First Time Wedding Photographer
I'm shooting my friend's very informal wedding on Friday. I know I'm a photographer by hobby not by profession, (and she knows that too) but she still wants me to do it. I'm doing this as their wedding gift, and I was wondering if anyone had any tips for me? The wedding is on a beach at about 6pm... also I was wondering if any veteran wedding photographers had any post-processing tips (photoshop plug ins, favorite filters, or ANYTHING that would help.) I would be SOOOO GREATFUL!
Thank YOU! :-)
1,587 Views, Asked 8 months, 1 week ago
2 Answers
richardbrucesmith said:
This 3 day workshop video is the best I have seen.
Its step by step on how to photograph a wedding,logistics,lighting,and many informative details,
These 2 are experts.The videos are unbeatable.
http://www.creativelive.com/courses/wedding-workshop-zach-and-jody-gray
7 months, 3 weeks ago
Marcus Hammerschmitt said:
Recently I've done two weddings with no previous experience - what a ride. I can't tell you much about equipment and lighting, because my equipment is basic (a Sony Nex C3 plus some lenses, nothing fancy), and lighting consisted in my partner holding the reflector. With the second assignment I was to get paid - not much, but I wanted to do my level best anyway. I thought I was doing great till I realized I lacked the reflector required for broad daylight (a neutral white one) - the ones I had with me were blinding the newlyweds. I made 1300 shots and started post-processing one tenth of them, still reckoning I was more or less on target. Then the bride protested the intermediate results: where on earth was that full body portrait of both of them with her complete wedding gown & train included? It simply wasn't there, you know. I had opted for concentrating on faces (a stronghold of mine) and had plain forgotten about that single, all important motive. Embarrassing, to say the least. I ended up reconstructing a very acceptable result from eight different shots in Photoshop, which cost me ten hours of work alone. True story.
So what did I learn from this experience?
1) Don't blind your customers. Too much light can be as damaging as too little.
2) Talk with the couple in question about the very shots which are indispensible to them.
3) Sometimes computer magic can help you create shots which you didn't even take - but don't rely on that. Even if you're lucky it'll take you a lot of time.
4) Skin tones. You'll hate that issue in post-processing, believe me. Skin tones of real people are a total pain, and yet there's nothing more important (apart from wedding dress trains) than to get the friggin' skin tones right.
5) The application of a (digital) neutral density filter can make up for a lot of bad lighting (overexposure in that case).
You'll post-process like hell anyway (mind the skin tones). A beach evening might give you an awful lot of reds and oranges. What about a test shooting the day before? Because that might give you an idea of what's in store for you.
Good luck.
Marcus
7 months, 2 weeks ago