First wedding....help and advice

[Vulkan75]

Well ive managed to be prised away from the coast and have been comissioned to do my first wedding in June followed by another three later in the year.

So first of all....what lenes Do you(assuming you do weddings) tend to use most and in what circumstances?.

I was thinking of taking a 70-200 f2.8,50mm f1.8 of low light indoor stuff and a wide angle 17-35 F2.8 or maybe sigma10-20 for some wacking angles.Ill be taking a full frame body as well as a crop body and a couple of flash guns.
How would you mange your shoot based on that?.

How do you mange dim churches where flash is no go?...Im assuming that some extreme iso's are going to be needed.....thankfully the D700 will do ok there...but what do they look like in print... iso 6400+?

And finally the albums and print.

Ive looked at Spicer Hallfield but they need some kind of proof of professionalism before you can get an account....how stringent is this vetting process?and How can you get proffesional stuff when your just starting out?.

What about alternatives?.

Then there is the print Labs...Obviously Photobox and the like arnt up to the quality paying customers want...the might want Kodak endura textured prints or whatever..

What labs should I use and what prints (paper,finish) do you use for your albums.? Do the labs work the same way as Spicer Hallfield and if so how do you make the first step on the ladder?

I think there is a Lab in scotland somewhere most if the togs by me use...cant think of the name though.

Anyway thanks in advance.

 

[keirik]

oh no another wedding thread!!!!

ok

everyone uses the lenses they are comfortable with, as per another thread today.

Personally I use a 28-300 backed up with a f1.4 50mm and f2 100mm, plus I have a f2.870-200 and a f2.8 16-35mm

the lenses you have can cope in dim churches, but you do have to push the ISO, but I've never ever pushed above 1600 and that was extremely rare. Also I'm a jpeg shooter, but even I shoot raw in dark churches!

Not sure if spicer is the best choice at the moment given their financial situation, but not having an account only means you have to pay up front - but again that depends on how safe you feel giving them the money! Look at sim2000 as an alternative, or GF smith or mario acerboni if you like OTT designs!

As for print labs I use colabs - and you pay up front

HTH, good luck.

Now just to get the ball rolling, let me just say " don't do it, you need to be a tog for 47 years first"

 

[santana007]

Hi m8

first of good luck !

pick a style and stick to it ,
i myself take 2 canon 5d's one with a 580ex and gary fong light sphere ..

which lens ? it depends i use these

Sigma 24-60mm f/2.8 EX DG
Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS
Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM

and even Canon - 100-400mm F4.5-5.6L is i have captured some great candids with this ..

also just purchased a Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM this for low light church shots ...

remember a noisy shot with high iso is better than no shot ..

loxley colour for prints
sim 2000 for digital albums ... although we are about to try a sample with someone else ..
point 101 canvas .

you need to put together a portfolio for people to view .. if you want to do more .. getting your kit and portfolio together isn't cheep ..
i take way more kit than i need .. but you really need
2 camera body's ..
and a good low light lens
reflector .. + a good amount of CF cards between 2 and 4 gb
i tend to use 2gb .. if one gets lost or fails .. you aint lost it all in one go ..

i tend to take around 1000 to 1500 shots

i hope this helps

Rog

 

[Kryptix]

Fast primes are good. 50L or 50mm f/1.4 is a popular choice, along with the 85L.

 

[swanseamale47]

Vulcan most wedding photographers use what could be called a "standard" zoom, on the d700 that would be something around 24-70 28-80 something like that, it'll do the majority of the group shots and is a usefull general lens, but they would often use a 50mm or tele-zoom for slose up/candids/low light.
We have had cracking good 2x3 foot shots at 2500 iso from the d3 (same sensor) but you will have noise at 6400 iso.
I know it's your first wedding, but being able to shoot in low and tricky mixed lighting, is stocking trade for wedding photographers, you really need to be comfortable with what your camera will and won't wont do.
We have shots at 25.600 iso on the d3 but with cerefull processing you can get a passable shots (although I wouldn't want them in my wedding album) but that doesn't mean to say you'll get the same results, it depends on exposure, and the post processing, how good your noise reduction software is, a lot of different factors.
I would suggest you pop around the church ASAP and have a practice, take a willing model and see what you can get away with and what doesn't work.
Wayne

 

[Shelly Snapshot]

Ooh that's a good idea!

 

[inaneredstripe]

take a willing model and see what you can get away with and what doesn't work.


dont think ive had to use more than 1000 iso in a dark church.
but obviously the d o f gets a bit tight if you have to run wide open..
17-85. IS. 28-300 f4-5.6. nifty 50 and the wife uses 24-105L and my 18-50 2.8.
occasionaly the 100-400L.

 

[swanseamale47]

take a willing model and see what you can get away with and what doesn't work.


dont think ive had to use more than 1000 iso in a dark church.
but obviously the d o f gets a bit tight if you have to run wide open..
17-85. IS. 28-300 f4-5.6. nifty 50 and the wife uses 24-105L and my 18-50 2.8.
occasionaly the 100-400L.

We don't normally go above 1600 iso, the 2.500 iso was ballet and we needed to freeze the movement, the 25.600 was one of the guys trying it to see how far it would go, a B+G at night lit by a window, it was rough though, no good for an album. Wayne