Dreading the day - wedding photography

In my family, I'm the "photographer," because I have a Rebel XT and a number
of lenses. So it has come to pass that my niece has asked me to photograph
her wedding next summer.

I know, I know... I should politely decline. Even though there are no grand
expectations, I don't care to be responsible for being the sole chronicler
of this happy event.

Is there a general starter book I should read, while I mull over the option
of hiring a professional?

dwight
www.tfrog.com

dwight wrote:
In my family, I'm the "photographer," because I have a Rebel XT and
a
number of lenses. So it has come to pass that my niece has asked me
to photograph her wedding next summer.

I know, I know... I should politely decline. Even though there are
no
grand expectations, I don't care to be responsible for being the
sole
chronicler of this happy event.

Is there a general starter book I should read, while I mull over the
option of hiring a professional?


Some keywords to google:

"photographing weddings"
"wedding photography standard shots"
"photography posing"

Each of those will get you some links with good information.

You might want to check out http://www.flickr.com/groups/wed/.

"Next summer" gives you time to get in some study and practice.

How's your lighting kit? You're going to want to be able to do both
formal portraits with key and fill lights and walking around shots
with on-camera bounce flash. Do you have a working relationship with
a local shop that does equipment rentals? If not you may want to
establish one--a good lighting kit can set you back a pile--on the one
hand you've got a good excuse to buy toys, but on the other if it's
something you're going to use once you're better off to rent it.

Do you have a good quality pigment-ink printer or a working
relationship with a pro lab? If not, you'll want to get or establish
one. You do _not_ want to be catching flak for the rest of your life
because the wedding pictures all faded away in six months.

Obtain a copy of "Light: Science and Magic" and work through it--don't
just read it, wherever there's a diagram set up camera and lights and
shoot it like an exercise.

There's no book on posing that seems to have the same universal
acceptance, Bill Hurter and Jeff Smith have both written a bunch of
them, and if you've never read anything about posing before then _any_
of them will likely be very helpful to you. Hurter has a "Wedding
Photographer's Handbook" that covers a _lot_ of territory.

Any of the principal participants, bride, glum, inlaws, etc that you
can catch in advance, do and shoot portraits of them--this has the
three effects of giving you practice, checking your setup, and
identifying any special problems they may present.

Grab some victims and set up practice shots of every planned shot
you're going to take including the group shots and make sure that you
have all the pieces you need to pull them off.

If you can get invited to any weddings in the interim and get
permission to shoot, take your setup and shoot what you can (don't
trip up the people who are paid to be shooting it though).

Buy or rent a spare camera body--you do _not_ want to be the guy who
didn't get the wedding shots because his camera went bust.

Have more spare batteries than you can possibly imagine using for
_everything_.

Get Maalox. Lots and lots of Maalox.

DO NOT DRINK.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

dwight wrote:
In my family, I'm the "photographer," because I have a Rebel XT and a
number of lenses. So it has come to pass that my niece has asked me to
photograph her wedding next summer.

I know, I know... I should politely decline. Even though there are no
grand expectations, I don't care to be responsible for being the sole
chronicler of this happy event.

Is there a general starter book I should read, while I mull over the
option of hiring a professional?

A good friend, who I've photographed many times over the last 10 years,
is getting married next summer. She asked me to be their photog.

I declined and I'm recommending a friend of mine for the job.

That way I keep my friend.


--
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-- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm
-- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin
-- e-meil: Remove FreeLunch.
-- usenet posts from gmail.com and googlemail.com are filtered out.

In message , J. Clarke
writes
dwight wrote:
In my family, I'm the "photographer," because I have a Rebel XT and
a
number of lenses. So it has come to pass that my niece has asked me
to photograph her wedding next summer.

I know, I know... I should politely decline. Even though there are
no
grand expectations, I don't care to be responsible for being the
sole
chronicler of this happy event.

Is there a general starter book I should read, while I mull over the
option of hiring a professional?


Some keywords to google:

"photographing weddings"
"wedding photography standard shots"
"photography posing"

Each of those will get you some links with good information.

You might want to check out http://www.flickr.com/groups/wed/.

"Next summer" gives you time to get in some study and practice.

How's your lighting kit? You're going to want to be able to do both
formal portraits with key and fill lights and walking around shots
with on-camera bounce flash. Do you have a working relationship with
a local shop that does equipment rentals? If not you may want to
establish one--a good lighting kit can set you back a pile--on the one
hand you've got a good excuse to buy toys, but on the other if it's
something you're going to use once you're better off to rent it.

On the other hand it may be better work with what you know than try and
use a lot of kit you have no real experience with. Keep It Simple.

If you have never worked with lights before don't use them. You will
have more than enough to do without trying to learn and use new kit. It
will raise your stress levels and you will make more mistakes.

Do you have a good quality pigment-ink printer or a working
relationship with a pro lab? If not, you'll want to get or establish
one. You do _not_ want to be catching flak for the rest of your life
because the wedding pictures all faded away in six months.

Or give them a CD and it is up to them to print it all out. At their
cost to what ever level they want to pay. Keep it simple

Obtain a copy of "Light: Science and Magic" and work through it--don't
just read it, wherever there's a diagram set up camera and lights and
shoot it like an exercise.

Good idea if there is time,

There's no book on posing that seems to have the same universal
acceptance,

1 DO A LIST before the day

Ie bride and groom but then all the family groups.

Any of the principal participants, bride, glum, inlaws, etc that you
can catch in advance, do and shoot portraits of them--this has the
three effects of giving you practice, checking your setup, and
identifying any special problems they may present.

Quite you can do some whilst they are all hanging around before the
service

Buy or rent a spare camera body--you do _not_ want to be the guy who
didn't get the wedding shots because his camera went bust.

Have more spare batteries than you can possibly imagine using for
_everything_.

Batteries, memory cards, lens cleaning clothes. Large umbrella (it will
rain or be too sunny :-) get a young cousin, friend etc to act as
assistant. Get two of them as if one gets bored or wants to go and
socialise you have spare.

Get Maalox. Lots and lots of Maalox.
What's that?

DO NOT DRINK.

Well nothing alcoholic. Stay hydrated. Make sure you get your own
drinks. It is easy to get the wrong one or one that some one has
helpfully added a shot to :-)


--
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
\/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills Staffs England /\/\/\/\/
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

dwight wrote:

In my family, I'm the "photographer," because I have a Rebel XT and a number
of lenses. So it has come to pass that my niece has asked me to photograph
her wedding next summer.

I know, I know... I should politely decline.

Well, there's your answer, dwight.


--
Blinky
Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org
Need a new news feed? http://blinkynet.net/comp/newfeed.html

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...
dwight wrote:
In my family, I'm the "photographer," because I have a Rebel XT and
a
number of lenses. So it has come to pass that my niece has asked me
to photograph her wedding next summer.

I know, I know... I should politely decline. Even though there are
no
grand expectations, I don't care to be responsible for being the
sole
chronicler of this happy event.

Is there a general starter book I should read, while I mull over the
option of hiring a professional?


Some keywords to google:

"photographing weddings"
"wedding photography standard shots"
"photography posing"

Each of those will get you some links with good information.

You might want to check out http://www.flickr.com/groups/wed/.

"Next summer" gives you time to get in some study and practice.

How's your lighting kit? You're going to want to be able to do both
formal portraits with key and fill lights and walking around shots
with on-camera bounce flash. Do you have a working relationship with
a local shop that does equipment rentals? If not you may want to
establish one--a good lighting kit can set you back a pile--on the one
hand you've got a good excuse to buy toys, but on the other if it's
something you're going to use once you're better off to rent it.

Do you have a good quality pigment-ink printer or a working
relationship with a pro lab? If not, you'll want to get or establish
one. You do _not_ want to be catching flak for the rest of your life
because the wedding pictures all faded away in six months.

Obtain a copy of "Light: Science and Magic" and work through it--don't
just read it, wherever there's a diagram set up camera and lights and
shoot it like an exercise.

There's no book on posing that seems to have the same universal
acceptance, Bill Hurter and Jeff Smith have both written a bunch of
them, and if you've never read anything about posing before then _any_
of them will likely be very helpful to you. Hurter has a "Wedding
Photographer's Handbook" that covers a _lot_ of territory.

Any of the principal participants, bride, glum, inlaws, etc that you
can catch in advance, do and shoot portraits of them--this has the
three effects of giving you practice, checking your setup, and
identifying any special problems they may present.

Grab some victims and set up practice shots of every planned shot
you're going to take including the group shots and make sure that you
have all the pieces you need to pull them off.

If you can get invited to any weddings in the interim and get
permission to shoot, take your setup and shoot what you can (don't
trip up the people who are paid to be shooting it though).

Buy or rent a spare camera body--you do _not_ want to be the guy who
didn't get the wedding shots because his camera went bust.

Have more spare batteries than you can possibly imagine using for
_everything_.

Get Maalox. Lots and lots of Maalox.

DO NOT DRINK.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

Thank you, thank you! Much to work through here.

Yes, I do have six months to study up and practice. And I'll need the
practice, since my usual subjects have not been of the human persuasion
before now.

At a recent wedding, I noticed the photographer using what I believe was a
70-200 for shots inside the church. At that, he could "keep his distance"
and not intrude on the ceremony. I also noticed the bounce flash along with
diffuser... So much I've never considered.

No one is expecting professional portraits, apparently, but still, I would
like to achieve something "approaching" professional for the wedding itself
and any portraits before or after. For the festivities after the wedding,
it's catch-as-catch-can, and there should be plenty of flashes going off to
make up for any missed shots on my part.

And drinking won't be a problem - I'm always the designated driver. But I'm
off to order the first of extra batteries now. Thanks again.

dwight
www.tfrog.com

On Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:59:20 -0500, dwight wrote:

In my family, I'm the "photographer," because I have a Rebel XT and a
number of lenses. So it has come to pass that my niece has asked me to
photograph her wedding next summer.

I know, I know... I should politely decline. Even though there are no
grand expectations, I don't care to be responsible for being the sole
chronicler of this happy event.

Is there a general starter book I should read, while I mull over the
option of hiring a professional?

dwight
www.tfrog.com

Some of the worlds's best wedding photographers do it all on the day with
one lens and one speedlite.

Look upon the task as having two objectives. One is to record the events
of the day in a way you can construct a story in pictures from. The other
task is to produce at least one bridal portrait the bride will like and
at least one portrait of the couple they will both like.

Everything else is hype and fear. Stired up in large amounts by your own
insecurities about how good you are or are not. Address those first then
decide if you really are the shooter you think you are.

How hard is it to press the shutter? How hard is it to grab someone's
shoulder and push them together? Why are you worried you can't do it? Do
you have a failure rate? figure it out in percentages and then over shoot
by that percentage to arrive at enough half way decent shots, everyone
will love your for.

Wedding photography is not about great photos, it's about creating
emotion in the person looking at the photos. Do that and you are half way
there.

Jurgen wrote:
Wedding photography is not about great photos, it's about creating
emotion in the person looking at the photos.

I would be very, very careful with that statement. It could backfire
with a vengeance if those photos create the wrong emotion ;-))

jue

dwight wrote:
In my family, I'm the "photographer," because I have a Rebel XT and a number
of lenses. So it has come to pass that my niece has asked me to photograph
her wedding next summer.

Oooo! Thar be dragons!

I know, I know... I should politely decline. Even though there are no grand
expectations, I don't care to be responsible for being the sole chronicler
of this happy event.

Smart.

Is there a general starter book I should read, while I mull over the option
of hiring a professional?

No, any large book will be enough. Just make sure its a hardbound so
that you realy feel it when you hit your head with it. :-)

Tell her that because it's a special day you're going to hire, as a
wedding present, a real photographer and that you'll be there with
your camera as a backup. I bet it'd be cheaper than renting/buying
all of the extra photo gear a wedding photographer needs.

--
Ray Fischer

Jurgen wrote:
On Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:59:20 -0500, dwight wrote:

In my family, I'm the "photographer," because I have a Rebel XT and
a
number of lenses. So it has come to pass that my niece has asked me
to photograph her wedding next summer.

I know, I know... I should politely decline. Even though there are
no
grand expectations, I don't care to be responsible for being the
sole
chronicler of this happy event.

Is there a general starter book I should read, while I mull over
the
option of hiring a professional?

dwight
www.tfrog.com

Some of the worlds's best wedding photographers do it all on the day
with one lens and one speedlite.

If he was one of the world's best wedding photographers then he
wouldn't be asking for advice. If you've done something a thousand
times then you can get away with a lot of things. If he can get every
shot he wants with one lens and a speedlite that's fine but he should
plan out what shots he wants and make sure that he _can_ get every one
of them, successfully, in conditions approximating those of the actual
event, with that setup.

Look upon the task as having two objectives. One is to record the
events of the day in a way you can construct a story in pictures
from. The other task is to produce at least one bridal portrait the
bride will like and at least one portrait of the couple they will
both like.

Well, actually it's to do whatever you've agreed to do in a
workmanlike manner.

Everything else is hype and fear. Stired up in large amounts by your
own insecurities about how good you are or are not. Address those
first then decide if you really are the shooter you think you are.

The best "shooter" in the world is going to screw it up if he has
never done one before and didn't plan it out. And you don't get a
do-over.

How hard is it to press the shutter? How hard is it to grab
someone's
shoulder and push them together?

Does this goomer need to be in the shot? Where the heck did the
father of the bride _go_? Oh, you mean they wanted a _picture_ of
that? Whaddaya _mean_ I can't use a flash in here? Geez, he's
blacker than his tuxedo and she's whiter than the wedding gown--how
the Hell do I expose for _that_?

Why are you worried you can't do it?

You mean besides that he's going to be catching Hell for it for the
rest of his life if he screws it up? A pro moves on to the next job
and usually never sees the clients again unless they liked his work
and have another wedding. Shoot your relatives and you're going to be
hearing about the results for decades.

Do you have a failure rate? figure it out in percentages and then
over shoot by that percentage to arrive at enough half way decent
shots, everyone will love your for.

Percentages don't work if you have specific shots that are expected
and don't get do-overs.

Wedding photography is not about great photos, it's about creating
emotion in the person looking at the photos. Do that and you are
half
way there.

Not if the emotion is "I'm going to _kill_ that idiot photographer".

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)