mike_senesouk

Your black and white does look a little flat. You don't want to use Desaturation of Grayscale. There are many different settings and I can offer you one you might like better. Who knows but try it. Considering you're using Photoshop, try these settings.

 

1. Channel Mixer

2. Check the monochrome box (default setting is 100 -120? 0 and 0) I think.

3. Change the first setting to +20 (will be almost black)

4. Second (+40)

5. Third (+75ish) leaving the Constant as is.

 

You might like this setting better. You might not. It should give you a better white and a better black and good midtones but play with the settings. Put your original black and white next to the above settings and see if you like that better. :)

You're going to need a good lens, a flash, extra batteries and cards at the very least. I feel that the cost of you getting these equipments will exceed what you're likely to make. How are you going to fix...err..enhance those pictures? Or are you going to give them to her as is? Chances are those pictures are going to require some kind of touching up. Which means some kind of software. Those software translates to learning how to use them effectively. Learning wedding photography + learning editing software = long hours and many other things. You have to consider these aspects as well.

 

If your friend decided to go with you just so that they can have someone to take a couple pictures than it is possible to do it. The 2 of you should understand up front that you shouldn't expect too much. With you're experience, I wouldn't charge anything either. My first wedding that I did, was one of my sister's friend. We drove from Northeast Pa to the Finger Lakes in upstate Ny to do her wedding. It was her second marriage so she didn't plan on having a big wedding and wasn't planning on having a photographer. I did it for nothing just to gain some experience and have something for my book. By doing it for nothing you eliminate any pressure on yourself.

 

Good luck

That is a great story. Too bad no pictures. As part of your story.

Here's the voice inside your head, "Jen, you should buy the best lens possible. Your clients spend a lot of money on their wedding and they deserve great work."

 

Seriously, I started off with the same mentality. Buy what I can afford now. Make due with it until I can afford to upgrade. I ended up a several low end lenses. The money that I spent on them would've been better spent on the best lenses. And let me tell you, lenses make a big difference.

 

Imagine, you the photographer, shooting this wedding in front of all these people, some of which may be photographers themselves, watching you shoot. You want to convey some kind of professionalism. You want to do the best job you can possibly do. That means spending a little more to justify what you charge these people. Whether you are new and just starting out, the success of this shoot will be the foundation for future weddings. They will make up for the extra $$ that you have to spend.

Riiiiiigggghhhttt. I'm looking for 17-55 f2.8. Do you think Gary can get me that for $749?

This past April, Neil and Walter had a seminar in Philadelphia which my sister and I attended. We covered most of the pictures that he has on that website and how it was lit among other things. He's so hilarious too. Such a great guy. I found this site to be very useful.

I like them. They're very nice. I don't mind the looking down on the bride's head shot. Only I would've like to see a little more of her face. Maybe have her tilt her chin up just a tad. And I agree, a little touch of flash on some won't hurt. Especially, on the one of them looking down on you and them surrounding you. To open up the lens would've been too much light in this case.

I don't recommend purchasing low end equipments with the intention of purchasing a professional model at a later date. If the end goal is to become a professional wedding photography and you're really serious about it. Make the jump, buy the high-end model off the bat. The reason being is because, you won't have to upgrade, you can't blame the equipments for any lack of quality because that's the same thing every other professional is using (you'll just need to better yourself).

 

Of course, shooting along side a professional at a real wedding will be a great experience but I don't recommend this if you level of knowledge is minimal. You're not going to get that much out of it if you don't know how to control your camera or what setting it needs to be in. You may just end up getting in the way of the photography. I think it's better to start at home. If you have kids, shoot your kids running around the house or playing in the year. Go to some T-ball games, shoot those. If you're not getting good results out of these, you're not likely to get a better result at the day of someone's wedding. If a side shooter doesn't have a decent knowledge of photography, no amount of pointers will help you. Nor will the photographer have the time to explain them in great detail and still be in the mindset of doing his job.

 

While you're looking at your work, pay attention to why it didn't work out. What you could've done better. My sister is learning from me. I told her to go shoot her kids. Then I look at the pictures with her and tell her what she did wrong. Now, I'm kinda tired of seeing her kids all the time. After while of repeating the same mistakes and me repeating myself, she started to be more aware and started to apply it to her next shoot. Few photographers at the day of a wedding is going to be able to do this. Ever try to explain something really complicated to someone who doesn't know much?

 

There are a lot of sites out there but one that I find very useful for me is http://planetneil.com/ He's a very good photographer. I went to his seminar in Philly a couple of months ago. Maybe you'll find it just as useful as I did.

 

Good luck

I have 6 heavy duty and 2 medium. They work just fine. I take them on location back and forth. They withstand the torture quite well. I haven't had any problems with them except for one. I think this is just a simple retighten of a screw (for some reason it separated). These stands are used to hold my White Lightnings with softboxes. They do the job just fine.

How serious are you? I have the 45 CL-1. This unit can be fired (manually) without the SCA adapter. Just hook via a sync cord to your camera. They make a battery holder that holds 6 AA batteries which slides into the handle at the bottom. At the minimum, you can fire the unit with just that. I'm sure they make the same things for the 60 CT. If it's not going to be used heavily but just for playing around, I think you can get by with that. If you're going to use it a lot professionally, than you'll need to make more purchases.

 

Personally, I don't like the results that I got out of this flash and I also have the Metz 50 MZ which I don't like either. I decided to go with the Nikon SB-800 instead. I liked it so much I decided to buy 2 more. The Quantum Turbo is used to power it. I like the results I get from this flash better than the Metz.