What apertures and focus d'you use during the wedding day?

[ObiWon]

My answer to this is the rather primitive advice to 'Plan your work and Work your plan'

 

You have to have a basic plan of the shots that you need to get and what those shots should contain. For example, if the Wedding is at an impressive Old Church, then not to take a group shot with the whole magnificent frontage in focus is almost a crime IMHO. I use a local public garden for some wedding parties as the ceremony location is somewhat commercial and uninspiring, this again needs the full DoF to show off the location in full. However, the head shots need some plain foliage as a backdrop, to enable the narrow focus field of the lens to enable the image to 'pop' as has been said. Or if the background is a bit industrial, then you may want to restrict the DoF to get rid of some unwanted items. This is why I mainly like to shoot at locations I know well, therefore I understand the location, lighting and background challenges, which enables me to deliver a high quality product consistently.

 

So in essence, DoF is just a part of the creative process, it should vary with the content of the shot, therefore the answer is to plan what the shots will be and what creative effect you want to achieve.

 

Jim