Wedding Advice

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I've been asked to photograph a family wedding as their budget is limited. I of course have not formally shot a wedding before.

I'm reasonably confident shooting candid moments in the build up and after the ceremony - I'm used to doing street photography and have shot friends and family informally at three weddings in the past year (including my own). I photographed the hen do and the couple liked the photos, so more or less happy with this part.

However formal portraiture is all new to me, I'm not very experienced with flash and I'm more used to shooting with film than digital.

I'll be shooting a Nikon D5200 with 35mm f1.8 and 18-55mm mostly, and either a Nikon F4s with 50mm f1.8 or Mamiya 645 with 70mm f2.8 for the formal photos after the ceremony. Flash I'm kinda limited with a Nikon SB30 for the F4s and either the pop-up (uggh) or the SB30 on non-ttl auto for the D5200.

Prepared to buy another flash that I can bounce, recommendations for <£100 second hand if possible ? If there's anything that would do TTL for the D5200 and F4 whilst also allowing me to PC sync to the leaf shutter on the Mamiya 70mm, that would be great.

Advice ? If money was no object I'd be burning through B&W film on the F4s as that's where I'm most comfortable and the couple want B&W... however it isn't.
 
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If the advice you're after is something that will TTL on the F4 and the D5200 I believe the only Nikon model that crosses over the 2 models is the SB800 (which is a great flash but getting on a little) It also has a sync port on the side however I'm not 100% on whether it will work with your Mamiya, as I've only ever used mine either in the hotshoe, via wireless triggers or in SU-4 mode. iTTL isn't available with the F4 but will be with the D5200. I've never used PC sync for anything so wouldn't want to say for definite.

As for the actual shooting of flash at weddings I wouldn't complicate it any more than you have to, especially if you're not experienced with it. For the most part, if your experience is with shooting available light then you're going to be strongest with that and probably going to get your best photographs doing that. The caveat being that wedding venues don't often line up with a photographer's idea of ideal light* and flash may be needed to get the shots, any shot is better than no shot and having the flash as a backup is sound thinking. TTL will help get something like a correct exposure for you; speed is the key and lots of things only happen once at weddings and you need to make sure you get them as you won't necessarily have time to be changing flash settings.

If you don't mind me asking, when and where is the wedding taking place? Not being nosey, just an idea of the location and potential weather etc will help give more tailored advice for you, shooting an outdoor wedding in summer can be a little different to shooting an indoor wedding in mid winter!

*a lot of venues are in fact pretty dark once you get indoors, they aim for ambience for the guests over the wants of photographers :LOL:
 
Thanks @andy1868 that's really helpful. The wedding is in a couple of weeks, ceremony at a registry office and the reception is at a ballroom which doesn't look to have much, if any, natural light. I'll be aiming to get the couple outside (weather permitting) for formal shots post ceremony.

I had difficulty at times shooting the Hen Do without flash - indoors, artificial blue light mostly. The D5200 struggled with AF, and the blue lighting makes it a mare to sort colour balance - luckily the couple wanted B&W.
After my experience at the bowling alley I'll pick up a SB800, Ffordes look to have a few at £100.
 
Indoor portraits are always going to be tricky to nail, especially with on camera flash. Honestly, I'd keep it dead simple - get them outside while there's still some daylight and use the D5200 & 35 1.4 for portraits. Then you can break out a flash with TTL for everything else that needs doing inside (cake cutting, first dance, etc)
 
Thanks @andy1868 that's really helpful. The wedding is in a couple of weeks, ceremony at a registry office and the reception is at a ballroom which doesn't look to have much, if any, natural light. I'll be aiming to get the couple outside (weather permitting) for formal shots post ceremony.

I had difficulty at times shooting the Hen Do without flash - indoors, artificial blue light mostly. The D5200 struggled with AF, and the blue lighting makes it a mare to sort colour balance - luckily the couple wanted B&W.
After my experience at the bowling alley I'll pick up a SB800, Ffordes look to have a few at £100.


No problem at all, I would check 100% on the compatibility the SB800 before buying/relying it on it, especially with film but I did find one sheet that said it would work with TTL but it appeared to be an old scan of an old document saying so :LOL:

One advantage of the SB800 is that you can also enable its infra-red AF assist beam (to help with low light AF) but set it to not fire any flash which may be handy if you’re struggling in low light. The other obvious one is to use the centre AF point etc as they tend to be the strongest. AF-Single tends to fare better in low light I’ve found too (the AF Assist beam will also only work in single)

Also if you end up taking lots of flash shots keep in mind battery usage and take some spares. One way to save some battery power is to shoot higher ISOs as the flash will need less flash power per shot. I regularly use ISO1000-1600 when shooting flash at weddings albeit on D750 cameras, your ISO quality may vary.

As Danny said above indoor portraits with on camera flash is going to be tricky, shooting outdoors in natural light is going to make your life a lot easier and would be my go to if at all possible. If you’re stuck indoors keep an eye out at the registry office for somewhere nice and hold back before going to the venue perhaps (if the venue is going to be a problem)

Have you had any discussions with the couple about family groups? If so have a think about where you may want to take them, but also ask them to make a SHORT list of the absolutely must have group shots to save any more hassle than there need some to be on the day.
 
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Hire or borrow a 2nd digital body.
I shot dozens of weddings on film and many more than that on digital, and I wouldn’t volunteer to mix the 2 at a wedding tomorrow, it’s an added complication you just don’t need.

Grab a Godox TT685 as the starting point for your journey learning flash.
Not getting Godox just delays the (almost) inevitable.
 
Recalling the time I used to shoot weddings, just as digital came in, I used a Pentax film 35mm SLR and a Mamiya 645Pro, which meant that (although I already had a fabulous manual flash gun - the Vivitar 285) I needed a suitable gun for the 645 as I think that all 645 had the hotshoe on the side which meant the spread for light was perpendicular to the image. Unless you have a grip and attachment leads for a standard flashgun the only other alternative I can think of is a used Metz 45 hammerhead. It's been a long time since I've used mine and I have to renew my acquaintance with it..

My other thoughts being you might need something slightly wider if you need to do group shots, particularly if the weather is so bad you have to do shots indoors.

Like Phil says, I'd suggest keeping it simple - if you can get a matching body (film/digital - better to go digital as you can results straight away) I'd do that.
 
@Phil V Hiring a camera is out of my budget, otherwise agree completely. Trying to keep the costs down to the SB800 and prints I'll be doing after the day.

I'll be using the D5200 mainly. I'll use the F4 with Delta 400 for formal shots, along with the wife on backup on the D5200. I do have a backup digital camera in an Olympus e-m5.1 in case things go wrong.

Scoped out a small garden outside the registry office for formal shots (although forecast now says light rain....). Have asked the couple for a list of formal shots and have recruited a few people for crowd control.

One thing I can't remember - is flash a no for the ceremony itself ? Luckily the registry office looks nice and bright with white walls and natural light (window not behind the ceremony table luckily !)
 
Generally speaking flash is a no go for the ceremony. It’s one of the few times it’ll be massively distracting to the congregation but to the couple too, you may also find the registrar will allow photographs during the ceremony as long as you don’t use flash.

Have a think about where you’re going to stand for the ceremony too, couples spend most of their time looking away from their family and friends so I normally stand to one side away from the registrar. Normally on the same side as the groom so you’re looking more at the bride, the caveat to this is that you’re normally stuck here but you can get all the important stuff without being too distracting. If you’re shooting with your wife you could maybe ask her to take a couple from the back down the aisle during the ceremony so you can stay put. Be ready for the first kiss too, depending on the couple it could literally be a split second and you can’t re-shoot it.
 
One thing I can't remember - is flash a no for the ceremony itself ? Luckily the registry office looks nice and bright with white walls and natural light (window not behind the ceremony table luckily !)
Actually having a window 'behind' the table is perfect, as above, the B&G spend most of their time with their back to the room, having a nice big window to light them is perfect. I also like to freak out the registrar by setting up the 'signing' shot so that the 'audience' is in the background. :ROFLMAO:
 
My local lab has unprompted lent me a Sunpak Auto 4205G with bracket to use with the Mamiya 645 should I go that route. I can sync on the leaf shutter at all speeds, am I right in thinking the shutter speed will just control how much background light is allowed in ? On a 70mm lens I should be using 1/125 or 250 percent guess ?
 
Generally speaking flash is a no go for the ceremony. It’s one of the few times it’ll be massively distracting to the congregation but to the couple too, you may also find the registrar will allow photographs during the ceremony as long as you don’t use flash.

Have a think about where you’re going to stand for the ceremony too, couples spend most of their time looking away from their family and friends so I normally stand to one side away from the registrar. Normally on the same side as the groom so you’re looking more at the bride, the caveat to this is that you’re normally stuck here but you can get all the important stuff without being too distracting. If you’re shooting with your wife you could maybe ask her to take a couple from the back down the aisle during the ceremony so you can stay put. Be ready for the first kiss too, depending on the couple it could literally be a split second and you can’t re-shoot it.

One thing I'd advise for the first kiss is to speak to the B&G beforehand and ask them to count to 5 while doing it in order to give you time to get the shot if you are worried about missing it!
 
An 18-35 f1.8 (Sigma Art) and an 85 f1.4 have covered most of my bases for recent weddings on a D5200. Allow plenty of time, expect delays/interruptions, as it's a family wedding - rope in some help for e.g. setting up or herding/collecting people and have a great time :).
 
Apart from very rare exceptions, I only use flash for the dance floor as Sony mirrorless works well in low light. Try and push it with available if you can, just watch your shutter speed doesn't fall too low - if it's below ~250th then start shooting more bursts. Don't worry too much about IQ being perfect for the low light stuff, clients don't pixel peep...
 
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