An update to the "dilema" I posted about

[audreylynn3]

I posted a few days ago about being approached to do a wedding in a couple of weeks for a family friend who's photographer has bailed on her. She's willing to take a chance on me, so I'm going for it!

The equipment I have currently is a Canon 30D, 18-55 lens, 50mm lens, Vivitar flash, and several 8Gb memory cards. I plan on renting: Canon 50D body (using mine as the backup), Canon 24-70 2.8L, and Canon 580 EX Speedlite. I'm drawing up a contract today. I'm going to make ask for a list of all the potential poses/shots they want me to get, and make my own as well. Is there anything else I should be doing to prep?

Thanks in advance!

[Jim Poor]

Check with the person conducting the ceremony to see if they allow flash. Some won't allow it during the ceremony, some places won't allow it at all.

Rent your items twice. Once ahead of time so you can learn them and work out the kinks, then once for the ceremony. Alternatively, rent them once for a longer period of time so you have time to practice.

Go to the location and shoot a dry run if you can. See how the lighting is and try to make sure there aren't plans to change up the lighting for the ceremony.

[wannabephotographer]

I think your primary camera should be the 30D. You know that camera the best and under pressure you'll less likely make a mistake with it. Good luck!

[Sime]

I agree with Wannabe - better the devil you know.

The 50 has a slightly higher MP count, but shooting RAW with your 30D will give you fine images (Mine does)

or... if you're set on the 50 - Do what Jim says and rent it in advance / get used to it... Worst thing you can do is not know which button to press when it all goes horribly wrong (which it won't, but hey... you never know)

Sime

[candleman]

Originally Posted by audreylynn3

I posted a few days ago about being approached to do a wedding in a couple of weeks for a family friend who's photographer has bailed on her. She's willing to take a chance on me, so I'm going for it!

The equipment I have currently is a Canon 30D, 18-55 lens, 50mm lens, Vivitar flash, and several 8Gb memory cards. I plan on renting: Canon 50D body (using mine as the backup), Canon 24-70 2.8L, and Canon 580 EX Speedlite. I'm drawing up a contract today. I'm going to make ask for a list of all the potential poses/shots they want me to get, and make my own as well. Is there anything else I should be doing to prep?

Thanks in advance!

go with the 30D, and rent another 30D & the lens and flash you mentioned.
that way you cant screw it up. (i'm sure you wont)


also, from my somewhat limited experiences with weddings,
they typically dont know what they want.
basically.. dont give them too many options or they will get confused.
be confident in what you are going to provide, create your shotlist and talk it through with them.
AFTER you have talked it through.. say "anything else?"

chances are they will be hapy with what you have come up with, which then makes your life easy

you dont want to be playing catch-up trying to enterpret their ideas. Pre-Conceptions will only lead to their dissapointent.

so, make a proposal and remove the confusion. then the client will be confident you know what you're doing too.

[audreylynn3]

Thank you all for your great advice, I genuinely appreciate the input! Wish me luck, and I will be posting some pictures in a few weeks!

[pjl]

Here's a list of 'shots desired' I got from a bride-to-be on photos she wanted taken.
She found weddingwire.com, looked at a mess of their pics from site users and made her list for me.
I got most all the shots she wanted...

(Her hubby's name is 'Ignacio', whom she refers to as 'Nacho'...yes, he WAS cheesy...
Ok, that was mean.
He shorted me on my payout at the end of the day, so he earned that.)

My boss' daughter asked me to shoot the engagement/wedding/recept.
It was my first wedding shoot and they were told so.
I agreed to do it for $20 an hour for time spent, no additional cost for pp'ing and such.
They still wanted me to do it to save $$$ on overall cost.
I learned about having a written contract in hand from that not-so-pleasant payoff...

Good luck and have a great time; I had a blast shooting the wedding!

1. me and my bridesmaids getting ready
2. me covering my face with my bouque (close up) with just my eyes and up showing
3. me and the wedding party getting ready to start coming down the stairs
4. nacho waiting at the alter
5. everyone coming down the isle
6. the ceremony
7. me and my wedding party
8. all the bridesmaids and i putting our bouques together and with just me and my maid of honor
9.cool picture of the groomsman wearing sunglasses and with just nacho and his best man
10. me and my parents and one with just me and my dads
11. nacho with his parents
12. me and nacho with all our parents
13. me and nacho with all the family
14. amazing pictures of me and nacho in the garden
15. pretty pics of me in the garden (some close up) and different angles and different spots
16. me and nacho kissing in the garden ( close ups too)
17. pictures of me and nacho huging
18. him huging me from behind
19. us staring at eachother
20. us with our foreheads touching and holding eachother
21. us walking away in the garden and ur up on the porch looking down
22. us on the stairs with me against the wall
reception:
23. the wedding party coming in
24. the cake
25. the center peices and favors
26. our first dance
27. the father daughter dances
28. everyone dancing and having fun
29. the toasts
30 cutting the cake and our cutters
31. our table and our wine flutes
32. what ever else u want to snap

[Jim Bryant]

Pjl -- Next time charge $100.00 per hour for shooting and pping

[pjl]

hehehe...
Thanks, Jim.
Always somethin', ehhh?
Yep, should have charged "X"...didn't.

Photography itself has quite the learning curve; each venue/genre has it's own little land mines and hidden treasure chests.
I found many new land mines and quite a few sparkling treasures I wasn't expecting.
I walked both wedding sites well before the wedding and took shots from different angles to practice up, so I knew where I needed to go and how to get there for close ups, etc.

I found out I knew SOMEthing about my camera and how it works.
ALSO found out I sure don't know everything I need to know.

LOL: ever be in a rush and forget to change your white balance from indoor to outdoor, or vice versa?
I did...a couple times that day...removing the palm from my forehead without being noticed was a fun excercise that day...DOHHHH!

Found I need a whole lot more practice with a flash.
I did better at a second wedding a couple months later, but I still have a lot to learn.
(I rented an sb600 for both weddings; I finally bought one last month...)

All in all, they were enjoyable enough to shoot that I COULD do more weddings.

[audreylynn3]

PJL: Thank you for the list! There are some good ideas in there, and I'll add them to my list.