A recent student and new friend of mine (Linda) called to ask advice about shooting a wedding. It seems that a friend has asked Linda to shoot the event and since she has never been the one solely responsible for getting it right, Linda contacted me to ask advise. My best advice was given and rejected...RUN!!!!
In light of that refusal I will do my best to share my experience in wedding photography. Here is the situation...Linda will be working alone with one camera and one hot shoe flash. The wedding is indoors so the lighting may be poor to non-existent???? Linda shoots with Canon and has a variable aperture wide to short tele zoom and an 80-200 f2.8 zoom.
First advice - if you know anyone who has a camera and flash that is the same brand as yours, beg, borrow or steal it. Murphy's Law is in full force at events so having a backup close at hand is always a good idea. Make sure that both flash units have fresh batteries and have plenty more in your pocket. Don't scrimp and get the cheap ones, I like and trust Duracell. As the batteries begin to wear down the recycle time will get slower and slower. Change out to a new set as soon as you notice the flash getting weaker.
Lighting will be a big issue and since you are working alone with only a single hot shoe mounted flash I recommend keeping it as simple as possible. First, try to diffuse the light. There are various types of diffusers available for hot shoe flash units. Sto-fen makes some simple plastic diffusers that work well. Gary Fong makes a line of larger diffusers and there are many others. I think simple is better so I recommend the Sto-fen plastic snap-on diffuser. When working close to your subject point the flash up at about 45 degrees to further soften the light.
Set up the camera in aperture priority mode and the flash in TTL mode. Set exposure compensation on the flash to -1 2/3 stops to get a softer more natural look. Look at the images and adjust from there but I believe that less is better as long as the overall exposure is OK. Try to get the camera and lens handling the exposure so you can focus on composition and capturing the moment. Timing is everything and you will miss many good shots if you are constantly working with camera setup and focus.
Get to the event early and look around. Identify the best spots to do a bridal portrait or group portraits. Look at the wedding facility and decide in advance where to position yourself for the processional, the ceremony and the walk down the aisle after the vows. You should talk to the bride before the wedding day about photography during the ceremony. Most want it but a few don't and a few wedding facilities will not allow it though this is rare. A few will allow photography but no flash. If you are unlucky enough to get one of those, get out the tripod and run up the ISO to the highest level that gives decent results.
Linda will want to use a mix of focal lengths, some wide overall shots that show the bride, groom and all the cast of characters, and some longer focal length shots to isolate. In my experience the group shots and wide images are nice and a must have but the intimate close-ups are the stars of the show.
Since Linda has an 80-200 f2.8 I would recommend using it a lot and keep it open to f2.8 or f4 for most of the shots. This will allow her to isolate people, faces, hands, etc...and to blur the background to further isolate. You can also work at a comfortable distance from the subjects and get better candid images. For any group work use a wider lens, 30mm-40mm, and close down the aperture to around f8. If the group is more than 2 or 3 people deep you may need an even smaller aperture to carry DOF from front to back in the group.
If there is enough light to shoot without a flash, keep a close eye on the shutter speed and adjust the ISO up if necessary to get a shutter speed of 1/125 or higher. I would shoot in JPEG fine large and use single point auto-focus for most of the event.
Tripods are too slow for good candid photography but they do come in handy for group portrait work. You can put the camera on a tripod, frame the shot then step away from the camera to make final adjustments to the group.
Check the images often and adjust exposure as necessary to make sure that the bride's dress is not blown out. Turning on the blown highlights warning on your camera is also a good idea. If you hold detail in the bride's dress most other things can be corrected in post processing. If you blow the dress you will have problems correcting for it later. Remember, digital is cheap. While I have never used auto bracketing at an event I have also never been afraid to shoot LOTS of images and when time allows I have shot various exposures of important shots.
Here are a few key moments to be prepared for: The bride and her dad walking down the aisle, he may kiss her at the altar, the exchange of rings, the bride and groom kissing after the vows, new husband and wife walking down the aisle, the first dance, cutting the cake, and the toss of the bouquet. Talk to the bride before the wedding day and find out what she has planned for the events.
Weddings are beautiful events so just relax into it. They are not paying big bucks and should be appreciative of anything you do for them so shoot for yourself. Enjoy capturing the expressions of joy and love that abound at weddings. It really can be lots of fun! Good luck.
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