Wedding Photos

[kaffinito]

Well DH and I did our first wedding shoot this past Saturday for some friends of ours as a freebie "are you sure you want us to do this?" gift.

We learned a lot from the experience. Dh learned that he wants a new camera, and I learned that I have a lot to learn. I went into this knowing squat about shooting a wedding.

I had my D90 with SB600, 18-200, 28mm, 25mm, 50mm and 85mm and my tripod along with our extra batteries and a lens cleaning kit. Dh had his D60 and an 18-105. (That's all he would take. He won't make that mistake next time.)

Lesson 1) Practice with your speed light! This was advice given to me by a few people that I bumped into the week prior who just happened to be wedding photographers. I got lucky. This was followed by the advice to bounce my light.

This was the lighting at the reception. It was held in the basement of a club. Without my SB600 I would have been sunk.



Lesson 2 ) Frame your shots carefully. Watch out for the balance between the flower vases and the bride and groom during the wedding party shoots. If you muff those shots they are gone forever. No do-overs here! I had to regroup some folks from my first shots because I didn't have the right balance. And there was some lady with a pns who kept getting in front of me to take pics.

See? It's crooked.


These two shots worked out.






So all in all, I actually had a good time, and learned a lot in the process. Weddings aren't boring at all if you have a camera!

[blackears]

Glad to hear that you learned alot...after all, it wouldn't have been productive if you didn't...So, did you use all of that lenses? Which ones earned the most money??

[VVFF]

Two questions for you.

#1. Why did you shoot the low light area at F6.3? You likely could have done decently here without the speed light if you used one of your primes wide open.

#2. Why are you using apertures from F6.3 to F11 for the rest of the pictures?

Glad to hear you had fun and got to learn more about your D90!

[kaffinito]

Originally Posted by VVFF

Two questions for you.

#1. Why did you shoot the low light area at F6.3? You likely could have done decently here without the speed light if you used one of your primes wide open.

#2. Why are you using apertures from F6.3 to F11 for the rest of the pictures?

Glad to hear you had fun and got to learn more about your D90!

I had the speed light on my camera and the directions said to use A priority with the speedlight so it would sync. Was there another way to do it? I was afraid to mess with the settings since I didn't know what the flash and the camera were doing.

I just practiced with the speedlight two days before the wedding, since I hate to use a flash. Before that it sat in the box. The way it was set up the photos of the receptions turned out decently, like it was a well lit room. How should I have set things up to get the pics better? I really would appreciate your input here.

[VVFF]

Originally Posted by kaffinito

I had the speed light on my camera and the directions said to use A priority with the speedlight so it would sync. Was there another way to do it? I was afraid to mess with the settings since I didn't know what the flash and the camera were doing.

I just practiced with the speedlight two days before the wedding, since I hate to use a flash. Before that it sat in the box. The way it was set up the photos of the receptions turned out decently, like it was a well lit room. How should I have set things up to get the pics better? I really would appreciate your input here.

I am guessing if you wanted to you could have "gotten away with" not using the speedlight if you used your lenses at their maximum aperture. The reception might still have been a bit of trouble if people were moving quickly.

In Av mode the flash syncs with the shutter speed to serve as a fill flash. It doesn't act as the primary light source. This is great for taking harsh shadows off the bride and grooms face. However, it really doesn't "help" you shoot in the dark much better. When I have used it this way on my camera it typically uses double the shutter speed compared to without the flash. This is done so the subject does not become overexposed which would happen if you just added flash the "correct" exposure settings.

So you should try opening your aperture larger so that you can blur backgrounds more to remove distracting objects(if thats your goal) and also shoot with a higher shutter speed. This would brighten up the picture at the reception for example, and you should still use your speed light as fill flash if you like.

Don't be afraid to still play with aperture settings, that's the whole point of the flash syncing with the camera in Av mode. I don't necessarily think you need to use the flash in the picture of the reception though. You're not really using it as a fill flash there so just using a larger aperture lens would probably be best. Fill flash is typically used for portraits or group shots.

Others with more experience with flashes than I will probably chime in to offer some advice as well. I'm definitely no expert but I would try practicing on someone around your house. Just take pictures of them in Av mode w/ and w/o fill flash and at different apertures. Then try some shots that are candle lit and try without the speedlite. Great time to practice when theirs no pressure.

I also recommend learning about AE and FE lock. These features are difficult to understand at first but are valuable to use. I've been playing with them recently and practicing to find situations their best to use in.

[wenrob]

I'm not a flash expert but I've been reading, reading, reading about it these days. Being in TTL mode it's going to sync w/your settings no matter what they are or what mode you're in. You have to be the one to choose what role it will play and how you want it to compensate for your settings, fill or main light source. In you're in auto and semi auto modes it's only going to give you 1/60 for shutter speed unless you drop it into rear sync mode. (thank you Hot Shoe Diaries). If you want to use the flash for fill set your camera to expose for the back round and the flash will automatically put out the right amount of light for your subjects most of the time, you can then +/- from there. If you need it as a main light source then it doesn't matter a whole lot what you SS and A settings are as far as exposure, the flash will figure it out. If you want your back round well exposed, drag the shutter, if you want your back round dark, up your shutter speed, the flash w/a bit of help from you will do the rest. Just as we have to take charge of our camera, we have to take charge of that flash. Flash gets such a bad rap but if used properly it's a great tool!

All that babbling aside I agree with VVFF. I would have opened up the aperture on my prime for this. (not that I'd EVER do a wedding, you're a brave soul!)

[webshark3]

Hey Kaffinito,

Nice try for a wedding. I'll only do "freebies" if I know my family will not get a real photogrpaher (there's a reason the good ones charge so much as you can now tell).

Don't be afriad to post-process, especially if you shot RAW! I hope you don't mind, but I just had an itch to run this one through Adobe. A little work can go a long way to give the photos the "wow" factor that separates the pns from the big boys. Nice job though!

[manning]

Here are a couple of sites you may want to read.


http://www.dpchallenge.com/tutorial.php?TUTORIAL_ID=51

http://www.rokkorfiles.com/Wedding101-page1.html

There is lots of advice to be given and taken. The one I have is to know your equipment like the back of your hand.

[GrillMouster]

Do you plan on shooting more weddings?

[webshark3]

Originally Posted by manning

There is lots of advice to be given and taken. The one I have is to know your equipment like the back of your hand.

LOL, how true. I love the "new" photographers who check their LCD screen after every shot, or even every few shots. I keep thinking, "ummm you have shot film before this right?"

[kaffinito]

Originally Posted by GrillMouster

Do you plan on shooting more weddings?

Only if I have too. They are super stressful, and I was afraid the whole time that I'd miss one of the "money" shots. There is a photographer who has a studio that wants to interview me to shoot other events and portraits, so who knows what will happen. I'm not holding my breath though.

Originally Posted by webshark3

Hey Kaffinito,

Nice try for a wedding. I'll only do "freebies" if I know my family will not get a real photographer (there's a reason the good ones charge so much as you can now tell).

Don't be afriad to post-process, especially if you shot RAW! I hope you don't mind, but I just had an itch to run this one through Adobe. A little work can go a long way to give the photos the "wow" factor that separates the pns from the big boys. Nice job though!

Thanks! How did you "fix" it in Adobe? I don't use PSE but DH does. Yep, it was all freebie and my DH roped us into it.

[kaffinito]

Originally Posted by webshark3

LOL, how true. I love the "new" photographers who check their LCD screen after every shot, or even every few shots. I keep thinking, "ummm you have shot film before this right?"

Ahh, another film person, eh? I just started with film a few weeks ago. I want to learn as much as I can about film so it helps me become a better photographer.

[kaffinito]

Originally Posted by wenrob

I'm not a flash expert but I've been reading, reading, reading about it these days. Being in TTL mode it's going to sync w/your settings no matter what they are or what mode you're in. You have to be the one to choose what role it will play and how you want it to compensate for your settings, fill or main light source. In you're in auto and semi auto modes it's only going to give you 1/60 for shutter speed unless you drop it into rear sync mode. (thank you Hot Shoe Diaries). If you want to use the flash for fill set your camera to expose for the back round and the flash will automatically put out the right amount of light for your subjects most of the time, you can then +/- from there. If you need it as a main light source then it doesn't matter a whole lot what you SS and A settings are as far as exposure, the flash will figure it out. If you want your back round well exposed, drag the shutter, if you want your back round dark, up your shutter speed, the flash w/a bit of help from you will do the rest. Just as we have to take charge of our camera, we have to take charge of that flash. Flash gets such a bad rap but if used properly it's a great tool!

All that babbling aside I agree with VVFF. I would have opened up the aperture on my prime for this. (not that I'd EVER do a wedding, you're a brave soul!)

Brave or crazy! Thanks wenrob - I'm going to add your flash advice to my "how to shoot" file for reference. I think if I ever have to do something like this again I'm going to need what you wrote down about flashes!

[WillowBelle]

Can I just chime in and thank you all for using the simplest terms when offering advice. I am shooting my sisters wedding next October (as well as being the matron-of-honor <-- crazy, we both realize). DH bought me a speedlight for my camera yesterday for my birthday. He said he was thinking how useful this could be for my sisters wedding. The reception is going to be outdoors @ night in a VERY dimly lit barn looking area. I've been wondering how I was going to pull that off. Now, after everyone else's advice, I just might be able to do it!

[manning]

Originally Posted by WillowBelle

Can I just chime in and thank you all for using the simplest terms when offering advice. I am shooting my sisters wedding next October (as well as being the matron-of-honor <-- crazy, we both realize). DH bought me a speedlight for my camera yesterday for my birthday. He said he was thinking how useful this could be for my sisters wedding. The reception is going to be outdoors @ night in a VERY dimly lit barn looking area. I've been wondering how I was going to pull that off. Now, after everyone else's advice, I just might be able to do it!

Crazy yes. doing the shoot justice.....????????


It has been many years since I did weddings, but one thing I remember, You work your butt off.