Wedding Photography

[jessicagoodman]

Hi, I'm new to this - this is the first time I've used the forum so please forgive me if i muck it up!
I've been asked to be the official photographer at my niece's wedding. I have a Canon 7D with a 17-55mm lens (the size of the camera makes people assume I'm a great photographer!!), but no other equipment. I've been planning to buy some equipment for shooting weddings, but haven't had any spare cash to do so, so this is the ideal excuse to get out there, get the right equipment, and make a really good go at taking professional shots for my lovely niece on her very big day.

Can anyone give me a standard kit list I should have for this type of event?

Thanks very much.

[scootermcq]

Here is a thread from a couple weeks ago, regarding what I take, not all is required, but it will give you an idea.
How much crap do you take to a wedding?

[BK553]

Yeah, Scott's list is pretty similar to mine. The most important things to think about buying:

Fast lenses (f2.8 or less)
A good flash (canon 430ex ii or 580 ex ii)
A long, fast lens (70-200 f2.8 IS ii is most wedding photogs choice)
Some of flash diffusor (omnibounce, fong, flashbender...)
An extra camera body/lenses just in case
tons of CF cards
power bars and gatorade

[Biomech]

Pretty much what BK said, although I like to take my 10mm 2.8 fisheye and 50mm 1.7 too

And don't forget your tripod, camera/hand strap and spare batteries!

[jessicagoodman]

Thanks for this, much appreciated. xx

[ajax_andy]

Originally Posted by jessicagoodman

Hi, I'm new to this - this is the first time I've used the forum so please forgive me if i muck it up!
I've been asked to be the official photographer at my niece's wedding. I have a Canon 7D with a 17-55mm lens (the size of the camera makes people assume I'm a great photographer!!), but no other equipment. I've been planning to buy some equipment for shooting weddings, but haven't had any spare cash to do so, so this is the ideal excuse to get out there, get the right equipment, and make a really good go at taking professional shots for my lovely niece on her very big day.

Can anyone give me a standard kit list I should have for this type of event?

Thanks very much.

The minimum would be IMO for this type of wedding (i.e. a favour):

Your 7D body
17-55mm lens - is this the standard kit lens? What is the biggest aperture? If 4.5 then its not a good lens to be shooting a wedding indoors and also the outdoor shots wont be as sharp as you would want... you could look at a Tamron 17-50mm as a cheapish replacement but avoid the VC version
An f/1.4 prime lens
A good flash (yongnuo have some decent ones that aren't too expensive)
Eneloop batteries for the flash + 1 spare set


Bare in mind the above is THE absolute minimum even when shooting as a favour. Even with the list above the thing to bare in mind is "what happens if something fails or breaksdown on the day"?

Ideally you should have a backup for everything... The way I got around this was to take an assistant along who also had a DSLR and a keen interest in photography (and plenty of gear). If you dont have this i'd question whether you have the kit required even with all of the above, and are the costs associated with purchasing it all worth it?

[graciousness]

Before you go out buying additional equipments, I think the first thing that you should do is find out the details about the wedding. Are they getting married in a church or outdoors? What time of day is it? When is it (time of year that affects weather and when sun goes down, snow, rain, etc), if ceremony is indoors, is flash allowed? What about reception, where is it, what time, etc. You see, you may not need as much or you may need a lot more equipment than you think. This all depends on the shooting conditions of the wedding.

I'm shooting my first wedding in January and good mother of jebus, my hair is falling off from realising how much crap you need to buy. And I'm talking about bare minimum of what we need. Even just trying to get enough memory cards you'd spent tons on as you can't jsut have 2 or 3 of things. You need TONS. Batteries for the flash? You better have rechargeable ones and a very good recharger. You just don't need 4 of them. You need at least 2 sets per flash. And so forth. And so forth.

To me, the very basic minimum that one needs if you are to shoot weddings is:

2 camera bodies
2 off camera flash
ten million memory cards
2 sets of rechargeable batteries per flash
2-3 lenses (one must be at least a good all rounder with some telephoto range for portrait shots i.e. 24-70mm or 24-105mm)
reflector
filters (lens and flash kinds)
1 bottle of gin (in a flash that fits in camera bag recommended)

And if you have time to set up during the wedding and you're comfortable to use them:

Umbrellas (reflective/shoot through) at least one
or Soft boxes
Light stand per light diffuser

An assistant would be highly recommended. I hate the fact that I won't have one with the wedding I'm shooting in January but just not possible for me to have one. So knowing that I'll be workign alone on this first assignment, you will want to minimise what you bring but making sure that you do have everything and then some just in case you have gear failures.

I do hope you have plenty of time to get the things you need and practice before the day.....

[slugger]

Think everyone pretty much covered the basic equipment
If you can afford it, a couple pocket wizards would be great for off camera flash
Also a small pocket drive to back up memory cards
Mints (for you and for the bride)
Ever see those bridal emergency kits? Grab one of those too, it doesn't hurt to have it in your car, just in case.
Step ladder (keep it in your car, but it might come in handy and it's better to have it than not have it)
Good luck!!

[ajax_andy]

Originally Posted by graciousness

Before you go out buying additional equipments, I think the first thing that you should do is find out the details about the wedding. Are they getting married in a church or outdoors? What time of day is it? When is it (time of year that affects weather and when sun goes down, snow, rain, etc), if ceremony is indoors, is flash allowed? What about reception, where is it, what time, etc. You see, you may not need as much or you may need a lot more equipment than you think. This all depends on the shooting conditions of the wedding.

I'm shooting my first wedding in January and good mother of jebus, my hair is falling off from realising how much crap you need to buy. And I'm talking about bare minimum of what we need. Even just trying to get enough memory cards you'd spent tons on as you can't jsut have 2 or 3 of things. You need TONS. Batteries for the flash? You better have rechargeable ones and a very good recharger. You just don't need 4 of them. You need at least 2 sets per flash. And so forth. And so forth.

To me, the very basic minimum that one needs if you are to shoot weddings is:

2 camera bodies
2 off camera flash
ten million memory cards
2 sets of rechargeable batteries per flash
2-3 lenses (one must be at least a good all rounder with some telephoto range for portrait shots i.e. 24-70mm or 24-105mm)
reflector
filters (lens and flash kinds)
1 bottle of gin (in a flash that fits in camera bag recommended)

And if you have time to set up during the wedding and you're comfortable to use them:

Umbrellas (reflective/shoot through) at least one
or Soft boxes
Light stand per light diffuser

An assistant would be highly recommended. I hate the fact that I won't have one with the wedding I'm shooting in January but just not possible for me to have one. So knowing that I'll be workign alone on this first assignment, you will want to minimise what you bring but making sure that you do have everything and then some just in case you have gear failures.

I do hope you have plenty of time to get the things you need and practice before the day.....

Can I ask why you can't have an assistant?

I have one for a wedding I am shooting for free (well minus my expenses) in just over a month and found someone in my area who was willing to help for free to get some experience.

I find there's usually plenty of people willing to help out for free if you look in the right places

[graciousness]

Originally Posted by ajax_andy

Can I ask why you can't have an assistant?

I have one for a wedding I am shooting for free (well minus my expenses) in just over a month and found someone in my area who was willing to help for free to get some experience.

I find there's usually plenty of people willing to help out for free if you look in the right places

Because it's out of state (Tasmania) in a remote area. Not that I'm doing the wedding for free, my flights and accomodation are being paid for by my friends who are getting married. So, I can't afford to fly an assistant out just for the day nor have time to look for one when we get there the day before the wedding.

My husband will be looking after my toddler, so there goes my additional 'tripod' too

It's ok, will do what I can do. I've mapped out what and where I'll be every 15 minutes of the day having had the details of the wedding.

Hmm. Sounds like I'll need 2 bottles of gin.