Help with a first wedding!

[lori_b.]

<p>Hello! I am looking for your support/encouragement, advice, critique, words of wisdom and or suggestions about a wedding I have coming up. This is my first time to shoot a wedding, at the request of a friend. The couple knows I am not a professional and that I have not done this before. Her comments to me when I explained my limitations were "Its ok, we know you can do it! We love your other pictures". A nice compliment, but unrealistic when it comes to wedding photography. I agreed to take the pictures mainly because this has turned into a "church event" wedding, meaning many different members of the church (which is my church!) are volunteering, doing things like the decorations, food, readings, etc. It is a low budget affair, and me taking the pictures fit right in. I know that low budget or not, this is a special day for them and when it is said and done all they have left are the memories and the pictures. I am determined to do this in a professional way to the best of my ability, which is why I am looking for your help. They are paying me $250.00.<br />Last Saturday I went to the church to get some practice shots in the sanctuary. I didn't know they were coming, but the bride and groom showed up to go over some things, so my husband as model was off the hook and I was able to get some practice shots with the B&G. They have no wedding party and no one will be standing up with them. They have requested no flash and no movement down the aisles during the ceremony. Moving around the perimiter is ok. She wants lots of candids in a journalistic style. I am posting some shots for your consideration. Please feel free to discuss any aspect of them. I have another chance to practice the day before the wedding as she has asked me to come and take some snaps as the ladies of the church get things set up. <br />I am also interested in ideas for poses for formal shots. We will take some in the sanctuary after the ceremony and then move to a memorial garden outside. The wedding is at 10:00am. Outside shots will be around 11:30 in EXTREME bright sunlight reflecting off of white walls. (Arizona with no clouds in sight!) The brunch reception is in a fluoresent lit, white walled fellowship hall. There is an open invitation for anyone in the congregation to attend.<br />The equipment I will have that day is:<br />Nikon D700 with D80 as back up<br />my husband (non photog) to assist - carry photo bag, help change lenses, be an extra set of eyes<br />Lens: 70-200mm, 2.8 (rented), 14-24mm, 2.8 (rented), 50mm1.8, 60mm macro 2.8,<br />The d/80 will be set up with the 18-200mm<br />1 sb600, one softbox type diffuser attachment, one plastic diffuser, one 32" white and silver reflector<br />tripod, lots of batteries and memory</p>

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[lori_b.]

<p>The rest of the practice shots are in a gallery folder in my portfolio. Thanks again for your help!</p>

[theresa_skutt]

<p>My advice starts with make sure you get the groom's face when he sees her coming down the aisle...not just her. Make sure you get a full-length shots and closeups before the wedding. Hold the camera very steady or use a tripod/monopod if you can't use flash. Be sure to have a must-get shot list on hand and check it off. Be sure at the end to ask them if there is anything they want to get before you stop, so you don't get the "you didn't get" phone call later. Pose some, but make sure you allow the real love to flow and capture that as well. Capture all relevant details--whatever you can see they put time and energy into planning. Ummm. there is a lot more, but let's see what everyone else says =)</p>

[JAPster]

<p>Here are some hints you might find helpful, coming from an amatuer...</p>

<p>1) If using the wide angle lenses, do not get too close to the subject. That can result in noticeable distortions of hands, noses, lips, ears, etc. They will will look too big compared to the rest of the person. Instead, use your tele to stand off a bit, then zoom in to frame the subjects nicely.</p>

<p>2) Candid portraits can look nice if the subject is focused and the b/g left blurred. This technique is especially helpful if the b/g is too busy or distracting. To make this type picture, again stand off a bit from the subjects, zoom in to frame them nicely, and use a fairly wide aperture to give you fairly shallow DOF that will leave the subject faces in focus but the b/g blurred. Also, if your camera has a DOF Preview Button, you can press this to preview what the DOF looks like before you take the shot.</p>

<p>3) Take LOTS of pictures. You can always go through and pick the 'keepers' and delete the ones you dont like. As you say, this is a one time event, so take as many pictures as you can.</p>

<p>4) Bring all your picture cards so you can accomodate suggestion #3. Pre-format all the picture cards the night before the big event. If any of the cards give you any problems with the pre-format, put it aside. Don't use it for the big event. Dont take chances with a problematic picture card. I would also format the card again, right after you put it in the camera, just to make sure.</p>

<p>5) Fully recharge all your re-chargeable batteries the day before so you know they are fully "juiced". Take extra batteries and make sure they too are fully recharged. If your batteries die and you dont have a fresh battery instantly ready, you will miss important shots as the event flows by you. Dont let this happen to you.</p>

<p>6) From what you've said, if they prohibit flash use and make you use only ambient light, I think that will be the biggest challenge. Scoping out the venue before the big event is a very good idea. Inside, make careful mental note of A) what kinds of lights they have, B) locations and intensity of lights, C) what type WB setting to use that best matches the indoor lighting.<br>

7) On the OUTSIDE shots, try to NOT put folks out in strong direct sunlight. Direct sunlight can cause ugly shadows on people's faces. And if the sun is behind you, then the people end up looking into the sun and that causes them to squint real bad. That will make the pics look bad and that will make your customer unhappy. IMHO, its BETTER to position the people under some type of shade, like the shady side of the church building or under a big tree. That way they are lit by indirect reflected sunshine bouncing in from the side. That gives you much more even lighting across their faces without squinting and without strong shadows. Scout the venue and see if you can locate some good shady places like this.</p>

<p>8) You are going to want to pay close attention to the camera's WB (white balance) setting as you progress through the shoot. The rule of thumb is to set the camera WB so it matches the type of lighting falling on your scene/subjects. This means you have to pay attention and be aware of the constantly changing scene/subjects as the event progresses, especialloy if you move from inside to outside to back inside. If you shoot w/o a flash or any artificial lighting, then try to set camera WB to match the ambient like. For example, inside, where you have all those Flor. Lights, set the WB to 'Flourescent' setting. But if you end up using the SB600 inside, then switch the WB to 'Flash'. Then when you move outside, switch WB again to match the lighting. If you put the subjects in the direct sunlight and its sunny, then set WB to "Sunny". But if you move them under some shade, then switch WB to "Shady". Or in the rare event you have overcast sky, then set WB to "Cloudy" setting. Keeping the WB set correctly, to match the type of lighting in that immediate scene, this will help you get the best possible color renditions in the digital images. It makes a noticeable difference in how colors come out, and if its not set right, that can cause a noticeable "color cast" to be in your pictures and you dont want that.</p>

<p>9) On the informal candid shots, taken as you walk around, take a few extra moments to check the viewfinder and make sure you are not chopping people people in half. Its easy to forget to check the VF, but this can easily ruin some shots that might otherwise be keepers.</p>

<p>10) If you are hand-holding the shot, and your rented lenses have VR, do take advantage of that and use the VR since you have it. But if you mount the camera to a tripod, turn OFF the VR since its not needed.</p>

<p>11) When you go outside to take pics, screw on the lens hood that came with the lens. The lens hood will shade the lens from strong side-light that might otherwise cause optical defects in your images. If you use the W/A lens outside, you will need a W/A hood, one that wont show up in your pictures when you zoom to the widest angle in the W/A range. If you go back inside you can leave a hood on as long as you dont use flash. If you start using flash, then you want to take off the hood because the top edge of lens hood will tend to block the bottom portion of flash burst and result in a dark band of shadows across the bottom 1/3 of the picture. So take off the hood inside IF you start using a flash.</p>

<p>I know these are "pretty basic" hints, but sometimes we forget the basics when we're under pressure to get the shots. So, I hope these help...</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>AP<br>

Atlanta GA</p>

[picturesque]

<p>What struck me was that most of your sample images are slightly underexposed. I see you are using manual mode, but how are you determining exposure? Are you planning to not use flash at all, even for the processional?</p>

<p>The good news is that you have white everywhere, which helps both ambient and flash, but with flash a lot more, because you can bounce your flash off the walls and brighten/sharpen up your processionals, either by dragging the shutter a little or by using it as fill with a fast enough shutter speed to stop motion. Many times, you can use 1/125th and stop the kind of slow walking one does in a processional (particularly since the subjects are walking toward you). Look up Neil Van Niekirk's book and site and read up on bouncing flash.</p>

<p>I would say as long as you are aware of the hand holding guideline, you should be fine during the ceremony. Personally, I like to use a tripod anyway, but try out the VR on your 70-200 and see how much you can get away with. Who is using the D80? I'd keep that (and the lens) as a back up only, unless you are used to using two cameras at once.</p>

<p>For formals, get a copy of Steve Sint's book. It discusses formals posing and basic posing. Unless you have a natural instinct for this kind of thing, I'd know the basic formals posing and execute them without worrying about the fancy stuff for now.</p>

<p>Without seeing your blinding sunlight scene, hard to say how best to do this. The usual way to handle bright sunlight is to place subjects so the light is on their backs, and their fronts are in the shade. Expose for the sun and fill with flash. However, since you are close to noon time, the light may be very downward light, which is difficult because you have dark eye sockets and sunlight on nose tips. You can do a search on these forums for bright sun handling, but I can tell you that just asking people to tip their heads down will help get nose tips out of the sun. You can also use one to shade another's face. For instance, if the groom is more turned away from the sun, use him to shade the bride's face. Watch out for squinting with bright white walls reflecting light--great for fill light, but people will squint badly.</p>

<p>Here is one. There are others.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.photo.net/wedding-photography-forum/00N7yS">http://www.photo.net/wedding-photography-forum/00N7yS</a></p>

<p>As for the fluorescent lit hall--bounce your flash, overcome the fluorescent by shooting at a higher shutter speed than one might normally. If you don't have daylight anywhere, you could gel your flash, but usually there is daylight through windows, etc. Bounce your heart out here, with white walls.</p>

<p>You have a lot of questions and have left things pretty wide open, so people may be confused how to answer. I suggest you ask specfic questions about the areas that concern you the most.</p>

[lori_b.]

<p>Theresa - Thanks for the reminder of the shot list. I have been working on one of my own, going step by step through the day, but I willmake sure to get the bride to write down her must get shots, especially of people.</p>

<p>Alan - Thanks so much for writing down all that info! Yes, some basics but good to review. I like to wide angle for the interest it can give to some shots but will keep in mind the distortion. I also appreciate the pointers on the lens hood, as I don't normally like to use it.</p>

<p>Nadine - Yes, I agree that my samples are underexposed. I hate that their faces are dark. The bride is firm about no flash during the ceremony so I will have to find a way to bring up the exposure. I know I can push the ISO even more on the d700. I am also going to try working in differnt modes and bumping up the exposure compensation. I think my biggest fear and what I consider to be unacceptable is blurry or OOF images. So if I nail that but need to work on exposure in PP it will be ok. But of course my goal is a to get the best shot possible straight out of the camera. I have decided that I WILL use a bounced/diffused flash during the processional and the recssional. You have given some great pointers, especially about the outdoor pictures. thanks! I will be looking into the posing books as well. I have been looking at hundreds of wedding pictures, but all except the most formal do not seem to fit this couple.</p>

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[picturesque]

<p>Two things about shooting during the ceremony. First, if you are underexposed, noise is made worse. So if you up the ISO (which the D700 can handle well) but are still underexposed, you are essentially 'wasting' the D700 high ISO capability. So meter carefully during the ceremony and don't underexpose. What good is a sharp image if it is underexposed and you need to pull it up in post processing so much that the noise is accentuated? Get both right at the time of exposure--that is the ticket.</p>

<p>Sometimes, when I want to use manual camera mode throughout the ceremony, I will meter (assuming the lights are as they will be during the ceremony) at various spots around the altar, using an incident meter. You can do the same with your in camera meter and a gray card. That way, I know what the exposure is at various spots. If you rely on an automated camera mode, such as aperture or shutter priority, you should know it's response extremely well, and know just how to compensate the exposure and why. Doesn't the D700 have good auto ISO, where you can set a limit? All that white would definitely affect a matrix metering scheme.</p>

<p>Second, use those wide open apertures during the ceremony. Normally, you use wide open apertures with caution, because of the very narrow DOF. Since one of the factors that affects DOF is subject distance, capturing a sharp couple standing at the altar is easy and completely do-able with f1.4. You are normally standing pretty far away.</p>

[savagesax]

It looks like you are not only underexposed, but the white balance is off. Everything looks a bit yellow. You can correct this using photoshop and/or by setting your camera to the type of lighting you are working with. For example if you are using a flash, set the white balance to flash. If you are shooting outside in the shade, but you are using a fill flash, set the camera for flash not for shade.

 

Was the gentlemen in your photo wearing a white shirt? If so you can do a white balance adjustment off of his shirt. Is this adjustment any better?<div></div>

[picturesque]

<p>I also meant to say that older couples are not too keen on the newer style posing, not to mention some of it is really suited to young people and older people will look silly in them (not dignified). Some, not all. However, if you sense they are not interested in these poses, just concentrate on getting first rate, basic ones, because not only are older couples uninterested in new style posing (usually), they are uninterested in spending a lot of time posing, away from their guests. So the quicker you get your basic poses, the better.</p>

[lori_b.]

<p>Thanks Bob, for taking an interest in my photos! In regards to white balance, while my photos are underexposed, the color cast is true to the environment. I wonder if this will be more evident in a better exposed image? The pictures I posted are unedited, converted from RAW. I usually keep my white balance setting on auto, and always shoot in RAW. In going back to play with the editing of these photos, the only color issue I found was that the grooms face was too red, something I also see in Bob's edit, but I did like it brigtened up. What I also saw was what Nadine was talking about with the noise being brought out. Another point taken.</p>

<p>Nadine, your tip about opening up the apeture is taken. I had hesitated to go as large as I could because of the DOF. I had not thought about the distance makeing a difference. Little did I know getting into photography that so much dreaded numbers, ratios and math could be involved! lol! When you talk about the metering, I am embarassed to say I don't know! Working in P, S, or A modes I know the difference between camera matrix metering and camera spot metering and have used that with some success in tough lighting situations. Sometimes I will take the settings for P mode and use that as a starting point when usuing M mode. I do not know how the metering works in M mode. I don't have a seperate metering device. Ah, to the camera book I go....Did I mention that the d700 is fairly new to me?<br>

As for the posing, YES! I agree that only classic formal poses will work for this couple. It suits their personalities and their age. I have been looking into this and think I have a handle on it. What I may do for the first few shots is let it flow and see what they give me. These might may end being the more "creative" formal shots.</p>

<p>All of your info and discussions are not only "Wedding 101" for me, but a great learning opportunity for me to use the info in any situation. My ultimate goal is be a professional in shooting children and families, this wedding business may be my first and last! But who knows? I will look forward to a scathing critique of the finished wedding photos. </p>

 

[picturesque]

<p>Color cast is accentuated if the image is underexposed. I also shoot RAW and use auto white balance. When I work on the images in post, I set the correct white balance.</p>

<p>As for metering, realize that the in camera meter (or most any meter, including flash meters) compares the info it gets to middle gray. iTTL will do a few other things, but the comparison to middle gray still applies. So if your scene is mostly white or light values, your meter will tell you an EV which is underexposed. If your scene is mostly black or dark values, it will tell you an EV which is overexposed. If you rely on the automated metering modes, you need to step in and compensate for various factors, one of which is the general value of a scene. I'd suggest experimenting to find out what kind of plus comp you might need. Learn to understand and read the histogram and you will know if your exposures are good in the field.</p>