I did it! My first Wedding.

[athena_cupp]

<p>I posted a few months ago asking for advice about shooting my first wedding. Although the advice leaned heavily on aborting my mission for lack of experience I made a commitment ( actually 3 ) that I was determined to keep. I took all of your advice to heart. I was able in those few months to secure more equipment including a second body, came up with a suitable contract and purchased liability insurance. Then I immersed myself into every practical blog, article and of course shooting, shooting, shooting to prepare myself. All that aside, nothing compares to actually throwing yourself in there! The day started with major bridesmaids drama and a crying bride (what a way to get started, I played many roles that day including counselor) but the day ended all smiles. I came in ready and composed and determined to do my job and do my best. There are things I wish I would have done and some area's where I now know I need improvement but all in all the day was a success! Thank you all who gave me advice. Even the hard words made me more determined to do it and do it well!</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

[MichaelChang]

<p>Good for you, Athena. I'd be interested anytime you're ready to share the wedding pictures. </p>

[rick_m.]

<p>Congratulations! It is great to see someone succeed. You did all of the right things and it sounds like your preparation paid off very well. Your story is a lesson for all new wedding photographers. Next time it will be you lowering the boom on someone about to rush into the lion's den. Good job. Show us a picture or two so we can share in your success. </p>

[athena_cupp]

<p>Thank you both. I am not sure why my original picture didn't post but it seems to be there now. </p>

[william-porter]

<p>Congratulations, Athena. Sounds like you worked hard to prepare. Very glad that it all went so well. Well done you!</p>

<p>Will</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>It's really nice to hear this back - there is a fair share on threads much like you previous thread, and usually one hears nothing back. It's nice to hear you pushed through, better to hear it went well and personally I think the best is that you recognise for yourself what is most important to work on to get better. That is the right spirit.<br>

Please do visit back here to share your experiences with others in a similar situation as yours, as well as to share your photos, as that photo is a very promising start :-)</p>

[aleks_biteman]

<p>Gotta say, with my first wedding coming up this weekend, this makes me much more confident! Any tips on someone who JUST got into it? What exactly would you do differently? I too am ignoring people saying I shouldn't do it for lack of experience... If not now, then when!? Hope your future career as a photographer goes well :)</p>

[athena_cupp]

<p>Hi Aleks, my biggest piece of advice is just be prepared! As far as what I would do differently..there were poses that I had didn't have the couple do that I had decided on before the wedding but things got behind as far as the bride and groom getting ready so everything got behind and I felt like in the rush I didn't choose my best poses. My biggest mistake of the night when going from inside to outside I forgot to dial down my setting on the camera so I had a handful of pictures that were very overexposed. Thankfully I am shooting in Raw so I was able to fix those pretty well in Lightroom. A lot of the things that I was not happy with I am not sure that I could have prepared myself for,I think a lot of these things just come with practice and experience. The three weddings that I am doing this summer are all as favors for couples who are friends / family and they are all aware that I haven't got the skills of a professional photographer or a second shooter (which after running up and down the stairs for hours trying to not miss any thing I can see the value in) however I feel just because I am doing these weddings as favors that is no reason not to do the best job and I can do. I don't know where it will lead or even if I plan to persue it as a business but regardless I feel very accomplished learning something new. I'm sure whoever asked you to do their wedding saw something in your work that they admired so just be confident in yourself and your abilities!!! Best of luck to you this weekend and in the future!</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>Aleks, in case you haven't read it before, this is the <a href="/wedding-photography-forum/00cNKh">original thread</a> where Athena asked for advice.. ignore the parts where people say "don't do it" and you will find a wealth of information (and a very useful thread in general). And to balance that "don't do it"-part: most people aren't saying "do not do it" because of a lack of experience, but because of a lack of preparation and understanding the 'hidden' risks. Even if it sounds negative, it's worth considering those points.</p>

[William Michael]

<p>This is very good that you have been successful: even better that you returned to share this fact with us and in doing so also you described your planning and preparation and also some of the issues that you were faced with during the day: this is all very valuable information that will assist others.</p>

<p>There is a time when it is right to simply ‘do it’ and it occurs to me that you balanced your passion to get to that point with good preparations. It is very pleasing to read that the commentaries on your previous thread assisted you in those preparations.</p>

<p>Brava!</p>

<p>WW</p>

[athena_cupp]

<p>All the advice I received opened me up to all kinds of possibilities and scenario's that I had not thought of or would not have been prepared for. Thank you all again for the invaluable information. Here are some more of the wedding photos. </p><div></div>

[athena_cupp]

<p>.</p><div></div>

[athena_cupp]

<p>The couple</p><div></div>

[athena_cupp]

<p>I really like this one too. My bride wore her fiances flannel while she was getting ready to feel close to him. May not have been one of the best photos of the day but I loved the sentiment behind it. </p><div></div>

[aleks_biteman]

<p>They look great Athena! Just wondering, any external flash? I'll be going in with 3 speedlites, 2x Canon 580ex II, and 1 Yonguo 560II... Just wondering if you used anything besides ambient light!</p>

[athena_cupp]

<p>I had the Yonguo 560II on my Nikon D7000 with an 18mm-125mm lens<br>

and the Nikon sb400 on my Nikon D5100 with a 50mm lens. I had 3 other lens with me but used just the two I already had on my two camera bodies. They served me well during the day for different situations so no need to change lens but brought them as backs up..just in case!</p>

[aleks_biteman]

<p>Awesome! Thanks for the tips :) </p>

[Landrum Kelly]

<p>Shoot raw and use exposure compensation to avoid blowing out the detail in the whites, especially in the sunshine.</p>

<p>That said, the photos made in the sunlight are very appealing.</p>

<p>--Lannie</p>

[aleks_biteman]

<p>Also... I typically shoot in all manual... recommended or not? shutter priority?</p>

[William Michael]

<blockquote>

<p>"Also... I typically shoot in all manual... recommended or not? shutter priority?"</p>

</blockquote>

<p>My advice is that you should use the technical procedures at which you are most adept whilst also considering the limitations or traps.</p>

<p>The first part of that advice goes to <strong><em>keeping the technical stuff as simple and as rote as possible </em></strong>so that you can concentrate on all the other elements of shooting a wedding, especially those elements which will be new to you.</p>

<p>The second part goes to knowing what might go wrong and intrinsic to that is also <strong><em>knowing in detail how each CAMERA MODE works</em></strong>.<br>

As one example I (usually) choose to use Manual Mode - because I use Flash as Fill outdoors and indoors. At an Event I (usually) do NOT want to change camera modes whilst I am on the hop.<br>

The reason I mention Flash as Fill as my main criterion for choosing Manual Mode for the camera, is that I use Canon DSLRs and when using Flash as Fill the functionality of the metering for Canon Cameras is different when the camera is in M Mode to when the camera is in Av Mode.</p>

<p>WW </p>

 

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>Aleks, that all depends on how fluent you are with your gear. In frequently changing light conditions, I find manual nothing but a nuisance and prefer aperture priority (and adjust ISO manually if shutter speeds become too slow). If light conditions remain roughly the same, manual can work just fine, of course.<br>

But the choice between which modes to use on your camera is seriously the least of your worries; you'll need your energy and focus on the compositions, on catching the right moments. Do whatever you can to not let your camera get in your way - so use it in the way you are most used to. </p>

[aleks_biteman]

<p>ok cool :) thanks for the tip Wouter. Helpful as always!</p>

[katrin_d.]

<p>I'd go easy on the vignette - I know how it is when you get carried away with effects & actions but in a couple of years, it'll look dated. Also, practice photographing white in the sun - you lost the details in the dress and blew the highlights - exposure issues seem to be a bit of a theme as the first one [b&w] looks a tad under to me. However, the flanel shirt shot is great, love that one.</p>

[athena_cupp]

<p>Thanks for the advice. The exposure is one of the area's I know I need to work on! </p>

[William Michael]

<blockquote>

<p> . . . Also, practice photographing white in the sun - you lost the details in the dress and blew the highlights - </p>

</blockquote>

<p>EXIF reveals that shot was pulled at: F/10 @ 1/160s @ ISO160 (No Flash Fill). The clock has be wrong as it states 2:08AM – but it looks like late afternoon, and that would be SPRING time your seasons up north.</p>

<p>If that EXIF is correct the highlights most likely will be fried.<br>

The reason is, that you have direct front sunlit light between the Tropics and within ‘usual daylight hours’ in a ‘usual landscape scene’ – i.e. NEITHER beach nor snow.<br>

That means the scene is at EV = 15 and therefore the “F/16 Rule” will apply. <br>

You (Athena) are one and one third stops over exposed for that shot. That is most likely too far over exposed to recover the highlights. As a rule of thumb I will give a latitude of one third of a stop, over-exposed, on older model DSLRs and two thirds of a stop for more modern sensors - such that the highlights could be recovered when that mistake is made.</p>

<p>The ‘mistake’ which was made, probably was that the TTL meter was set to ‘Average’ (maybe ‘Matrix’) but from my experience with Nikon Cameras more likely the other Nikon mode that is ‘Averaging’ not Matrix and that you took notice of that metering as being ‘correct’.</p>

<p>The lesson to learn would be in that shooting scenario: F/16 @ 1/160s @ ISO160 (or any same exposure), is not only ‘correct’ but is also ‘safe’.</p>

<p>WW</p>