'The' Wedding Photography - Low key

[C.J]

The wife's friend is getting married this weekend, it's very low key, 30 people top (parents/Grand parents/siblings/few friends).

It was only arranged last weekend, they've given themselves 7 days to sort it. It's being tagged onto their 2 children's christening in the local church.

They don't want a photographer, cars, gifts, formal invites etc. The wife (how thoughtful of her), offered me to take a few pictures on the day (otherwise they will have no memories to look back on), which means I'm 'the' photographer, but not in a professional/paid for way.

I'm there as a guest, so it's a shame I've suddenly got a responsibility for the day, kind of.

Any advice? I'm a total novice, and I'm only taking photos as no one else will be there to.

Cannon 500D
Canon 50mm 1.8
Sigma 17-50
Tripod
remote

Here's my Flickr, for an idea of my level: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vcjv/

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

I was sort of tasked last year to get some photo's at a friends wedding as the photographers "other" had let her down last minute. I only shot from the back of the church though, and a few candid's throughout the day.

I personally wouldn't bother with a tripod (Although, if you want a group shot with you in it could be handy)

I only had my 55-250 & 50mm 1.8 at the time on a 30d. No external flash in a very dark church meant shooting at a high ISO with pretty bad IQ as a result (although when changed to B&W, some of them looked really good IMO). I would personally want a longer lens though but just make do with what you have if you can't get anything sorted in the short time between now and the wedding.

Try not to put too much pressure on yourself though. Enjoy the day, try not to get in peoples way. I've been to some weddings where the photographer has ruined the day by pushing people out of the way, being rude and basically making it all about him.

Hopefully someone else who has had better experience with weddings will be in to offer some better advice.

Good luck with it though.

 

[Wick]

Out of your selection opt for the 50 1.8 indoors, it will perform best in low light but will restrict you to shooting only the two of them as it's not very wide on a crop body.

If you don't have a flash gun, the on camera flash will get used heavily, so worth taking a charger if you intend on shooting a reception later.

Try and get some photos outside as well. Naturally lit stuff will always look better than indoor stuff if your lens selection isn't extensive. Churches are usually beautiful outside, nice grounds etc... so hope for good weather lol!

The wide lens will make a great group shot at 17mm. Try and get above the group if you can to a higher vantage point.

Don't be scared to ask people to move. Take responsibility for where people stand.

Look through flickr for some cliche wedding photos, there are some fail safe angles/shots that they'll love.

 

[C.J]

Thanks for the advice. The 'reception' is purely a meal at the local village pub. No speeches so I shouldn't need to use it there.

I only have the body flash, and I very rarely use it.

Would you advise I use it in every shot? Inside and out?

 

[Wick]

In my experience it all depends on the lighting. Don't underestimate the flash outside for removing shadows, but bare in mind the body flash is quite weak in power, but still direct (i.e. it can't be angled or bounced) making it look a tad harsh sometimes.

Inside you may find it is essential depending on the church, however it also has a limited range.

 

[Derelict-UK]

If your camera can handle high ISO's, don't over use flash, if anything, the person conducting the ceremony will ask you NOT to use flash as it puts people off and if you are standing at the front with the couple, you don't want to be blinding everyone.

I would say ONLY use your flash for fill-in. Depending on where the reception is, then flash is okay for that, but make sure if you have used a high ISO for the ceremony, you reduce it if your using flash, as you could blow out your images.

Is the 17-50mm a F2.8 lens? if so, it would be fine to use for the ceremony and is often the chosen focal length for such occasions. As you are not using a full frame camera and the 500D has a 1.6x sensor crop factor, a 50mm lens is the 35mm equivalent of 81mm which in my mind is very close, for this situation. It's okay for close-ups, but not to capture the whole ceremony. If I was you I would stick with the 17-50mm.

After the ceremony you need to get the group photos, fortunately you only have 30 people to deal with which means things should go smoothly, especially as you are likely to know most, of them.

If you are taking a tripod, and as you know the couple, set up a shot with the whole group in and put the timer on 10 seconds, now you can get in one of the images too so the couple can remember you were there and not just hidden behind a camera!

With group shots, if you are fortunate to have a sunny day, don't place people facing towards the sun, people often think it is best to light people up, but if you can use fill-flash light instead, then you will have more open eyes and less people squinting to see past the blinding sun.

Put your camera on continuous mode, fire off a few each time as someone is likely to blink and one out of 3 per second (your camera does 3.5 frames per second) is likely to get everyone at their best.

If someone isn't playing ball and messing with their phone, or talking (they might not have seen each other for a while), you need to put your foot down and tell them that they can either smile at the camera or step out of the photo, you appreciate people want to talk, but all you need is a couple of minutes and they can get back to whatever they were doing before. Don't shout at them, but maybe raise your voice.

Don't forget to take some pictures of the wedding couple away from the crowd, if the church has nice grounds then there should be some areas away from tombstones that you can capture. If you live close to the church, maybe visit it the day before to get your bearings.

I think I might have gone on a bit too much now.

Oh and have fun and keep smiling!!

 

[Wick]

If your camera can handle high ISO's, don't over use flash, if anything, the person conducting the ceremony will ask you NOT to use flash as it puts people off and if you are standing at the front with the couple, you don't want to be blinding everyone.

Good point. I really struggled with my 450d inside with no flash though Low light/high iso performance is quite bad on the XXXD range.

Is the 17-50mm a F2.8 lens?

Didn't even consider that. Even better point!!

 

[C.J]

Awesome advice there, I really appreciate it.

Yes, the 17-50 is a 2.8.

I'm less than 10 miles from it, so popping there tomorrow to have an idea. There isn't officially a 'reception' after the wedding, just a local pub lunch, so I should only need to use the camera for an hour or so.

 

[Derelict-UK]

Still take pics at the pub lunch, but yeah don't go overboard.

Oh and try and get some pictures of her arriving by car to the church and with her dad or whoever is giving her away as these are also very important shots.

Something you might overlook, but make sure all batteries are charges, if you have a spare one, take it with you. Also, make sure your camera is not on a previous setting such as Vivid, this will ruin most of your work! Neutral or Standard should be fine.

 

[DB.]

Yeah I agree with the above, few photo's at the pub lunch would go down nicely!

 

[C.J]

Thanks for the advice. The day went well.

These are 4 random images I took, these are straight from the camera (I'm yet to mess with any), and don't reflect every photo taken.

I appreciate they are not professional, or mind blowing, but that's all I have to work with. I wasn't there instead of a photographer, I was there instead of nothing.

What I'd like, is advice on PP. I'm thinking of going B&W, keep it simple, timeless, and leaves less room for errors.

IMG_6432 by vCJv, on Flickr

IMG_6815 by vCJv, on Flickr

IMG_6744 by vCJv, on Flickr

IMG_6727 by vCJv, on Flickr




​Thanks gents.

 

[riz]

I would probably try and remove the gravestone from the Dads arm.

 

[DB.]

Edit - Nevermind.

 

[C.J]

Edit - Nevermind.

I'm intrigued.

 

[DB.]

I wondered what gravestone he meant on his arm, and was literally looking on his arm, thinking it could have meant a tattoo or similar. I went full r****d for a minute or two.

 

[C.J]

I wondered what gravestone he meant on his arm, and was literally looking on his arm, thinking it could have meant a tattoo or similar. I went full r****d for a minute or two.

Ah, I assumed it was an extremely harsh criticism that you retracted

 

[Brazo]

The compositions are all nice apart from pic3 which looks like a quick phone snap. Would have been nicer with less depth of field, I.e blurrier backgrounds.

 

[Ben10]

I completely disagree, I think number 3 is a nice natural shot, okay, the background isnt the best but you can sort that out PP