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Wedding Season
By ravsitar | May 27, 2007
I just got back from shooting my first wedding as “the photographer.” It was a pretty small affair and the couple was well aware of the limitations of a non-pro wedding photographer. Even so, I wanted to do a great job on this one and use it to learn for the next.
Things I learned today:
-Theater style churches suck to shoot in. No matter how much “stage light” they can give you, it’s never any good. Don’t bother to try and balance to it, it’s too low. Pretend it’s a studio and you’ve got to provide all the light.
-Flashes (battery powered) are good for use to balance to available light or shoot small groups, but they just don’t have the power to easily light a large group on their own.
-Flashes will stop working when they overheat. And it will be at annoying times. Like right before the last set of shots. But, because of the light issue, they were shooting at full power most of the time.
-Related to the last one: When taking the batteries out of a flash that’s just stop because it needs cool off time, watch out! Them things are hot enough to leave red marks on your hands.
-If you have your flash set as a “dumb remote” (one that will flash when it sees a flash), all those damn P&S cameras will trip it. Be sure to tell everyone that you want them to wait until AFTER you’re done with a pose before they can shoot.
-You can get more “real” smiles if you take a moment to chat with the subject and make jokes.
-Bridesmaids have more fun with the photos than the groomsmen.
-Photographers who have their camera set to restart file numbering each time a card is inserted into the camera should be shot! I’m talking to you Becca. Renaming files is a pain in the ass.
-Having an assistant is good. Esp if they know what’s going on. A wedding is NOT a place to teach someone photography.
Over the next week and a half, I’ll be processing the photos from this event. First pass will be with Bibble. I can whip through a lot of photos pretty fast with that. From those, I’ll make a PDF proof sheet file to give to the couple. Then they’ll shoe 15-20 that I’ll give a good once over in PaintShop Pro. Then they’ll get everything on CD (or DVD). I’m not dealing with selling prints (too much hassle right now) but I’ll suggest a few good online photo finishers.
Topics: News, Photos | 1 Comment »
May 27th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Matt, I am going to attend 3 weddings in the next couple of months, and NO, I will not be “the photographer” – you end up being behind the camera most of the time and not really enjoying the event….surely I will bring the camera with me, but I will take random shots, when I will feel like to – and yes, churches with high ceilings are the worst place to take a shot – I had already the experience….
Ciao,
P-