What I learned shooting my 1st wedding...

[sarahgirl777]

OldWulf asked in my share you shots post to share some of the lessons I learned from shooting my first wedding on Valentines day so I thought I'd post it here.

1. Make sure you shoot in RAW. I did, but boy was I glad I did cause I had quite a few underexposed pictures I had to brighten after the fact. They were looking fine in my LCD but when on my computer I realized they needed a little bump.

2. Go to the rehersal if you can. I also did this and it made things much easier on the wedding day. I knew the plan and how my camera would respond to the lighting and I think I got a lot better pictures because of it. It was a catholic wedding and I couldn't use a flash during the ceremony. I brought my 50mm 1.7 lens for that, but when practicing with it during the rehersal, I was able to work out the kinks before the wedding. I was not happy with a lot of my rehersal shots and I would have hated for those to be the actual wedding shots. I had to hit a happy medium between ISO, f stop, and shutter speed to get enough light without too much noise, quick enough to stop motion blur, but enough DOF to keep from getting unfocused shots.

3. Be assertive and take control. You can't just expect the people to organize themselves. I was being too quiet at first and people were taking their sweet time so I finally had to stop (between the ceremony and reception) and say "Hey Everyone Listen UP! We need to make this quick so we don't keep the guests waiting, so when I announce that it's you're turn, please quickly come to the front (of the church) for your pictures so we can get the couple to the reception!"

4. Make sure you have the right equipment! I brought two strobes with umbrellas, my 10-70mm lens and my 50mm prime lens with plenty of batteries and memory cards etc. However I'm realizing I need to get a fast lens that will let me zoom in and out some too. Being limited to 50mm during the ceremony made it a lot more difficult. Yes I was able to pull it off, but sometimes I found myself too close or too far away to get my desired composition.

5. Know how to use your equipment. I'd say I'm pretty good with my equipment, but I still have a lot to learn. I had a little trouble during the formal shots getting my strobes to perform like I wanted them too. I still pulled it off, but now I see the areas I need more practice in. During the wedding you don't have as much time to shoot and check your shot and re-adjust your settings so you need to know how to get it on the first or second try.

6. If you've never shot a wedding and your asking if you should do it, ask yourself this. Can I shoot a shot and focus on a dancing moving couple in complete darkness? Can I get good focus in low light on moving subjects as they are coming down the isle of the church? (More difficult than you'd think and you only have a split second to get the shot) Do I have the lighting equipment necessary to adequately light a large family who wants all 15 grandchildren 6 children, bride and groom and parents in ONE shot? Oh and it's 20 degrees and dark outside and your only choice it to shoot on stage in the poorly lit church!
My two lights were barely enough to pull this one off. Again before my next wedding I will be adjusting this issue.

7. Ok my last one for now is bring an Assistant! You need to be quick, have a plan and be able to move your equipment and set up fast. An assistant really helps. I just brought a younger highschool student I knew, but it really helped to have a second set of hands to carry stuff, and a second set of eyes to watch your equipment for you when you have to be away from it.

If you'd like to see some of my shots from the wedding, click on my business flickr link below. Hope this helps some of you who are wondering if you should shoot a wedding or not. Yes I will do it again, this is what I plan to do as part of my business, I love weddings and I am prepared for it, but there is always something new to learn!

[Dayton-G]

Thank you Sarah for sharing your experience. I learned a lot form that just know and I'm glad to see another Sony A-series Photographer

I have the 200, and about 200 years of needed experience

[justlearning]

Sara, thank you for sharing this with us.

I would love to be able to do a wedding some day and this really helps a lot. If looks like you overcame all your obstacles, your phots came out great. I especially love the one with the hearts behind them, where they just lights? And the one with the mirror, did you merge the two photos?

They all turned out great!

[sarahgirl777]

Originally Posted by Dayton-G

Thank you Sarah for sharing your experience. I learned a lot form that just know and I'm glad to see another Sony A-series Photographer

I have the 200, and about 200 years of needed experience

Thanks, I love my Sony, but part of me wishes I had gotten a Canon or Nikon. There was a lot I didn't know when I got my camera and now I realize that they all have different hot shoes and getting flashes and stuff is a pain. I really want some wireless triggers for my flashes but you can't get then for Sony grrrr... I planned on growing within the brand and upgrading later so I hope that they make some changes in their line.

[sarahgirl777]

Originally Posted by justlearning

Sara, thank you for sharing this with us.

I would love to be able to do a wedding some day and this really helps a lot. If looks like you overcame all your obstacles, your phots came out great. I especially love the one with the hearts behind them, where they just lights? And the one with the mirror, did you merge the two photos?

They all turned out great!

Thank you for your compliments. The heart one is done in PP, I drew a heart with a mask and lightened that area. The mirror one, yes it's two photos, one the day before the wedding. I had to make sure she was in the same spot both times and the lights were in the same spot and all my settings were the same so that it would look realistic. I was pretty happy with it's turn out.

[justlearning]

Again, thanks for letting me know how you did that, great work!

[sk66]

Thanks for sharing...I'd say you got a couple really great shots...I actually laughed out loud at the rings/heart/bible pic...(see cliched pics post...)

That said,...you REALLY need to work on your flash/strobe pics... Way too many greasy, hot, overexposed spots.....Diffusers/ umbrellas!
I'm NOT saying I'm any better.....but I'm not taking wedding pics either.

[sarahgirl777]

Originally Posted by sk66

Thanks for sharing...I'd say you got a couple really great shots...I actually laughed out loud at the rings/heart/bible pic...(see cliched pics post...)

That said,...you REALLY need to work on your flash/strobe pics... Way too many greasy, hot, overexposed spots.....Diffusers/ umbrellas!
I'm NOT saying I'm any better.....but I'm not taking wedding pics either.

I'm not sure what post you're talking about re the rings heart etc. But as far as the strobe comment, that's what I was referring to above in #5. I usually use my strobes in a more controlled setting and I had a lot of trouble getting the lighting right with them up on the alter when I did the formals. I thought I had it down pat until after the wedding. I think I figured out what I was doing wrong, but now I have to put in into action to see if that solves my problem. Anyways, that was the point of this post, to help others realize these things before they get out there. Luckily I have the opportunity to second shoot with another photographer at a wedding coming up so I can perfect my skills and learn some more hands on before I accept another wedding assignment.

[sk66]

There was a recent post about cliched pictures, and the rings/heart pic was mentioned...I just had to laugh (don't get me wrong, most cliched pics are cliched because they have a certain endearment to them..)

I wasn't trying to be "overly critical"...but to be honest "still pulled it off" is marginal for some of the pics (sorry)...

And more to the point...I TRULY appreciate your sharing the "hard learned truths"...... Hopefully some will learn from your experience.

I am the same way in my career...."learn from my mistakes, I am only alive because I was lucky, here's what I did wrong"....

Many people tend to keep these things to themselves, or minimize them in order to protect themselves, but that is a disservice to others in similar positions...

You should be commended for sharing,

[Swisstony10]

Thanks for sharing your own lessons Sarah.

The last wedding I was at (not as an official photographer) was very well organised for the group photos. The bride had made sure that the photographer, the chief bridesmaid, and me (the Best Man) each had a copy of the list of group photos they had decided on, with the names of all the people for each one. As Best Man, one of my jobs was to run around making sure that all the people required for each picture were in place ready to have their pictures taken, which meant the photographer was able to concentrate on arranging people and taking the pictures. As a result, the normally tedious process of the formal photographs was over and done with fairly quickly. I don't know whether it helped the photographer to feel less stressed with that part of the day, but it certainly made a difference to the bride's state of mind...

Russ.