Wedding advice

[Tanya Kurnik]

I have a Nikon D3100. I will be doing my first wedding photography in July. What are some flashes and lenses I will need that wont break my bank? But will be good. I already have the 18-55 and a 55-200mm (which i cant imagine really needing that one)

[jdepould]

Define "doing my first wedding."

[Crabs]

Originally Posted by Tanya Kurnik

I have a Nikon D3100. I will be doing my first wedding photography in July. What are some flashes and lenses I will need that wont break my bank? But will be good. I already have the 18-55 and a 55-200mm (which i cant imagine really needing that one)

Hi Tanya,

First advice I can give is look at the number of wedding advice posts on this forum, there is heaps of info.

First things first there are going to be a few things that are really going to have a huge effect on what you need and the results you get.
ask your self:
- do the people know that this is your first wedding.
- what sort of shots do the people want
- what time of the day will the shoot be
- what sort of light can you expect to be shooting in.

Those questions are going to have a huge effect on the lens you need. If its going to be low light then you will need a fast lens. If its going to be in close quarters you will need a shallow zoom lens.

You can do a wedding with the lens you have ( I did my first with similar ).

[Tanya Kurnik]

Ive done my mother inlaws wedding photos. But this is my first wedding as a professional. I do lots of photography and they have seen my work. I concidered the lighting. I will be photographing from morning until night. In door and outdoor. I will be going to the venue in a couple weeks to scope out the lighting. Im assuming it will be dark inside towards the evening. thats why I need advise on which kind of flashes i should use. My photographer had some kind of syncro flash that he would sit on the floor and would go off when he took the photo. I want to get one of those but i dont want to buy the wrong one. I just bought this camera and Im upset that theres no wireless remote for it. So I dont want to be buying the wrong things for it. I did find a couple of flashes on amazon. one that im aiming for is Vivitar DF-383 DEDICATED ETTL LCD Flash w/ LCD Display Includes Flash Diffuser For Nikon DSLR. Would this be good for a dark reception hall? and whats a good lens that good for fast shutter in the dark? and anyother advice

[candleman]

Originally Posted by Tanya Kurnik

Ive done my mother inlaws wedding photos. But this is my first wedding as a professional. I do lots of photography and they have seen my work. I concidered the lighting. I will be photographing from morning until night. In door and outdoor. I will be going to the venue in a couple weeks to scope out the lighting. Im assuming it will be dark inside towards the evening. thats why I need advise on which kind of flashes i should use. My photographer had some kind of syncro flash that he would sit on the floor and would go off when he took the photo. I want to get one of those but i dont want to buy the wrong one. I just bought this camera and Im upset that theres no wireless remote for it. So I dont want to be buying the wrong things for it. I did find a couple of flashes on amazon. one that im aiming for is Vivitar DF-383 DEDICATED ETTL LCD Flash w/ LCD Display Includes Flash Diffuser For Nikon DSLR. Would this be good for a dark reception hall? and whats a good lens that good for fast shutter in the dark? and anyother advice

What do you mean by that? ...is this some stranger who has hired you?
Have you got Insurance?
Back-up Camera?

one family members Wedding is not enough to call yourself a Professional...

I know this will all sound harsh.. but its obvious you don't know why you need it, or how to use off camera flash.
Is there a contract??

I'm just saying all this because getting sued isn't unlikely...


AND:
Couple sue wedding photographer - Telegraph


What I'm saying is:
Seriously consider the implications of this.
My own wedding pictures were F*d up by a guy who thought he was the shizzle.. Sure, we didn;t pay him "much" but he said he could do it... If he had bee honest about his abilities we would have gone to someone else.
We only have three of four 4x6" prints on our wall and even they are less then adequite.
He went out of business in less than a year.

[tyasa81]

wrote a long post and decided to scrap it...

#1) do you know different lenses and how to use it? if you do, why ask? you should know your kit lens is horrible at night+indoor without decent or additional lighting
#2) what's your knowledge on flash so far? have you used one before? 2-3 months of practice is cutting it close to decently work with one...

give more info about your experience so far... from your flickr stream, there's too much miss exposures, lots of photoshop gimmicks to get a gauge on your level now...

[Tanya Kurnik]

@ candleman, it is a stranger that has hired me. most of my photography is portraits. Im not new at this just new with wedding pictures. I want to be prepaired and thats why im asking for advice on lenses and flashes. I have to start somewhere. you dont sound harsh, im glad you pointed that stuff out. i will look into insurance and yes i have a back up camera and a partner. They know this is my second wedding and are taking a chance on me. i am confident enough to pull through. i would NEVER take the job if i had any doubts. I am so sorry to hear about your wedding photos. thats awful
@tyasa, i do know differnt lenses and how to use them, im just asking for suggestions and advice. I had really good equipment and lenses for years and had to sell all my stuff for school. but im back and slowly buying stuff. and i for sure know my kit lens is horrible at night...do i ever. like i said, i do portrait photography and landscapes. i use umbrella lighting etc. im not a pro thats for sure. but i do need a little help and advice. and what do you mean theres to much expose and photo shop gimmicks? you can be brutal, i can take it Hey everyone starts at the bottom. im learning...thanks

[scootermcq]

I guess what people are trying to say is, a wedding can present many, many challanges, and there are no mulligans in this game. Your equipment and skills have to be up to the challenge. As you have pointed out, the gear is lacking, but that is nothing that 5 grand or so won't fix. Skill wise, are you up to it? On the point of missed exposures, I am trying to figure out why you chose some of the setting you used. I am referencing one as an example, and this is not to critique you or be mean, I just don't see why you shot some of the settings you did, and makes me think you might not be ready for the "big show"

Untitled | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

In this image you were f/18 @ 1/10 & ISO1600. Why were you at f/18? There was no reason you would need that for DOF (especially with such a wide setting on the lens) and it simply killed you for shutter speed. Not to mention, you are probably starting into diffraction at that small of an aperture. If you did this at the wedding, most of your images would have motion blur.

Wedding photography is fast action, many challenges, changing light, horrible enviroments and never ever optimal. Unless you can go into any situation and comfortably get 80% of your images to be keepers with the equipment you posses, then you really need to think twice about doing so until you have more experience. This is why most of us started as helpers or second shooters before ever trying a solo wedding.

People are going to jump in, and this is going to get tough, so buckle your seat belt. But it is for your own good and the good of the couple getting married that you are getting some tough love.

One suggestion I might have is to see if you can hire an experienced wedding shooter as a "second shooter" so that your odds of having everything go south are drastically reduced.

[scootermcq]

Originally Posted by Tanya Kurnik

Hey everyone starts at the bottom. im learning...thanks

One last point..... we all start at the bottom and are still learning every day. How fair is it to "learn" at someone's wedding?

[tyasa81]

Hi Tanya... we can always suggest an equipment upgrade... but i fear if you have no experience with them then it'll be pointless... if you've experienced the "good" equipment... i'm sure you know one caveat with a wider aperture lens is that they are harder to get focus spot on...

what i meant with photoshop gimmicks is that it looks like you use a lot of selective coloring and your black and white background portraits have a lot of troubling signs... why f 18? and shutter speed so low? even the pictures, babies and such on your pic isn't sharp at all due to subject motion... and your black background have underexposed subject... i just have the impression that you whiten some of the white background in post as the skin is really looks burnt out in most..

i just hope that you showed these to your client... if they understand the risk, and still believe to wish to continue with the photoshoot, then it'll be their choice... because if i'm your client and i see these pictures, i can forsee a lot of unfocused, blurred photos in my wedding pics... you have these in a studio format where you control everything and yet the pics comes out looking blurry... f/18 to make everything sharp only works in landscape and even then movement will always be blurred with as low shutter speed as 1/10...

it sounds terrible but i can't help feeling something is off if your client still want to proceed if they had a close look at your flickr set.. on such an important day as a wedding