Wedding issues...

Not long come in from photographing my friends wedding...and I was also the witness and supportive friend!

Ok, I've had a few drinks, but a little reflective on technical points of the day which may help someone.

Before I did the wedding I was planning on getting a faster prime in the region of 24-35mm to go on my D300 (so crop sensor means 36-52mm). I wish I had got it.

I generally used my Nikon 18-70mm f3.5-4.5 as the main lens today. Really it could do with being faster or maybe having something around 24mm f2.8. I did loads of available light shots, and saw more opportunities, had to push up the ISO to 800 in some cases and a nice fast prime would have been so much better.

Light was variable and sunny, contrasty. Used my SB600 for fill in with new, freshly charged batteries and still it died in much less time than I expected. OK, had spare batteries and got through the shoot but not impressed. Can understand why pro's use extra battery packs and flashes with more power - you can be a reasonable distance away from a group so powerful flash required.

Took my 12-24, used it a couple of times but not really needed except for some shots almost for the sake of using it. The focal range of the 18-70 was about right. I also had my 50mm f1.8 but due to the fast working pace it was almost too much trouble to change to it. 50mm on a DX is quite difficult to work with for candids in this situation.

Other photographic hitches were lack of focussing, didn't realise for a few shots why I wasn't focussing properly, but had knoocked the small lever on the body to manual focus.

Ok, you have to realise the pressure is on and you have to be ready for shots at any time, and there is cause for many changes of mode, f stops and shutter speeds to get the shots you want. You really have to be familiar with camera and flash controls so they can be changed quickly. The lighting inside was a mix of tungsten, halogen spotlights and lots of window light! What a mix. Was also having to adjust White Balance and +/- EV.

Ok, painted a bit of a negative picture, but I have come out with a set of good and suitable shots plus some duff ones. I know I have a set of shots the couple will be happy with, and maybe 50 or 60% to throw away!

Hoping this little feedback will help someone plan a wedding. Sorry if it doesn't flow, after a few beers, champagne and Jack daniels after 90% of the pictures were done typing now isn't quite as easy!

Reads fine to me BC so I'm sure you could reward your efforts with another tipple later.

Sounds like you had your work cut out so I hope you manage to get some good results. I would have thought throwing 50%-60% away isn't a bad ratio to be honest.

Thanks for posting this BC - very interesting reading about your experience - and very helpful too!

xx

I find the 24-120mm lens is very good, not that I do weddings or the like, but a pal of mine, who also has the D300 and that lens, does animal photography and he recons its one of the best for that kind of work. So should have a nice range for weddings etc.

Bazza

Look forward to seeing the shots - am sure they'll be fine BC!

Glad it all went okay BC

You have made me even more convinced, that I never want to do a wedding though xxx

Hope you are going to share a couple.

Thanks, but friends don't want them publishing on the net, sorry!

To be honest you could do with two photographers, official and candids. Really you have to think fast with small adjustments such as white balance etc. I have to be be thankful for shooting in RAW and jpg together as I forgot to change white balance on the last few pictures we did outside after the meal. RAW saved those pictures...and, don't mix business and pleasure...had quite a bit to drink so tht's probably why i forgot to change.

I wouldn't recommend wedding photography as it does require technical skill and a lot of understanding about light. You don't really see the results until you get home. Now I have gone through many pictures I notice my friend has a tendancy to squint or close his eyes, and his suit looks awkward, he tends to lean in as if he doesn't trust the camera will fit him in. I corrected him many times but still have many like this. Also expect that fast autofocus primes are better than zooms. Day would have been awful without fill in flash and I noticed it failed to fire when i have rattled off several shots in quick succession.

Couple of grands worth of kit but still i think my kit was borderline to be able to deal with the days candid and quick pictures. Of course the staged pictures, carefully composed are fine. For the candids indoors, I would expect a full frame, at about 1600 ISO and a 35mm lens at around f2.8 wouold be ideal.

Well done BC, for getting the day over and done with! lol the all important question is. . . . . . . . . . . . . . would you do another?

Hmmm, maybe. Definately learnt a lot. Contrasty lighting and people photos don't mix very well and as crazy as it may sound, my kit isn't really best suited to fast work. It was interesting because if the day had been flat lit I wouldn't have had so much work to do and the pictures would have been easier to control. So, definately feel I have benefitted. I reckon a fast wide lens on a DX camera would be ideal and next time i will also watch my focussing as it is so easy for the focus to miss what you want.

I'm making it sound like it was a disaster, it wasn't at all but I now realise that the reject ratio is around 80% which is a combination of
1. bad focussing,
2. too slow a shutter speed on available light candids, (better to get a shot with noise than not at all because of movement),
3. flash fail to fire because of suspect battery charge issue (notice when i came back they were charged in about 5 minutes
4. lighting too contrasty and I could have had more control if i had thought about it
5. failure to notice people leaning and untidy suits on some pictures (even though i corrected many before shots)
6. lots of squints and people looking a different way despite taking many shots
7. equipment not fast enough to get focus in low light
8. too much to drink and too absorbed in the day in latter stages made technical error

At the end of the day they will have a set of pics but you would never believe so many rejects. If I was doing this full time I'd get a D700, and SB800 and external charger or a Metz, a reflector, and some good lenses around 24-75mm (full frame) f2/f2.8. It was a difficult day technically, the sun, very windy, mix of lighting, equipment below level of imagination... As I said earlier, if you stick to controlled set up shots and use flash indoors it wouldn't be so much problem at all.

Stu

BC

The only time to really worry is at the end of the festivities and you start taking photos of the ceiling.

Bazza