a friends covering a wedding

JohnN

JohnN

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Hi,

I've just found out a friend has been asked to cover a family wedding because they asked for some advice on lenses, if I recall correctly she's got a 500D and 18-55+55-250 so have offered to lend her my kit to help out, or if she's uncomfortable with that lot my daughter's offered to lend her 450D as a backup body.

Now personally I would have bottled it but that's me, now I also think the wedding is this weekend (to confirm).

So other than find a pro do you have any advice, DVDs or websites I could suggest to her to help out?
 
andy (ASphotographymk) and Yv have got some good stuff on their blogs

to be frank - while its incredibly generous to lend her your kit , i'm not sure its a good idea, if she's only ever used a 550D, a 5D3 is going to be a major learning curve and someones wedding isn't the place to be learning to use an unfamiliar camera.

i'd say take the 450d as a back up , and if you've got any fast glass maybe lend her something like a fast prime or a 17-55 f2.8 or something- because my biggest concern would be the 18-55 not coping in low light during the ceremony
 
Yes, that was my concern and would give her a crash course beforehand if she did want to, sadly I'm a bit shy on short length fast glass, just what's in my sig (except a 150-500 but that really does need light!) so the 24-105 IS the best but I think it might be too long on a crop.

I can see the 70-200 and 135 being useful though.
 
If i had to pick just from the kit in your sig i'd take the 50mm f1.8 and either the 70-200 or the 85 f1.8 depending on the size of the venue - and the flash (which she can't use in church but will be handy for reception shots)
 
I shot a family wedding on Saturday. Bride and Groom were family on a limited budget so asked me because I have a "good" camera and take "good" photos! Now, apart from informal shots on holiday I have never done people shots, so was a little concerned.

Anyway, after my one day experience of being a wedding photographer I think it went quite well and one of the bridesmaids has asked me to do her wedding next year! Not so sure about that one!

I only have a 450D and just used three other pieces of kit that were essential to the day. Without these it would have been a lot more difficult.

I shot the ceremony on a Sigma 30mm f1.4. I was lucky in that the ceremony took place just in front of a window and I shot the service mainly on f2.0 at 400ISO. For the register signing with the window to the outside as the backdrop I used my 430EX flash. That also came in handy throughout the day, even for the outside shots. After the ceremony I switched to my Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4 and apart from another brief indoor spell with the 30mm, that lens was the one for the rest of the day.

I found I did not need anything longer than 70mm. I also took my 50mm f1.8, but that didn't get used.

On the whole it was a successful shoot. I took 550 shots throughout the day and have so far whittled them down to around 300 keepers with further whittling down to be done.

Key things I learned after the event; use the histogram. I was using the flash outside but forgot about the fact the camera will set a minimum shutter speed of 1/200, so some of the group shots are overexposed. I probably would have spotted that with the histogram. The other is, as mentioned above, be aware of your flash sync speed limitations.

Of course, I know about these things and regularly use the histogram but, in the heat of the moment it is easy to forget. Flash was also good for fill-in.

I would suggest that the 18-55 will be OK for outdoor shots but a fast 28/30/35mm prime is essential if she is going to shoot the ceremony. I would suggest that if the B&G want some nice shots on the cheap, then they offer to pay to hire such a lens and also a flash. It will transform the shots on the day.

Also, make sure all shots are taken in RAW format. If they have not used it before, take RAW+JPEG. That way there will be latitude for rescuing shots in a way that is not possible with JPEG. I took one of the groom, best man and ushers in the pub before the ceremony. The first one I bounced the flash off the ceiling but it was dark so the shot was dark. Everybody was looking at the camera and smiling, however. I took another correctly exposed with flash but the expressions were no good.

I was, however, able to use the first shot by rescuing it in RAW, so that, in my opinion, is a must.
 
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Agree with everything Big Soft Moose (Jim) said. Probably better not to lend her your body (I mean camera body, obviously ;)) if she's not going to have time to get used to it as that's a big jump for someone shooting on something like a 500D. Shame though as your camera deals with low light so well and she could push the ISO much more on it than on hers! Also, of your signature line kit, I'd say the 50mm f/1.8 and the 85mm f/1.8 are her best bets as she's probably going to need them indoors (and they'll give her nice shallow DoF even on the cropped sensor). Of course you could lend her the 24-105mm so she can get a little wider if she needs to.

Poor thing shooting a wedding for family! Wishing her luck - hope she still enjoys the day.
 
Brilliant advice gratefully recieved, thank you all.

It seems she has two weeks so I'll see how she feels, it's not long but it might be enough, thankfully I have a couple of flashes too so have that covered.

I think you could be right regarding hiring a lens, I used to have the sigma 17-70 2.8 and I still would had I not gone full frame, it's a stonker of a lens.
 
JohnN said:
Brilliant advice gratefully recieved, thank you all.

It seems she has two weeks so I'll see how she feels, it's not long but it might be enough, thankfully I have a couple of flashes too so have that covered.

I think you could be right regarding hiring a lens, I used to have the sigma 17-70 2.8 and I still would had I not gone full frame, it's a stonker of a lens.
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Why not offer to go with her and help her? That way if one of you cocks up the chances are that the other will have gotten what they want. As others have said, your camera is on a different level to hers, and you seem to have some nice lenses. I just had a quick look on your flickr and your photo's seem to be very good.

I know giving up a day is a pain, but it's less painful that lending out 5 grands worth of kit if it comes back damaged. You might also enjoy yourself and learn some new stuff.
 
Its an idea but I'm 90% sure I'm on call for work :(
 
Hi, yep confirmed on cover, so could not go.

I've had another chat with her and she's not going to borrow the 5DIII or the 450D - she's made it plain to the B&G that she's no pro and if they're fine with that.

She's popping round tonight to try out the 50, 85 & 135 - but only wants one small bag, so that rules out more than two lenses, a flash (other than the built in) and without a doubt the 70-200!

I might see if I have a flash diffuser for a popup kicking about somewhere, but as she's not taking any pics after 6pm anyway (as not only is she the tog, but also sounds like she'll be looking after up to five kids :eek:) it probably won't be needed.

I will be going through post processing and have advised image be taken in raw - I had considered raw+jpeg but I'm fairly sure her SD cards fairly small, actually I have a 16GB somewhere which I could dig out.

For the in church shots do you think AV is the best mode? I would have thought so but want to confirm with you guys.
 
Looking after kids and photographer at the same time! Good luck! I had my 18-month old daughter with me and my partner at the wedding I shot on Saturday and when our daughter needed changing just after the ceremony, I had to take the change bag to my partner.

I then popped upstairs to hear the B&G say they were going to do their exit and to get the confetti shots, and I barely had time to get prepared. The result was that I had the wrong lens on (30mm) and no flash, so did not get any shots of that moment.

Had I not had to pop out for our daughter, I would have had time to prepare by switching to my 17-70 and putting the flash on. Unless the kids are old enough to generally look after themselves, I would say that is a pretty tall order and she should find someone else to mind them.

As for what mode, I would say AV is fine. I really don't see the fuss of shooting in manual provided you know how and when to use exposure compensation in Av or Tv modes.
 
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JohnN said:
For the in church shots do you think AV is the best mode? I would have thought so but want to confirm with you guys.
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AV mode will be fine if the overall scene is similar to the EV on the bride & groom, but if there is a bright window in the background compensation is probably necessary.
 
AV mode will possibly mean the shutter speed drops too low.... i'd advise TV mode and Auto ISO with the S/S set to 1/125

The camera should default to the widest aperture anyway I'd assume if it's dark and also boost the ISO without dropping the shutter spped to a position where everything comes out blurry.

Better to have noisy high ISO images than blurry low ISO images IMO
 
I see what your saying - I don't think she has auto ISO on her model though and with the kids and so forth manually tracking ISO could be a bit of a mare!
 
JohnN said:
(as not only is she the tog, but also sounds like she'll be looking after up to five kids :eek:)
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A recipe for disaster if ever there was one!

One task will inevitably suffer as a result of the other.
 
quick tip:

Spot meter for the dress, as long as the bride and groom are well lit, it doesn't matter if the background is blown :D
 
JohnN said:
I see what your saying - I don't think she has auto ISO on her model though and with the kids and so forth manually tracking ISO could be a bit of a mare!
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in those circumstances i'd turn it up as high as it will go ( I think 1600) for the indoor shots (assuming its your standard dark and gloomy church)

And then flick it to about 200 -400 when they come out for groups
 
I've been asked to do a few "friends" weddings and always decline.

I could probably wing it with my kit, but what if?

Edit: And it's a BIG if.
 
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Thanks for the ISO tip, I'll be sure to go through this thread with her tonight, and yep I was asked once to do a wedding and bottled it - I'm sure my kit would have been fine, me on the other hand!
 
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