Wedding-photography tips - Share yours

[Sheiky]

Hey people,


I have to shoot my first wedding in a week(30 sept). So I looked around here for some advice, but most of it is about gear and that part I've got covered.


I'm just wondering into general tips and I know that there are some more experienced photographers out here. What shots can't I miss? Where do I look at? What are the rules? And other tips.


Here are some that I know for now. I will edit this list with more tips from you guys, so more people can take advantage of them.

1. Bring a photo checklist. Search[url="http://lmgtfy.com/?q=wedding+photo+checklist]Google[/url]for some ideas
2. Make sure everything is clear for both parties. Have a contract. Communicate with the wedding-coordinator or official.
3. Don't shoot it alone, have a second photographer.
4. Have a back-up camera in case something goes wrong.
5. Make sure batteries of camera and flashes are full and memory-cards are empty. Take the charger with you, just in case.
6. Try to get an assistant. Someone who can hold things temporarily and makes sure that things like wedding-dresses are properly aligned and disturbing background features are removed.
7. Make sure you get the entire dress in the frame
8. Many churches don't allow flash. Make sure you're able to shoot in low-light conditions at f2.8 and lower.
9. Take charge and be confident. You are the primary photographer. Don't let people into your way, but be polite.
10. Capture as much fine detail as possible. Take many close-ups. Macro the rings and the flowers. Capture what the B&G paid extra for(limo, flowers, table settings, favors, etc.)
11. Make sure white-balance is accurate. A white dress should look white in your shots.
12. Capture emotion (crying, laughing). Capture children. Have your camera on standby and be ready to shoot spontaneous shots.
13. White dress and black tux is high contrast. Look at your cameras custom functions to average out exposure if possible. Otherwise tux's look all black with no detail or dress looks all white with no detail.
14. Shoot large groups first making your way down to the B&G last. That way everyone else can go and be out of your way and by that time the B&G should be putty in your hands.
15. If you're going to make an album: make sure that when they look back at this photo album, many years from now, that they will have their wedding documented from start to finish
16. Shoot in RAW.<span> An overexposed image of just the right moment is better than loosing that moment all together. If you shoot in RAW you'll be able to recover much more detail whether it be over or under exposed.
17. If your camera is capable: don't be afraid to bump the ISO. <span>Motion blur kills an image faster than high ISO noise ever will.
18. <span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]<span>Don't expect everything to go to plan. Sometimes you have to improvise. KNOW your gear! Be able to make changes on the fly.
19. <span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]<span>Stop down. If you're shooting a group of people stop down. I'll often shoot at around f/8 for a group. When it's just the bride or the bride and groom you can open it up but often times the surroundings are beautiful and you won't necessarily blur everything. Context is good. They paid a lot of money to have their event, help them remember it the way it was.
20. <span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]<span>Carry an extra card or two in your pocket.You don't want to run out of space and miss a shot so always monitor the shot count on your LCD.
21. <span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]Always pay attention to the background.
22. <span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]Scout the place where you're going to take photos. See what places work and which places are a waste of time. Try to scout at a time which is representative to the shooting day. Think about the angle of the sun and lighting directions.
23. <span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]Make sure there is a back-up indoor location if the weather suddenly breaks down on you.
24. <span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]Look out for intimate moments between people. Moments they don't think you're watching and shooting. Think about special moments between the couple or close relatives.
25. <span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]Bring some food that can be eaten quickly.
26. <span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]Enjoy the day. It will be more stressful than you can imagine right now.

Thanks,


Jan

[neuroanatomist]

Hey, Jan...have you tried THIS? [:P] Good luck with the wedding!

[Sheiky]

Haha no I didn't actually. But that is part of what I'm looking for, but also not entirely what I'm looking for.


The whole wedding-day looks somewhat different where I live and traditions are also different. So I'm not really looking for a list of what people need their picture taken.


I'm more or less looking at more practical tips I guess.


Like white-balance and how do you apply it during such a day. What angles are pleasing? How do you cope with storage?


The number 2 was important to me, since my sister has no pictures of her in her dress where the entire dress is shown and she mentions that it's a big deal!


Hope this makes my question a bit clearer?[:P] And thanks []

[Tom Wertman]

Jan,


Be prepared and have a signed contract.


Don't shoot it alone.


Both shooters need two of everything for back up in case something stops working.


If possible, the second shooter should be a female to go where you can't.


Many churches do not allow flash during ceremony so be ready to shoot in very poor lighting conditions at f/2.8 or lower.


Talk with wedding coordinator or officiate to get the rules.


Have a list of must get photos handy.


Be polite and courteous to everyone else with a camera when reminding them you are the hired photographer and you shoot first. Everyone else must wait for your flash to fire for staged shots after ceremony.


Capture as much fine detail as possible. Take many close ups. Macro the rings and flowers. Capture what the B&amp;G paid extra for (limo, flowers, table settings, favors, etc.)


Capture emotion (crying, laughing). Capture children.


WB is key. White dress and black tux is high contrast. Look at your cameras custom functions to average out exposure if possible. Otherwise tux's look all black with no detail or dress looks all white with no detail.


Take charge, don't let anyone know you are nervous.


Shoot large groups first making your way down to the B&amp;G last. That way everyone else can go and be out of your way and by that time the B&amp;G should be putty in your hands.


Enjoy the day. It will be more stressful than you can imagine right now.


Tom

[Sheiky]

Thanks Tom, those are more of the tips I was looking for [Y]


I don't have a contract or something. I'm shooting the wedding of my girlfriends brother. For free, so no problems there.


My brother is a second photographer. I have 2 5D2's and a 450D just in case. I'm not planning on bringing any more.


I cannot shoot inside church for some reason, but that's ok. The official ceremony is somewhere else.

Capture as much fine detail as possible. Take many close ups. Macro the rings and flowers. Capture what the B&amp;G paid extra for (limo, flowers, table settings, favors, etc.)

Good one.

Enjoy the day. It will be more stressful than you can imagine right now.

The best one [] It also shows in the shots if you enjoy yourself during the day, so I'll try to do that [A]


Thanks again and I will update my list!

[Mark Elberson]

<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: #000000;"]<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"]White Balance: Don't use AWB! Pick a setting that's close to what you're shooting and keep it there. AWB will shift with the light but if you keep the camera set to daylight you can change the white balance globally in post. Get as close as you can in camera though. In a church I'll set the camera to Kelvin and tweak it until the histogram and display looks good. You could set a custom WB but here's the rub, weddings move QUICKLY. You need to be able to react and not have to fiddle with your camera.<o></o>


<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: #000000;"]<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"]Shoot in RAW! With wedding photography the emotion capturedis much more important than technical aspects of the image. An overexposed image of just the right moment is better than loosing that moment all together. If you shoot in RAW you'll be able to recover much more detail whether it be over or under exposed. That being said, get as close as you can in camera.<o></o>


<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: #000000;"]<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"]Your 5D II rocks so bump that ISO. Motion blur kills an image faster than high ISO noise ever will. Do not be afraid of 1600 and even 3200 if necessary. Don't let those shutter speeds fall too low.<o></o>


<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: #000000;"]<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"]Don't expect everything to go to plan. Sometimes you have to improvise. KNOW your gear! Be able to make changes on the fly. You'll go from ISO 1600 and WB of 2800K to ISO 100 WB 6500K in a heartbeat when leaving the church to the bright outdoors. Be ready for it.<o></o>


<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: #000000;"]<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"]Stop down. If you're shooting a group of people stop down. I'll often shoot at around f/8 for a group. When it's just the bride or the bride and groom you can open it up but often times the surroundings are beautiful and you won't necessarily blur everything. Context is good. They paid a lot of money to have their event, help them remember it the way it was.<o></o>


<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: #000000;"]<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"]Don't become complacent. Weddings are all action or all waiting around doing nothing. Be ready to jump when the action kicks back up.<o></o>


<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: #000000;"]<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"]Carry an extra card or two in your pocket. I put mine in my Black Rapid strap. You don't want to run out of space and miss a shot so always monitor the shot count on your LCD.<o></o>


<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: #000000;"]<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"]Be confident. You have to be. You are a great photographer so do what you do!<o></o>
<p class="MsoNormal"]<span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New';"]<o><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"]Care...if you care about creating great images you will. Don't just go through the motions.</o>
<p class="MsoNormal"]<span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New';"]<o><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"]Take control. You know what good light is and what's not. You know what will look good in the background. Everyone will have an idea of what a great shot will be. If familiy members ask, ALWAYS do it, but then suggest that you do whatever your idea was too.</o>
<p class="MsoNormal"]<span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New';"]<o><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"]Don't be afraid. Ask people to move. Ask them to take their hand out of their pocket. People often have no idea that they have a nervous tick or that they are clenching their fist. Let them know and get the picture.</o>

[Kayaker72]

Youknow I am a complete amateur, but my wife's Uncle is a professional photographer.He shot our wedding and one thing I remember him talking about as he moved us around was to always pay attention to the background.Apparently it is really easy to get caught up in the moment and not notice that it looks like a tree is coming right out of the brides head. []


Anyways, he took the time to scout our wedding location and pre-select where our formal pictures would be taken, in part, because we wanted a good background.


Good luck.

[Richard Lane]

Hey Jan,


I would also add to your list:


Arriving at the venue, getting out of the Limousine?


Shots of the ceremony venue before it starts, shots of the hall before it starts. I also like shots of the outside front of the church and/or catering hall, including any signs that have the name of the hall on it.


The flower setup.


Father/Bride walking down the aisle, lifting the veil, bride being passed off to the groom.


The first dance, B&amp;G, and then with Parents.


The first toast.


The Cake before it's cut, and then Cutting and Feeding each other the wedding cake.


Removing the Garter belt, bride throwing the bouquet, groom throwing the garter belt (I'm not sure if that is an American custom only).


Shots of the Band.


It's good to find out who is in charge; host, hostess, wedding planner, band or DJ, so that you could stay one step ahead of the action.


Basically, you want to make sure that when they look back at this photo album, many years from now, that they will have their wedding documented from start to finish.


No pressure here!


Good Luck,


Rich

[Sheiky]

Alright, here comes the update as promised. I will edit the list while reading everything and replying.


Richard thanks for the tips you gave. However it shows how different traditions are, since there is more than 1 of the photomoments you mentioned which doesn't happen where I live. I did use the list though.

Basically, you want to make sure that when they look back at this photo album, many years from now, that they will have their wedding documented from start to finish.


No pressure here!

That's a good one and it is exactly the way me and brother shot the wedding. Journalist style. Capturing the entire day.

<span style="COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 9pt"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]White Balance: Don't use AWB!

Since I wasn't too comfortable with manual white-balance. I used manual white-balance (presets) for the indoor shots and auto for the outdoors stuff using a grey card as reference in post processing. By the way, thanks for the great tips!

<span style="COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 9pt"]<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"]Your 5D II rocks so bump that ISO. Motion blur kills an image faster than high ISO noise ever will. Do not be afraid of 1600 and even 3200 if necessary. Don't let those shutter speeds fall too low.

I used ISO 1600 max. That's about where I want to go. I must say that when I see the photo's... I'm quite impressed by the high-ISO performance [] And also for shots where you're sure you're not going to makereally big prints of...high iso isn't a problem. I must admit that even with my 5D I'm still anxious to bump the ISO. I must also say that with a flash ISO 1600 is not nearly as bad as with ambient light for some reason.


Great tips Mark, they are added to the list [Y]

Apparently it is really easy to get caught up in the moment and not notice that it looks like a tree is coming right out of the brides head. [img]/emoticons/emotion-1.gif[/img]


Anyways, he took the time to scout our wedding location and pre-select where our formal pictures would be taken, in part, because we wanted a good background.

Thanks for the advice! I actually scouted the place a week before the wedding at approximately the same time so I could see the lighting conditions. Angle of the sun etc. Great tip!


Ps: I know for sure you're not a complete amateur []

Definitely get photos of the obvious that every wedding photographer shouldcapture but stay aware of the not so obvious

Thanks for the advice Denise! Also thanks for the kind words [:$]

Bring some food that can be eaten quickly.
<div style="CLEAR: both"]</div>

A simple, but very good tip! Thanks Nate. In the rush we sometimes forget the simple things like having to eat occasionally [] Good one [Y]


Again, thank you all for submissing all your great tips. I hope I edited the list correctly and I didn't forget something. If so please ring a bell [] Also new tips are still welcome for others to enjoy later on [Y]

[Sheiky]

Alright...now the best part:


As you might have noticed I replied somewhat later than I wanted to. To be honest I was very very busy the last few days before the wedding. Last minute updates and checks.


I now have had the wedding and I must say I enjoyed it to the fullest! It was a great wedding. Pictures and a more thoroughly story will follow when I have sorted everything []


There are a few things that I encountered that day.

1. Even though I had a list and good advice thanks to you guys. We missed some shots in the rush. No big deal, we have the most important ones, but still. You can prepare that good, but still forget things etc.
2. Flash gels worked amazing! Best purchase I made so far! Truly they helped a lot. In the morning when I had to shoot the bride getting ready in the smallest kitchen you can imagine they were very helpful. It might look light in a room, don't be fooled []
3. We had to make thank you cards. So we printed 150 prints at a local camera store. We were in a tight scheme so I called if they could deliver earlier or later that day. They told they could do it earlier so we could be on time at the reception. So far so good, since when we came at the printer they suddenly knew nothing about my call...grrr I was pissed!! I had spoken to the guy like 15 minutes before we got there and it was no big deal if he told me to come later. Anyway I was with my brother and so we were late at the reception. The printer got more trouble and needed to cut etc...it took like 20 minutes longer than planned. Therefor we missed the cutting of the cake which was actually very disappointing to us.
4. Splitting up was a better idea so at least one of us could have been there. However it wasn't possible for us at the time.
5. My legs and back began to hurt halfway the day. My brother went home after dinner so I had to shoot the evening myself and my legs and back didn't really help me with that. My motivation was low... [:P] Luckily my girlfriend was very enthusiastic and since we were indoors I could manually set the camera and flash and my girlfriend shot about 80% of the shots that evening. And they are great!
6. Actually they are very good. I think she has some shots that I as a man never could have made. It might sound stupid, but it is true. For some reason a man with a big camera/lens/flash combo is more frightening than a woman holding it. For the couple this wasn't a problem since I'm close relative, however for some of the guests it turned out to work better. I'm also not the tiniest (6"6/195cm) so that might have been a bad thing as well.

So... if you have the opportunity...a mix of a woman and a man as photographers will probably work the best.


Anyway I will post some pictures later on. Bottom line is that I really enjoyed it and I was nervous, but as far as we are...the couple is very very happy with the results so far. Luckily []


Also having 1 of us shooting with a wide-angle lens and one of us with a tele-zoom was a great idea. One focusses on the close-ups and one on the entire package. A good combination.


Thanks again,


Jan