You want me to shoot a Wedding????

[jmb667]

I was in a similar situation myself a couple months back (ok, who hasn't been there?); it was a friend from work, and it was going to be outdoors in the evening. The short-short version is that the bride couldn't have been happier (post-processing and iDVD FTW!) and I got darn lucky with the lighting. I learned a lot, too, which I guess is the key.

Would I do it again? Sure....with the caveat that I need a lot more experience under my belt to do anything bigger. What saved me is that she'd seen some previous stuff I'd done (admittedly mostly landscapes...) and liked it, and it was a very small civil ceremony (not a lot of people, or the usual pre-wedding stuff).

I'm not in a hurry to do another, but it sure was fun.

[gturner]

Kelly - I took some time to look at your blog pages. You have some nice shots, but at the same time you have some pretty basic errors in your portraits (and weddings is 95% people pics)
I would read a little more on lighting, using a flash. At the moment you seem stuck with your on camera flash giving a very harsh light and throwing shadows all over the place.

Practice for confidence.

[gturner]

Originally Posted by PeterArboinePhotography

Hi Kelly,

I was in this exact situation a couple months ago... it is truly scary to be asked to shoot a wedding, especially if you aren't too confident.. my advice would be to keep shooting, work with other photographers if possible... I jumped straight into my first wedding, and thankfully i managed ok!

heres the set btw:
Saima & Kasim's wedding 2010 - a set on Flickr
and good luck!

Peter - I really like your set!

[BCampbell]

Here's the thing kelly. Most people don't know the difference between a Rebel XT and a 5DMkII. They just know, hey, I have a freind with a big fancy camera, instead of paying someone $1500 for a package I'll just ask them.

In short, these people are most likely trying to take advantage of you and get you to work either free or cheap. They don't understand the value a professional photographer brings so they sure as hell won't understand the situation they'll be putting you in. Not to mention that if they're the type of people to be scrimping on a wedding photographer, they are probably NOT the type of people you want to deal with after the wedding. Just do some searching here and read the horror stories of brides/grooms who ask for the memory card at the end of the night, send your photos to someone else to edit, print your photos themselves at WalMart after you write a contract... this forum is chock full of it.

If you want to know about wedding photography, call up a few wedding photographers in your area and talk to them.

[Niresangwa]

Originally Posted by BCampbell

Here's the thing kelly. Most people don't know the difference between a Rebel XT and a 5DMkII. They just know, hey, I have a freind with a big fancy camera, instead of paying someone $1500 for a package I'll just ask them.

In short, these people are most likely trying to take advantage of you and get you to work either free or cheap. They don't understand the value a professional photographer brings so they sure as hell won't understand the situation they'll be putting you in. Not to mention that if they're the type of people to be scrimping on a wedding photographer, they are probably NOT the type of people you want to deal with after the wedding. Just do some searching here and read the horror stories of brides/grooms who ask for the memory card at the end of the night, send your photos to someone else to edit, print your photos themselves at WalMart after you write a contract... this forum is chock full of it.

If you want to know about wedding photography, call up a few wedding photographers in your area and talk to them.

+1. If you have any doubt that you can't produce results up to a certain standard (be it the expectations of the bride and groom, the quality that other local photographers produce and perhaps most importantly the standard of work you want to produce), then hold off and find situations where you can hone your skills in lower pressure environments or as a second where you can learn.

It's much better that you're asking this question and holding off rather than diving in head first and doing damage to your relationships, confidence and reputation.

Most people will contact-to-hire based on your portfolio, and if it's full of less-than-premium images, they'll just pass you by and go to the next link. These things take time to build.

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by gturner

Kelly - I took some time to look at your blog pages. You have some nice shots, but at the same time you have some pretty basic errors in your portraits (and weddings is 95% people pics)
I would read a little more on lighting, using a flash. At the moment you seem stuck with your on camera flash giving a very harsh light and throwing shadows all over the place.
Practice for confidence.

I can't say it any better than gturner above.. it is exactly the opinion I have. In the end, they may not know better, but if it's a question of doing as well as you can, I'm not sure you're there yet in terms of lighting which is crucial to wedding/portrait photography in my opinion.

Also, +1 to Niresangwa ...

[wrxkaboom]

I have thought the people who have asked me to shoot their wedding as people who are looking for a discount. Knowing that, I have no business near a wedding of any kind, thus I always politely decline. But if you think you have built up your chops, go for it you got to start somewhere.

James

[BigFuzzy]

Also, when I was asked to do my first wedding, I was in the same "holy crap, not sure I can do it" boat as you.

What I did was ask my very good friend and fellow fledgling photographer (I like alliteration) to do it with me and told her I'd only do it with another photog. That way, I knew that if I missed something, or had my settings wrong for a certain section of shots, there was a good chance he got it. Made me feel much more comfy...

Maybe you have someone that can work with you?

[Sobriquet]

Your not set up to do it and so even with talent your images wouldn't be up to scratch, you could offer to help them find someone who knows what they are doing but might be less expensive.