tony_hoffer

I would say YES to questions 1 and 3.... but I'm assuming that you're not made of money.

1) Off camera lighting is great for receptions and formal or posed shots. During

ceremonies (the time when lighting is usually hardest), having off camera light isn't really

an option due to the flash restrictions you're probably already under. It can definitely help

improve your photography, but I'm not sure that it completely solves your problem.

2) I shoot Canon, can't help with that

3) The price of the 5d should be getting lower, as mentioned above. The 40d is great with

noise too, as you know. As much as I would love to tell you to switch to Canon, if you're

invested in lenses, you might be better off selling one of your cameras now, and buying

the D300 or D3.... or you could just switch to Canon :)

One thing you might have going for you is that courtrooms or town halls can sometimes have

a cool 'old-building' look to them (lots of old wood, ect...). Without knowing what it looks

like, maybe taking some wide angle shots of the room as they're getting married, or a couple

shots with them outside would be cool. Try to capture facial expressions if you can. Those

will be meaningfull for them.

Just remember that you're there to capture the moment. They're well aware of what the place

looks like. No need to dress it up, just shoot what you see and do your best.

I've never heard of it, but if you're doing it for tax purposes, you will probably need to think

about having the photographer fill out a W-2. In the U.S., anyone you pay over $600 needs to

do this, I believe. I'm no tax expert, though, so I could be wrong. Just something else to think

about.

I think you did a nice job for your second wedding!

One thing to be careful for is the shadows caused by your flash. You might want to try

bouncing your flash for starters. Other than that, I enjoyed them.

Looks like the shots are pretty underexposed. As a general rule, start out by having the

wedding dress be a true white (if it's a white dress). Adjusting your exposure and white

balance will help as a starting point. Post-processing is your friend.