low light wedding photography

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yawny

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hi people really need some advice on this one if possible. Firstly im not a photographer although i do shoot alot in my spare time and have done for the last 18 months....ive done quite a few sports shots and a few portraits for paying customers however i was recently asked to shoot a friends wedding.
My kit is a Sony A450
Sony kit lens 18 - 55
Sony 50mm F1.8
Tamron 70 - 300
Tamron 70 - 200 F2.8

I am doing it as a favour so there is no payment involved. I suppose i am still under pressure as i want to do a good job however not nearly as much as i would be if i was getting paid for it.

My worry is this.....people talk about the shutter speed being the same as the focul lenth of the lens as a minimum, however ive just been to the church today and the light is absolutly terrible. I had the 70 - 200 F2.8 at 1600 iso and the shutter speed was at 1/50th. Now i know thats breaking all the rules but will that be ok.....i cant use a tripod due to where the priest will allow me however i can support the lens by other means so camera shake shouldnt really be an issue.

Again will this be ok......is this just something wedding photographers have to deal with?

Thanks in advance
 
Did you take any test images while you were there? another question is whats the noise like on your camera ar 1600 iso?
 
Your main problem is going to be your camera handles noise VERY badly. Shoot RAW and try not to under-expose (as lightening images will make it worse) and give it a go.

Personally I find Sony bodies to have dreadful high ISO performance, far worse than the charts show - perhaps there'll be some good post processing tips to help with this.
 
My first advice is to polity refuse the wedding. Your friend will still have expectations and not meeting these could lose you a friend and ruin there wedding. Just my opinion.

Other than that, how about a monopod? As others have said how does your camera handle 1600 iso? Even in a dark church i dont tend to use anything over 800 on my d700 and often shoot at around 50th hand held. Just find somthing to rest your lens on and keep it steady.
 
right ok cheers people. im happy shooting at 1600 iso, as im not a pro the noise isnt that bad in my opinion after editing. I was just a bit worried with the 1/50th on a 70 - 200 lens. I will be able to rest the camera as i will vertually be sitted to the front left of the altar.
thanks for the help......i will give it a go anyway. I may even get away with the 50 F1.8 as i will be quite close.

thanks again
 
Hand-holding 1/50th if using the 70mm end of a 70-200 is do-able, depending on how good your technique is anyway. That said, if you CAN reach it with the nifty, I would!
 
I am doing it as a favour so there is no payment involved. I suppose i am still under pressure as i want to do a good job however not nearly as much as i would be if i was getting paid for it.
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Pressure is the same. For a pro if they cock it up, their insurance may have to pay out and name may be sullied.
For an amateur it may cost you a friendship if it went pearshaped.

Even as an amateur you need liability insurance in case anyone trips over your bag etc.
Have you checked whether or not you can use flash? Do you own any flash units?
You will almost certainly need the flash at the reception too.

Can you scrounge a spare body in case yours has a problem. Equipment does fail.

Not trying to put you off doing the wedding, just making you aware of some of the pitfalls.
 
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no there some good points. yes i do have a flash gun for the reception however not allowed in the church. i also have a back up camera body should something go wrong.......in relation to the pressure, we have had a long chat about it and we have agreed should they not turn out too great then all is not lost. They would rather have SOMEONE there just concentrating on pictures as apposed to just supplying the guests with Disposable camera which is what they were going to do.
thanks for the help again
 
yawny said:
Firstly im not a photographer although i do shoot alot in my spare time and have done for the last 18 months.
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Sounds like a photographer to me:shrug:

With what you have, im sure you could get some nice shots with the nifty fifty(1.8, iso800, 50/s). With all those OOF areas in the image, you'll be able to be aggressive with noise reduction too (not on the in focus areas of course).

But its when you need some DoF where your gonna struggle. 50mm, f2.8, iso 1600 @ 50/s might not be enough to get B&G both in focus, depending on where you'll be standing, and from what you've said im guessing you'll be somewhere to the side of the B&G?
You might be able to squeeze something out with the 18-55 at 18mm, but its gonna be slooow speeds at f3.5/4, 12/s or 25/s depending on what iso you're happy with.

Definatley shoot in Raw, and expose to the right if you can. I cant quote the science, but i read that Raw files have more headroom in the highlights than jpegs, so slighting over exposing would be good to reduce noise, but thats only relevant if you have shutter speed to spare.

I did my first wedding last week with a 400D(hacked), 18-55IS and Tamron 55-200. I was lucky to have a relatively bright church though (f5.6, iso1600, 50/s) The IS saved me tbo, without that it would of been a whole different ball game.

Good luck!
 
I have gleaned some good tips from this thread so I hope the OP has too :)
 
yawny said:
no there some good points. yes i do have a flash gun for the reception however not allowed in the church. i also have a back up camera body should something go wrong.......in relation to the pressure, we have had a long chat about it and we have agreed should they not turn out too great then all is not lost. They would rather have SOMEONE there just concentrating on pictures as apposed to just supplying the guests with Disposable camera which is what they were going to do.
thanks for the help again
Click to expand...

That's good to know that you have the backup.

Now just try to enjoy the experience.
 
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