Advice for Wedding Opportunity

[detkhedrick]

Tomorrow I have the opportunity to take photos at my daughters wedding reception. There will be a paid photographer there so any photos I take are just for practice. I read an article about shooting in auto mode until I am more familiar with the other modes and this is what Im thinking. My goal is to present my daughter a CD of the photos I take and hear, "wow, and we paid someone to take photos?"..............Any suggestions or tips?

Thanks

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by detkhedrick

Tomorrow I have the opportunity to take photos at my daughters wedding reception. There will be a paid photographer there so any photos I take are just for practice. I read an article about shooting in auto mode until I am more familiar with the other modes and this is what Im thinking. My goal is to present my daughter a CD of the photos I take and hear, "wow, and we paid someone to take photos?"..............Any suggestions or tips?

Thanks

if your daughter hired a professional wedding photographer (assuming one that knows what they're doing) don't expect your photos with your lack of experience to surpass the pro..so, I wouldn't count on too many "wows" as you put it. Figure on getting lucky on a few. My best advice from someone who has shot some weddings is twofold:
1) stay out of the pro's way when they're setting up their shots..this is what they have been paid to do. There is nothing more distracting to the photographer when shooting all the required shots when there are a dozen people behind you trying to grab the same shot, and the subjects are looking all over the place instead of at the photographer.
2) Have fun, eat, drink, and enjoy the day. Put your camera and flash on auto and take lots of pictures

[zona5101]

What Vince said with special emphasis on #2 - shit man enjoy the day watching and being your daughter and family- screw your camera - thats what the hired photographer is for.

[Smallfish]

OK, I have some experience of this. I went to my brothers wedding last year keen to have a bit of fun with my new camera and hopefully to be able to present him with some alternate non-pro photos.

Firstly I made sure I kept out of the photographers way, they paid good money for him to do a job. I took pictures of people where the photographer was not (for example I got some lovely ones of the bride and groom exiting the car at the reception - pictures no one else took). I kept in all in auto since I was not good enough to think quickly about what settings I needed. I took loads of candid pictures etc but never let it get in the way of me enjoying the wedding (as the later photos proved...hic).

At the end I did end up with a n OK collection of pictures that I gave to them on a CD much to their surprize. I got a lovely response and they sweetly said it was like having a second photographer. In fact it turns out they were rather disapointed with the pro so were pleased to have a second lot of pics. They visited this year and my brother saw one of the pictures of his daugther I'd taken at the wedding and said "I love that picture, how did you get it? better than anything that bleeping guy we had took" Which is a shame, I suspect that his disapointment in the other guys photos he was "bigging" mine up as a comparison. Not that I was not proud of some of the pictures but they were not pro level.

Anyway so what did I learn.

1) Stay out of the pro's way. He/she's the pro, they'll probably be damn good at the job and if they are not you don't want to be the excuse for messing up.

2) Unless you're fully conversant with the camera shoot in auto (and RAW it'll help recover some of your mistakes).

3) Don't say your doing it. That way if you get some nice pics it'll be a nice surprize for your daughter and if you get a load of rubbish you can just chalk it up to experience, you'd have learned something, and no ones the wiser.

4) Go where the pro is not. Get those shots that he/she can't get because they are not there. That way even if they're not upto the pro's standard, which if he/she's any good they should'nt be, it wont matter.

5) Take loads of pictures, photograph everyone, take the candid shots.

I learnt loads on the day, made loads of mistakes and that my camera really was not good in low light. From the images I got I now have a much better idea of what worked and what didn't. The biggest things that came out of it for me was the experience, that I can actually take an OK picture (I know monkeys and Shakespear) and that I needed a better camera . More importantly there were actually some OK photo's for the bride and groom to keep that were unique memories of the day.

[autofocus]

I like to add a few more things how the stress levels during a wedding can be quantified (in stress order):
#1 - The photographer(s) If the total wedding lasts 5 hours start to finish, the photographer will probably clock 7 hours with all the before, getting ready shots, over and above the 5 hour gig. They're constantly concerned about lighting, exposures, and not missing key/required shots. They're also responsible with gathering all the groups and coordinating and orchestrating the shots. The officiant doesn't allow flash during the service and you're now sweating out bad lighting and F/2.8 isn't hacking it too well. They mostly wolf down a cold meal if they're lucky, and maybe have a soda or two throughout that entire day
#2 - The caterers also many hours of work, but once their food is cooked and served, their stress drops off dramatically
#3 - The bride and groom maybe 30 minutes of stress during the actual service, and spend the rest of the 4 1/2 hours drinking, getting gifts, and having fun
#4 - Mom and Dad of bride and groom had stress level their entire life raising these kids, and for the sake of their kids they also sweat out the 30 minutes of the actual service...after that, their stress level is over
#5 - The DJ about 10 minutes as they get through their fear of public speaking while introducing the B&G, and the wedding party, etc. and duh, anyone can play music CD's

Now the bride and groom go on their honeymoon and do legally what they've probably been doing prior to marriage, and the photographer goes home and starts editing 1200-1500 photographs

[camaddictus]

First thing I always do at a family wedding when I have my camera is introduce myself to the "hired gun". I do a good job at staying out of their way, and ask them if I do get in the way to let me know. I've made a number of good friends in the business this way, and have got some great advice from the pros. Every photographer I have worked with I have learned something from. Take advantage of that.

Second thing I do is stay off to the side (or out of the way). I have gotten some beautiful shots while the main photographer is setting up a shot, or has the attention of the couple. Look around, shoot things that aren't the main attention. At one wedding I did, the best picture didn't come from me, but from a friend of mine who wanted the experience, so he tagged along. While I was shooting the bride and groom, he got a beautiful picture of one of the little flower girls playing with her basket.

Most importantly, just like everybody else has said... enjoy the day.

[zona5101]

I'd like to reiterate the fact that this poster is the brides dad. Not neighbor, cousin, friend...the dad. Forget the camera, leave it in the car - enjoy the most important day of your daughters life and be there for her.

[Smallfish]

Originally Posted by zona5101

I'd like to reiterate the fact that this poster is the brides dad. Not neighbor, cousin, friend...the dad. Forget the camera, leave it in the car - enjoy the most important day of your daughters life and be there for her.

My wife's dad was a very keen photographer in his day. His antics with the camera at our wedding is still a source of embaressment to this day. At times he was lying on the floor, climbing trees, trying to tell our photographer what to do. I think my wife chastised him more on our wedding day than she would have an errant child. Thing was he had a sort of anti-talent. He could take vast quantities of images and not get a single decent shot.

Thankfully our photographer was damn good (as proved by costing me a fortune as my wife could not decide which pictures to bin so she bought the lot).

I'm not saying don't take the camera, as I'd be being a hypocrite as I take mine to my daughters , just take on board the advice here and don't allow it to be the "thing" you do on the day. She'll want her dad there not another photographer.

Good luck, I hope it's a great day and you get some fantastic pictures.

[candidrachel]

I agree with the others by all means take some photos as they will be a gift from Dad to Daughter but just enjoy the day. I know you want to make your daughters wedding day special by capturing the memories but perhaps hang back a bit and just capture candid moments as they arise. They will be very memorable to your daugher as well as the more "professional" photos.

That's if they pro doens't end up like what my sis paid for and had no photos at all - he had problems in his dark room and I saved the day

[Eileen D]

My son was married last year and while I took my camera with me and used it in the limo on the way to the church to get a few wonderful photos of my beautiful about-to-be daughter-in-law, I decided to leave it in the car so that I could be fully present for every moment of that incredible day. I know that while I love using my camera, it does change the way I experience an event and I wanted to be able to totally enjoy myself without thinking about what the next shot might be or checking the histogram for exposure details. It was a day of pure joy and I had no regrets that I left the photography work to the two professionals they had hired!