Wedding photos

[saturndb]

I would go in with a photogrpahy shot list and ask the bride and groom what poses they want as well. Also try and do a time line of the wedding and weh you want to take "X" shot.

 

[Suburbanmom]

A lot of people will tell you they don't want posed shots and want you to capture the emotion, photo-journalism style instead.
However....they buy a lot of posed shots. Go figure...

 

[NLD]

A lot of people will tell you they don't want posed shots and want you to capture the emotion, photo-journalism style instead.
However....they buy a lot of posed shots. Go figure...

Yup, that's my concern.

Well, it's done now. However I'm going to bring the posed shots issue back up with bride #2. She also is saying minimal posed shots. But I gave her a potential shot list, and I think the number of posed shots is growing... but without any time budgeted into the day for them. So we are going to have to talk about this!

Groucho, I'm sure you'll do okay. You're much better and more experienced than me. I really should not have been doing a wedding.



Started going through the shots and man, I am not happy. I ended up shooting mostly in aperture priority because running inside and outside with manual settings, I realized I was forgetting to change them. But now my exposures are all over the place.

It's going to take time post-processing to get these into presentable shape.

The one redeeming thing is I caught some good emotions with some of the candids.

The few posed shots I did manage are not good. I read some wedding books too and scoured the Internet for posing and even gave them some direction but oh oh oh, you can tell they are so not professional. Sigh.

Wish I could post some but not comfortable doing so with this particular couple. They are WONDERFUL people but I am pretty sure they'd be a bit uncomfy with that. They are not even on Facebook or anything.

Maybe the next wedding....

 

[Suburbanmom]

Nicole, I'm sure that as you work through them and do some tweaking, they are going to be very good and I wouldn't share them either if the couple doesn't seem like the type who would appreciate that. They weren't planning to have a photographer at all, and I'm sure they will be really happy with what you give them.

I would gently nudge bride #2 to do a few group shots. They don't need to be formally posed, but in the long run, she will be glad to have them. Good luck!

 

[manning]

Here's a little secret. Turn the camera into a simple camera.

When I shot with a studio I used a Leica M3.

All shots were made at flash sync 60th sec

close up (head shot) was f11
3/4 shots were f5.6
group shots f4.0

film speed was 100

the studio had these setting worked out for us.

with all the action going on you do not have time to reset the camera.

when everyone is coming down the aisle have the camera prefocused 5 pews ahead and take the shot when they hit that spot.


of course everything today is easier with almost auto everything.

if you are going to make this a business you will have a lot to learn and one is to get into a routine and stay with it.

 

[WDWFigment]

My one idea that I'm a little bit excited about it bringing along one of my film SLRs (manual focus, manual metering) with a few rolls of black/white film to use, too. There's something about real b/w film that is very difficult to replicate with digital (sometimes impossible, due to dynamic range)... hopefully they'll produce at least a few memorable shots.

Granted, I am neither a wedding photographer nor a film photographer, but I would think this would be way more of a hassle than it's worth. Most wedding photographers I've encountered have talked about how they're always rushed around, and that time is almost always of the essence. I would think that as a newbie to the 'game', you're already going to be under a huge time crunch, and this will just exacerbate that.

 

[NLD]

Thanks for the tips, manning! I will try the prefocusing for the processional at the next wedding.

Just to clarify, though, I am NOT trying to make a business of this! I work in mental health and have no plans to pursue photography as a profession. Just happened to have two dear coworkers/friends getting married around the same time... and because we all work in mental health and are therefore ALL underpaid, they did not have big budgets for their weddings.

 

[MICKEY88]

Granted, I am neither a wedding photographer nor a film photographer, but I would think this would be way more of a hassle than it's worth. Most wedding photographers I've encountered have talked about how they're always rushed around, and that time is almost always of the essence. I would think that as a newbie to the 'game', you're already going to be under a huge time crunch, and this will just exacerbate that.

+1

I agree 100% I'd rather shoot digital, and have the option of color or b&W, than miss a shot because I was switching cameras or reloading film..

 

[Groucho]

Granted, I am neither a wedding photographer nor a film photographer, but I would think this would be way more of a hassle than it's worth. Most wedding photographers I've encountered have talked about how they're always rushed around, and that time is almost always of the essence. I would think that as a newbie to the 'game', you're already going to be under a huge time crunch, and this will just exacerbate that.

I'm not worried about that. The film camera will only be used when things are slow and I have time to set it... only a couple times (if that) during the ceremony, probably only while everyone's in front and not moving much. The rest will be some posed shots (there's a few hours between the wedding and the reception so we should have time) and probably some reception photos. I've had a roll of T-Max 3200 sitting around for a while waiting for a good opportunity, that'll probably be it...

I was going through the wedding books and one thing that was suggested for reception photos was pre-focusing to an area about six feet away from you, then just moving yourself around to keep about six feet away from the subject. As long as you can do that, you won't have to worry about AF being slow or locking onto the wrong subject.

Now, in terms of being really crazy, I had one idea to take one of my DSLRs and put it on a tripod facing down the aisle, then use a wireless remote to trigger shots of people as they enter in a straightforward shot, leaving me free to roam with another DSLR handheld. That'd take some testing but I have plenty of time and opportunity to see if this is feasible or not.

NLD - one thing I would definitely say would be to forget manual or any priority mode if you're feeling overwhelmed... just leave the camera in "P" and forget about dealing with the other settings. If you're at a quiet moment and have some breathing time, experiment with it, but otherwise "P" and auto ISO to make sure things get more or less accurate, exposure-wise.

 

[zianha]

I worked as a portrait photographer for over 14 years until this past March when the locally owned studio I worked in all these years went out of business. I stopped doing weddings about 3 years ago because it's just too exhausting and stressful to me. But here I am now doing a couple weddings a month to support myself but it's driving me crazy! I'm not one of the photographers that enjoys weddings but I have to admit I like seeing how well the photos turn out for my customers.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

We did one simple photo session with a bride and groom on a cruise, and we had our first real wedding last weekend. I must admit I loved it, although the next day I felt like I had been doing squats for 7 hrs. It is a bit more rushed and nervewracking than I thought...but I'm looking forward to another wedding
I truly think the wedding photographers we had love their job.. they've been doing weddings for about 2 yrs, and they are awesome

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I did my first wedding last month for one of my closest friends (she wouldn't have had a photographer at ALL if not) but I have one up on anyone I believe...I was ALSO a BRIDESMAID!

It was insanity. Luckily we have another friend that is also a good photographer, who also took shots and some of the actual wedding. I did a fair share of bossing around since I wasn't getting paid (well, she bought my bridesmaid dress!) and the bride was completely fine with me even telling her when the wedding needed to be for the best lighting...but still it was crazy. I sliced my leg on a pipe sticking out of the ground while shooting just 30 minutes before the ceremony while taking shots of the bride and groom, I was a sweaty mess for my bridesmaid pics by the time it was time for me to actually be in some of the shots! Yeah, I was ready to swear off weddings by the end of it.

BUT...I loved some of the shots I got and it was great experience. Everyone that has seen my photos says that since I was so close to the bride, I really captured the emotion of the day, so that made me happy. I have no idea what compelled me to be a bridesmaid and photographer at the same time, but I wouldn't suggest it!

 

[manning]

Off subject, but are you up to date on tetanus shot/booster?

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

to be honest, I'm not, but it bled quite a bit and someone mentioned that it might help? It's been over a month now and other than a scar, it seems ok. I hope!

 

[zianha]

I did my first wedding last month for one of my closest friends (she wouldn't have had a photographer at ALL if not) but I have one up on anyone I believe...I was ALSO a BRIDESMAID!

It was insanity. Luckily we have another friend that is also a good photographer, who also took shots and some of the actual wedding. I did a fair share of bossing around since I wasn't getting paid (well, she bought my bridesmaid dress!) and the bride was completely fine with me even telling her when the wedding needed to be for the best lighting...but still it was crazy. I sliced my leg on a pipe sticking out of the ground while shooting just 30 minutes before the ceremony while taking shots of the bride and groom, I was a sweaty mess for my bridesmaid pics by the time it was time for me to actually be in some of the shots! Yeah, I was ready to swear off weddings by the end of it.

BUT...I loved some of the shots I got and it was great experience. Everyone that has seen my photos says that since I was so close to the bride, I really captured the emotion of the day, so that made me happy. I have no idea what compelled me to be a bridesmaid and photographer at the same time, but I wouldn't suggest it!

Oh wow! I can only imagine!!! When my best friend got married, I was a 7 month pregnant matron of honor and she asked me to also be the photographer! I knew I could only do one or the other since I was mega Pooh-sized at the time, so she chose for me to be the matron of honor. She just had everyone use disposable cameras during the ceremony then afterwards I posed everyone and took all the pictures without me in them and just left myself a spot for group shots and someone else took those. It was a big pain in the rear!!

 

[Groucho]

Back in 2009, my cousin got married down in Hilton Head. This was a pretty good excuse, I thought, to upgrade to the K-7, which was a couple months old at that point.

Now, one of my sister-in-laws is getting married on Saturday. Furthermore, I've been asked to be the "official" photographer. That sounds like a pretty good excuse to upgrade again!

I had really planned on waiting for a while... then I started to see the test shots... like the one that Mike Johnson also was amazed by, of the almost completely black exposure (user error) that was brightened to a very usable image... then the DxO marks declaring it beating all other APS DSLRs and, in some categories, lots of full-frames, too... and more test photos... so I knew I needed one before my next Disney trip and after finding a pretty good deal, I pulled the trigger to get it for the wedding. The extra DR and ISO capability should come in handy.

One thing that's kind of nice is that there is little to no learning curve coming from the K-7... externally, they are virtually identical:

The only differences are a taller mode dial, a bigger knob for the focus mode selector (very appreciated!), and adding "Fx" under the Raw button - which has more options now, including the welcome return of the one-button exposure compensation that was on the K20D but lost on the K-7.

Function-wise, there are a lot of evolutionary improvements - 5 user modes, Y-axis as well as X-axis level, and some other nice stuff that I'm sure I'll notice more over time. Autofocus is lightning fast and accurate. The shutter is even quieter - no mean feat as the K-7 was already the quietest DSLR ever IIRC - even at 7fps. One early knock was a small buffer when shooting 7fps - this was a software bug that was corrected with an updated firmware that just came out today. All in all, this is a DSLR to make Pentax fans extremely proud. In fact, there's been a good number of new members on the Pentax forums who have already switched from Canikon FF systems.

Obviously, a big part of the appeal is the new Sony Exmoor 16mp sensor that it shares with the Sony A55 and Nikon D7000. It's a real winner, not only for the ISO capabilities but especially the DR. Sony DSLR fans - hope that Sony releases an A700 replacement with this sensor! Pentax does seem to have squeezed everything they could out of the sensor, and ISO goes from 80-51,200.

Is it usable? I think so! This shot is with the NR switched off in the camera (though I think it still does a slight amount) and with only 22 Luminance in Lightroom. (Thanks again for supporting DNG Pentax; no need to wait for Adobe to update their software!) These are our new-as-of-a-couple-months-ago kitties.

I did a couple other test shots just to try it out.. here's ISO 800 and ISO 3200, both with zero NR. The ISO 3200 shot is also 1/15th, so there may a little motion blur. (I think I accidentally switched the aperture, hence the slow shutter.)

Now, to put the K-7 up for sale... (Also my K100D and a pile of lenses - gotta pay for this somehow!)

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

Congratulations on the new K5. It appears to be living up to the hype! Thanks for posting the images. Pentax has done a good job of fixing most if not all of the complaints/weaknesses (perceived or otherwise) of their flagship camera. I can't wait until the funds become available to upgrade from my K10!

 

[Golf4food]

Very jealous! I will hopefully be able to also upgrade to the K-5 from my K-7 later in 2011. It sounds amazing and would definitely be a help in dark rides at WDW (my only real complaint with the K-7, which I otherwise love).

Keep us posted on the results!

 

[Groucho]

Congratulations on the new K5. It appears to be living up to the hype! Thanks for posting the images. Pentax has done a good job of fixing most if not all of the complaints/weaknesses (perceived or otherwise) of their flagship camera. I can't wait until the funds become available to upgrade from my K10!

Very jealous! I will hopefully be able to also upgrade to the K-5 from my K-7 later in 2011. It sounds amazing and would definitely be a help in dark rides at WDW (my only real complaint with the K-7, which I otherwise love).

Keep us posted on the results!

Thanks guys! Yeah, the IQ is the main upgrade over the K-7, which is in all other ways still an amazing camera. The K-7's IQ is certainly not bad by any means, but the Samsung sensor's high ISO and DR can't compete with the new Sony sensor. I was skeptical (and said so here) that it would be as good as the rumors were claiming (basically, FF ISO and DR) but I was proved wrong.

The only possible thing I would like that's not there would be 1080 @ 30fps. It does 25 fps - perfect for Europe, not as good for the US. Autofocus during videos would be nice too; maybe that will be a firmware upgrade. Did I mention that the Live View focusing is astoundingly fast? It focuses in LV as fast as lots of DSLRs focus normally. It's fast enough that I have to wonder about the necessity of Sony's transparent mirror idea for the A55, if one of the main reasons was for faster LV focusing. It also zooms into the focus area so you can see as it grabs focus... and tracks faces, etc.

Can you tell that I'm excited? Yes, I'll have to do some dark ride shooting at Disney in January... I also have a couple other ideas in my head that may help with dark ride shots that are completely unrelated.