Help with wedding shots

Pennsylvania

Hello,

My knowledge is in wildlife photography (amerature). I wes asked to take pictures of a family wedding.

The wedding will be held in a log cabin in the mountains, high ceiling. Light will be from windows and gas lamps. Ceiling to high for bounch I believe.

Most shots will be in the 10 to 15 feet range.

I need help with my camera and flash settings.

I have a Canon 30D, Canon 17-85 lens and I am ordering a Canon 580EX II Speedlite.

Hoping to get some help.

Richard lcrs@cove.net

Scott_Quier

Be warned: Photographing a wedding is a very challenging undertaking. I know - I'm in the business.

Having made the decision to photograph the wedding, the following is a list of suggestions you might want to ponder:

• Get a signed contract. Since it's family, it doesn't have to be real complicated. It does, however, need to outline what you are going to do, what you are going to deliver, and state that you have no experience in this, you have no control over the flow of events, and can't guarantee that any of the photos will turn out.
• Beg, borrow, rent, buy, or steal a second camera body. What happens if your 30D gives up the ghost during the ceremony? This is a once-in-a-lifetime event and is too important to have all your eggs in one basket.
• The 17-85 will disappoint, especially in dark environs. Consider picking up a faster lens. Take a look at this thread for ideas. If $$ are tight, consider the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8. It's a nice lens, constant aperture, and is quite sharp, even wide open. It does tend to hunt a bit in darker environs, but it is miles better than the kit lens
• Shoot in RAW - this will give you a wider latitude in post processing in which to recover mistakes.
• How much memory do you have? Figure that you will be taking at least 100 photos per hour. I get approx 200 RAW images on one 2GB card. You do the math. You do not want to be put in the position of having to delete photos in-camera. Get enough memory so that you can shoot all day long (or as long as the event is scheduled) without reusing a card and without having to delete anything. Don't rely on being able to backup the card on-site and then re-using it. Too much chance for mistakes.
• Get a back-up flash. What will you do if your new 580EX dies in the middle of the event? It doesn't have to be another 580, just something that works kinda like it so that, if you have to, the transition to the backup flash will not throw you off-stride.
• I would also suggest you get something like the Joe Demb DFD Jumbo (link)
• Get some sort of camera rotating flash bracket. The problem with mounting the flash directly on the camera is that, when you rotate the camera to portrait orientation, you will get strange side-shadows of everyone in the shot. A bracket will keep the flash above the lens, thus allowing your subjects to hide their own shadow from the camera. I like the Di100FR2 Flash Rotator (link), as it keeps the flash above the lens as it should and is light, compact, and easy to store - but YMMV.

Now, practice! Can you change the camera settings in the dark? You may have to! Practice in a large, dark room. Practice with people in that large, dark room so you can get a feel for how the camera/flash combination will behave. Get a good understanding of the impact of changing your EC and FEC settings. If you don't already, consider and practice shooting in Manual mode - you will have much better control of your exposures if you do. If possible, have you models dress in black and white so you have some idea of what you will be facing at the wedding.

When shooting, chimp often. Pay attention to your exposure - look to your histogram for this. The LCD image will lie to you! During the event, you probably won't have much time for evaluation of the composition, but the LCD image is only good for that purpose.

Finally, have fun at the wedding!

Pennsylvania

Wedding help
Thanks Soctt

This information is helpful. I now realize the 2.8 is a must. I will be looking in that direction.

Richard
lcrs@cove.net