shooting friends wedding as a gift... help:0(

positivenote

hi guys,
a friend put me on the spot and asked me top shoot their wedding in dec. They werent gonna get a photographer at all, it'll be a small affair, but iv e only got my 30d and a 18-55 lens that only stretches as far as f3.5 and only has an 'on board' flash...
will this be good enough to get some nice shots for them?

Thanks in advance

smelltheglove

On experience from my own wedding photos and shooting a few weddings I wouldnt think it would give the shots you 'thought' you took. Bounce flash makes a huge difference and your 3.5 I take it is like mine, 3.5 when wide open otherwise 5.6, it is quite dark and hard to get those shots, I've managed with mine but at a struggle. Would you consider renting a camera? Or if not, try get a second hand flash cheap maybe so you can use bounce.

I was at a wedding yesterday as a guest and if you want to see the difference you can pm me your number and I can send you 2 shots bounce and direct, guest type shots only but you'll see the difference and it might help you decide.

positivenote

thanks for the reply. I've never used a flash (shocking i know) and am fairly ignorant when it comes to using one. I was going to just pump the iso up to 1600 and lock the app at 3.5 and see how i got on. I know the images are going to be firce grainy, but ive used these settings at gigs in dark venues and it been 'satisfactory'...

smelltheglove

I need a new camera mine cant even be satisfactory at 400. My december wedding was mainly direct flash not too bad but I wore a dark cream / champagne dress, if the dress is white though it is a little harder especially if there is a sheen, you want to get some of the detail in and that is where bounce helps hugely.

Like I said I can show you a few. Another idea is to diffuse, you obviously can't get a diffuser for a pop uo flash but you could try using 2 things as a diy.

1) cheap toilet roll, take 1 piece, single piece and cover the flash with it, you will get a softer effect, less shadow, if you think you can go with 2 sheets try.

2) masking tape, a bit thicker still but neater, a little piece over the flash same effect.

5uspect

Well you have a few months to prepare. I proper flash will help significantly. A fast lens also but I'd say the flash is more important. You can work with a dark background in PP. Perhaps brighten it up and blur slightly to eliminate noise.

A decent flash like the 580ex should set you back around €300. If your friend doesn't want to pay for a photographer but would like you to do it for free maybe he can help you out with some of the cost.

You could also borrow/rent a flash but you won't be familiar with it on the day.
Kerso has good prices here:
http://cgi.ebay.ie/BRAND-NEW-CANON-580EX-MK-II-IN-SCOTLAND_W0QQitemZ160280960539QQihZ006QQcategoryZ48515QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

Making a good homemade diffuser for the flash to make the most of the 18-55 should see you through.

Someone posted a link to an official EOS flash bible in the FAQ recently. Have a read of that.

Ricky91t

Maybe a 430ex might be better,if you feel you'll get alot of use out of s flash then spend the extra €100 and get the 580 but as you said you have shot gigs at iso 1600 it sounds like you shoot quiet a few(?) so a flash for those would be no good!

anthony4335

Recently did a wedding for a friend as well. I was not used to indoor shooting, mainly do outdoor, sports. So this was pretty new. I did however have a flash, this is essential ,the couple of things I can think of are, first find a place to take the pictures, have a wet and dry day options. Think out what shots you want, and write them down so you don't forget on the day. For the church be bold, make sure you talk with the priest first, but get in the correct position for the shots that you will need, such as the lighting of the candle and exchanging of the rings. The 3.5 lens will do , but you might want to use manual mode, open up to 3.5 and for indoor you can set the speed to 1/20 , this gives nice results, if it is the dance raise that to 1/30 at least. The reason I am saying this is that I would never have used manual mode until a photographer showed me the diff, between this and either of the other modes for this type of photography and it is great but seeing as you shoot gigs you might already do this .

Ricky91t

I think when using the f/3.5 aperture its only available at 18mm.Which will mean when you are getting just the bride and groom,the frame will have alot of empty background space as you dont want to get too clos to them,maybe borrowing/buying a 50mm f/1.8 will give you nice sharp pics and you can keep out the way of the priest

5uspect

Good point about the 430. I only mentioned the 580 as it was all Ian had on this ebay store! :pac:

The 50mm f1.8 could be limiting unless you have the foot space to get a shot in.
Would give lovely protraits tho.

DeVore

50mm f1.8 for portraits alright, I've only used it once but I loved it. Be careful though, you dont seem to have a great deal of experience and moving away from the kit lens is like taking off stabilisers on a bike as a kid!

On the experience front, you have plenty of time to become a photo ninja master but you need to work on it. The only way to do that (I've found, as a beginner too!) is to shoot photos. Get out and get snapping.

In the end, while a pro will do a better job every time, if they werent going to have a photographer and they are asking a favour of you, I dont think they can really complain!!

DeV.

mathias

Heres a standard checklist for formal shots , it may help ,

http://www.frugalbride.com/photochecklist.html

The ones where your likely to have trouble are the Ceremony shots , a 50mm 1.8 can do well here as most of those type of shots are portrait type shots.
Its the low light thats the issue , and a wide aperture fast lens is pretty much essential for those.

If you can , get a friend to go with you to the church when its quiet and practice taking some shots with your gear.

positivenote

thanks for all the advice guys. I only have a 30d and 18-55mm lens as mentioned, so that will have to do for them. i wont be in the church untill the day of the weddingso it'll be difficult to practice,. Im gonna say it to the bride before hand that its difficult to shoot in these conditions and she would be better hiring a pro, but if she still wants me to shoot it i will, but she shouldn't expect miracles ....

smelltheglove

Hey positive, if you are uncomfortable doing it then maybe let her know this but they may have asked you as they cannot afford to hire a pro. My friend was married on Thursday and their pro was amazing with me, even though I have now done 3 weddings he talked me through what he was doing, I didnt even ask him to, and he showed me his equipemtn etc and gave me his card to contact for any information I may need at all.

The only thing was, I couldnt take any of the shots. When he had them posed I just felt like I was stealing his shot and I couldnt do it. It was quite posed to so wouldnt capture my eye.

He did have a 'helper' with him, a friend of his that was retired that goes along and helps him out, this way he was getting the same shots from different angles. You could possibly do this, I'm thinking about bringing a friend along with me also when I get my second camera, it's an extra hand to sort out the groups, back up for missed shots, and more confidence for yourself. Where are you based? You may be lucky enough to contact a photographer that will allow you to tag along to a wedding for experience beforehand. It sounds harder than it is in my opinion.

ttcomet

Have you considered maybe getting together with 5-10 of the other guests and all chipping in for a professional? And this could be all your presents to them.
You might be able to get one of the people form here for 1K to just shoot the church and the formals and deliver to you a cd of the images. You could then do all the PP and printing for them.

Another option I have seen done at a wedding is to give every guest a prepaid disposable film camera and let them all take shots (they sell these packs in tesco). The bride and groom were really delighted with all the different images they got back from this.

ThOnda

Shooting your friends at their wedding? As a gift? They are Soprano family or what?

Sorry, I had to type that.

5uspect

ttcomet wrote: »

Another option I have seen done at a wedding is to give every guest a prepaid disposable film camera and let them all take shots (they sell these packs in tesco). The bride and groom were really delighted with all the different images they got back from this.

Didn't they do that in Friends?

mikeanywhere

positivenote wrote: »

I know the images are going to be firce grainy, but ive used these settings at gigs in dark venues and it been 'satisfactory'...

It aint a gig so may not necessary be right for the couples images

mikeanywhere

smelltheglove wrote: »

The only thing was, I couldnt take any of the shots. When he had them posed I just felt like I was stealing his shot and I couldnt do it. It was quite posed to so wouldnt capture my eye

Well done for not doing this (I am being genuine btw) as I hate it when you have the "Uncle Joe/Bob" etc there trying to outdo you or get in the way

mathias

Another option I have seen done at a wedding is to give every guest a prepaid disposable film camera and let them all take shots (they sell these packs in tesco). The bride and groom were really delighted with all the different images they got back from this.

Thats very common these days and there are packs available which include pre-paid envelopes and development costs.
Argos do one .....

However , a few weddings I was at this backfired , at one in particular , the older guests got the wrong end or the stick and thought they were gifts , they brought them home and kept them.
The Younger guys ... well drink and high jinks led to a lot of photos of bare backsides !!

smelltheglove

mikeanywhere wrote: »

Well done for not doing this (I am being genuine btw) as I hate it when you have the "Uncle Joe/Bob" etc there trying to outdo you or get in the way

I've seen photographers get irritated by this, and as said before I've seen my shots being used by another photographer but this guy actually wanted me to take his shots. I was quite shocked, but I wasn't feeling the style and I need to feel it to want to do it, otherwise as far as I'm concerned it would just have been a snap shot. It felt wierd though.

The reason I'm asking op where he is though is that if he was in the locality of this particular photographer he may want to request to shadow him one day as this guy was so lovely and really wanted to help me out in any way he could.

darraghsherwin

I shoot a friends wedding last year as a gift.
It's good fun to do it but very stressful. I felt it was good to be that intimate following my friends all day on their wedding day but I felt I didn't get to really celebrate their wedding.
You really need to plan everything, scout your locations, go to the rehearsals if possible to get a good idea of the surroundings, etc. The rehearsals will also give you a good idea of who is who and remember to get a list of all the family members that need to shoot with the couple.
As the photographer, you will find that you'll be running most of day and alot of people will be looking to you for what to do next. So may sure to do a few fun shots to relax everybody.
I think it was one of the best things I did on the day was to get everybody outside the church to all group together and get them to wave their hands in the air.
On the equipment front, from my experience, I would hire a Canon 24-70 f/2.8L and a 580EX flash from the likes of Conns Cameras or DML for the day.
Get a Sto-Fen Omni-Bounce or similar to soft the flash light so it isn't so harsh.
This will be enough to cover you for the day and should cost about €150 for the rental.

Darragh

elmer

I recently did my first wedding as the main photographer. I'd recommend getting a hold of any wedding albums you can and see what you like from them. I also did it as a favour and wouldn't do it commerically due to the effort involved.

Definately get an external flash and a 50mm prime lense would be a great idea but you'll need to practice a little with them beforehand.

Scout the venue of the ceremony. A dark church will make things alot more difficult.

A monopod for the venue/church is a great idea especially if you'll be using your stock lens. I had a tripod and didn't really use it due to its size and found some camera shake which meant binning a good few shots that initially look ok at a glance on the lcd.

If at all possible get a loan of a backup camera or at the very least have a look around as you're coming in see if anyone has a decent camera you can nab in an emergency. Even keep a compact handy in case of the worst.

Oh and have plenty of memory cards that you've formated beforehand

If it's a small wedding and you've made your concerns clear then they are probably only looking for a couple of shots. You could always ask the bride to get everyone to email you their photos - you can't turn down the bride on her wedding day