Been asked to take a mates wegging photos

[MrWiggly]

Manual 1/125+ will give it a shot. What aperture and ISO would you start off with Mr W?

 

Start at ISI 200 ... and fool around with different SS and AV. Practice !!

 

[Snatcher]

Start at ISI 200 ... and fool around with different SS and AV. Practice !!

 

 

Will do boss Good news on the wedding front. Asked my sons partner to write a list(its her mam who is getting married) of the different groups of folk that her mam will want photographed. She will also be "sheepdog" - luxury,loads of pressure off

 

She will simply herd them in front of my camera. Thank you God

Edited August 8, 2008 by Snatcher

[Alnath]

Presuming you know your lenses sweet spot and you have a speedlight shoot on manual at the f number you know is sharpest and 1/100ths, ISO 200 outside and ISO 400 inside, use the speedlight on every single shot and bounce it inside with a stofen or even a white freezer bag will do if you do not have a stofen. If you shoot at manual the camera will alter the flash power to maintain correct exposure without giving you bright subjects and dark backgrounds and it will look more naturally lit.

 

Do not shoot with the sun over your shoulder, the people on the shot will be squinting, get them to stand at 90 degrees to the sun and use the flash.

 

Do not get people to stand up against a wall, they are not waiting to be shot and that is what they will look like if you do it. Tell people to come towards you away from the wall.

 

Don't let people stand square on to you, they are not gangsters, get them to twist their shoulders.

 

On group shots take many cos some one will blink, at least if you don't get one with everyones eyes open you can shop them in from another shot.

 

look for shots. look for shots and look for shots.

 

Talk, talk and talk some more "this is a wedding not a funeral" type stuff, get people chatting and smiling and they will cooperate much more.

 

Beg, borrow or steal a nifty 50.

 

Candids can be worth their weight in gold because people are natural on them

 

Last but not least and this is an absolute must, shoot raw, it will save your life giving you total white balance control and a 2 stop margin of error.

[Snatcher]

Thanks for that Alnath and all the rest of you guys. Will post up some of the shots the wife and I get on the day.

 

I will bet money on the wife getting better shots than me !!!! I have just told her to keep firing

[Alnath]

Don't be afraid to get firm with people as well, at the end of the day you will only get one shot at this and TBH when you have a big camera in your hand you can herd people around with surprising ease. When you are about to take the shot don't just pile in, stop and look, take a deep breath, this will give you the second you need to compose yourself and see if anyone is is out of place (big at the back small at the front etc.)

 

After each shot tell people to wait and chimp, tell them what you want, just checking for eyes closed on that one Lady's and gents is the normal line they think you are making sure it is a world beating shot when in reality you are just like the rest of us and praying you got something LOL

 

One last thing is tell people to look at the lens and repeat yourself over and over, you only need one person looking at a plane flying over etc. to mess a great shot up.

 

This is my fave shot i took at a wedding and it is about as far from a wedding as you can get LOL it is one of the bridesmaids about 10 minutes before she got ready. It is a candid BTW, once the flash went off i got called all sorts of names LOL

 

[Alnath]

dont use AV BTW if you have a flash on and you are using AV the body will still use a shutter speed it would need if the flash was not there so indoor shots will be blurred as the body will select super slow shutter speeds. And dont be tempted to go in the section of the dial that has portrait mode on it etc. because you will no longer be shooting raw and you will lose your joker card. stick with TV and manual.

 

EDIT:

 

AV is fine for outside if it is good light and you need f16 for a group shot

Edited August 9, 2008 by Alnath

[Cameraman]

Just seen this thread, Having done my Sons wedding I would say don't do it. If you make a mistake it can't be redone, they can't get married again.

 

My outdoor shots were Ok but inside the register office, i didn't take notice of the big window behiond them and got the light wrong DUH!

 

Thanks to Mr Wiggly and Steve randles, they re edited them for me, and Mr Wiggly taught me to edit my self, so things where saved.

 

Really my friend all I'm saying is check, sheck, check again and take literally 100s.

 

Good luck to you

[Alnath]

i didn't take notice of the big window behiond them and got the light wrong DUH!

 

Just one of the occasions where raw will save your bacon. +/- 2 stops is a massive difference to have to liberty to play with, just select the window, invert the selection and bump up the exposure on the rest of the shot, it really is a 30 second fix.

[Colin Brett]

There's some good tips here

You may have to register to access the tips but it's a good site especially for Photoshop tips and How Tos!

 

Colin

[Snatcher]

Thanks everyone. The wedding really went off well and the wife and I took loads of photos. I took 479 and the wife took 67 (Dorothys are still to download)

 

The signing of the book in the registrars office - yes a massive window just behind them!!!!! When the brides car drew up there was a painter and his ladders right behind her. I will have loads of work to do in Photoshop,cloning etc - oh well its in a good cause.

 

The lighting,or lack of it at the reception was terrible!!! Anyway here some of the shots I took "for better,for worse"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also thinking of just blurring the background instead of cloning on some of them. Would appreciate any ideas/guidance. Can e-mail a few shots to anyone who fancies a bit tweak!!!

Edited August 12, 2008 by Snatcher