I have a hard time with flash - I find it quite difficult to control, and wondered if anyone had any simple advice for using it (I'm not the sharpest tool at the picnic) - particularly in reference to aperture and speed - the Tam goes down to f3.5/4, and I don't really want to be shooting at less than 1/80th. I'm shooting on a Canon 450d, which gives me a maximum ISO of 1600, but I'm reluctant to go down that far as it does get very grainy. I can't afford to buy any more gear at the moment - much as I'd like to!
Do people tend to stick on one aperture and speed and then just fire away, or are you constantly fiddling? What is the best technique? I'll need to account for moving about quickly as well, I would think.
Your thoughts and advice would be appreciated.
Disclaimer: I've done one wedding, for friends with no money. I use flash often, but I'm not terribly comfy in TTL mode - which is what a lot of wedding photographers use.
As it happened I didn't use flash at all on the day, and I know a few very good pros who don't use flash at all for weddings, resorting to a cheapo LED video light on extremely rare occasions. If you're uncomfortable with flash I'd suggest forgetting it too and accepting that there are some things you're not going to be able to do - but explain to the couple first. That way a whole degree of complexity and stress is dealt with in one stroke. The other alternative is to practice a lot between now and the wedding, preferably in the various venues. Without TTL or a light meter you can only rely on (a) experience or (b) taking test shots to get the exposure right. There's not a lot of time for the latter at a wedding.
If you do go the flash route then bouncing it is the default option, preferably off white walls, and preferably flagging it so no light from the flash directly illuminates your subject, as per Neil van Niekerk. Of course bouncing means that as you move around the exposure will change - which is why folk use TTL.
If flash is the only way to get results, and you don't have TTL, then one approach would be use a Rogue Flashbender or one of
these clones, or go for the larger version. Then you could use (semi-) direct flash, which means that once you've found your exposure for a particular venue you won't need to keep adjusting. It would give much nicer results then direct top-of-the camera flash.
I mainly used fast primes and did a fair amount of swapping. (25mm, 45mm and 75mm f1.8 on a micro m4/3 sensor, so roughly 50-150 ff equiv range), though I did have a 12-40 f2.8 zoom too. Can you borrow or hire something? That would also help with the romantic bokeh thing.
For settings everyone will have their own way of working, but what worked best for me was using manual mode & spot metering, with single focus point and back button focus. Attempting to use exposure lock, focus lock and/or exposure compensation in aperture priority was slower than altering ISO and aperture in manual to suit. Shutter speed rarely dropped below 1/125 and was often higher.
Don't worry too much about image noise. You will notice; your couple probably won't.
This is the most important tip: if you're taking some time out to do couple portraits then watch some posing videos and find a willing couple to practise on. You'll deliver loads of pics but the one they'll print large will be of the two of them. When you do these portraits don't let anyone hover or shoot over your shoulder.
Have a large bottle of water handy. Everything happens
very quickly once the bridal party leaves for the venue. You need to know exactly what you're doing, where, when and with which lens. One way go practice the skills required - if you don't have them already! - is to get out and do some street photography; everything happens at a similar speed.
Remember to have fun, though!