)alot of homework and your suggestions certainly help. Anyone else, please feel free to add on. Thanks to everyone for your time and interest.

[laurie_m]

Steven, I just survived my first (and hopefully last) wedding. Just did a quick run through of the 500 digital frames I shot (the film will take a few days). I shot nearly all with a D70, used an SB800 on a flash bracket. Overall, I'm pleased with the results and think the bride and groom will be more than satisfied. That said, I've never worked so hard shooting anything in my life.

 

You're lucky that the sun doesn't set in the east!

 

Now....One thing I became painfully aware of is that the autofocus on the D70 really stinks in low light. With the small viewfinder, manual focus didn't work either. I ended up shooting many low light shots with my film camera that seems to handle those situations better.

 

What saved me....I attended the very brief and informal "walk-through" the evening before the wedding. So, not only was I prepared for the lighting, I knew what was coming next and where to be to capture it. That's probably much more important than your gear. Because I couldn't be two places at once, I had a few film bodies loaded and on auto-pilot. I gave specific instructions to two people, who have demonstrated an ability to follow directions (brother-in-law and nephew) to shoot specific scenes at specific angles. It was the only way, I could think of, to capture all the important moments. So, if there's someone you can trust (even a little), you might want to consider soliciting their help.

 

If there's anyway you can go to the beach and the restaurant ahead of time (with a volunteer model for testing your fill flash), I highly recommend it. It saved the day for me (as did all the great advice I got in this forum!).

[steven_pavlish]

Thanks for the input Laurie. I DEFINITELY will be test shooting, tommorow as a matter of fact. I am also trying to line up a 2nd shooter. Did your D70 give you many shots out of focus? Unfortunately my 2nd body (N80) has the same crappy AF sensor. The cards are stacked against me, as they say. But, I love a challenge.

[laurie_m]

Steve, As you know, the AF is always a bit sluggish on the D70 even under the best of circumstances. For most moving shots in decent light, I either "pre-focused" or manually focused. During the ceremony, when folks were standing relatively still or at least in one spot, I used autofocus. For the formals, I used autofocus. For the candids, I went back and forth depending on the circumstances. In low light, I used my film bodies. Even though the autofocus may not have been any faster, the viewfinder is brighter and larger allowing for accurate manual focus. As a matter of fact, one 35mm film body I was using doesn't have autofocus at all.

 

I haven't seen the film results yet. I managed to get the majority of the digital shots nice and sharp. There are a handful that are soft. Most of the soft ones were in low lighting when the autofocus just couldn't keep up and I couldn't see well enough to manual focus. I'll just have to convince them I was going for a "dreamy" look :)

 

My challenge was that the wedding and reception were held outside. The wedding light couldn't have been better-mostly cloudy skies at 7:00pm. A little fill flash did the trick. By the time the reception began, it was dark out. Other than the dance floor and bar, the only lighting was candle light. The cloudy skies often blocked the moonlight that did help a little. Hopefully, in the restaurant, the lighting will be better for autofocus.

 

I can tell you that if I was a wedding photogapher, I would use something with better autofocus and a better viewfinder than the D70. Don't get me wrong, I love my camera. It suits me just fine for Nature photogaphy and even the pet portraits I've been doing. But Weddings.......on a regular basis........only as a back up.

[ar_fonseca]

"Should I get the flash or should I get a fast inexpensive prime"

 

you're kidding right?? get the flash man!!

Also you may find (as I have) that your D70 focuses much better with a 50mm 1.8 or 1.4, think about it(well it was explained to me this way) at 1.8 there's almost twice as much light hitting the sensor than at 3.5 (which is the widest the kit lens will open up to) result better af, and...if you can't the 800 at least get the 600, and more cards for sure......and practice white balancing or get the expodisc, or better yet make one your self see this link

 

http://63.249.87.70/fct/core/expo.html

 

good luck

[steven_pavlish]

UPDATE: I did order the SB800, it will arrive tommorow, before my test shoot begins (hopefully). I really want to bite the bullet and buy the 50mm 1.8 but too many recent new toys for the wallet...that's another story and yes its not the worst problem to have.

[laurie_m]

Steve, I think you'll also want flash arm before the wedding, to get your flash a little higher (prevents red eye). I bought an inexpensive Strobframe with a flip arm that works just fine for me. Others may be able to recommend something better. I was amazed at how many people commented "wow...nice camera" when I used the stroboframe. I thought it was pretty funny. I guess it made me look like I knew what I was doing, even though I didn't :) For about 30 bucks I went from rank amatuer to seasoned pro in the eyes of the unsuspecting public!

 

I also used a Lumiquest softbox($20.00),over my flash. I did some test shots with and without it. I thought it made the fill flash look a little more natural. Others in this forum are certainly more qualified to comment on that.