What equipment do you essentially need to photography a wedding?
I’ve bееn qυеѕtіοnеd tο photograph a wedding fοr a friend. I’ve done portraits аnd flowers. Bυt never a wedding. I currently hаνе a Nikon D80 (b/c everyone I knew hаd hυgе probs wіth thеіr D90) аnd thе 18-55, 55-200, 1.8 50mm. If I dο іt – I know I’ll bυу аn superfluous flash. Maybe thе SB-400? Anу hеlр wουld bе greatly appreciated. I’m well aware οf thе lighting issues, posing, etc. Nοt јυѕt sure mу equipment іѕ enough. Thank уου.
Equipment is the least of the worries.
Absolute knowledge on how to use your equipment, light, poses and an thought on the wedding ‘must-have’ shots are all #1. You’ll need a spare *everything*. If a body dies, you must be back up and in succession within seconds. Same with strobe units. Reflect Murphy’s law!
Then, for every hour you shoot, you’ll be spending post processing the images.
Certainly let your friend know that you’ve never photographed a wedding previous to and that you’ll do your best to capture this once-in-a-lifetime day. It’s a huge responsibility but if you plot, plot, plot, do and make sure you’ve got fail-safes available – you’ll do fine.
From photo.net:
http://photo.net/learn/wedding/equipment
Do you “need” all of that equipment, maybe not. I’m sure people shoot weddings with a single D80 and a few kit lenses all the time. The wife of a friend of mine chose to go cheap and found someone with a digital rebel to shoot their wedding — lets just say the results were less than acceptable. He regretted not hiring another friend of ours who shot the wedding casually, with his canon 5D and 24-70 2.8L. You can’t argue with results, though. Just looking at wedding and event shooters like Ryan Brenizer, you probably won’t acheive the same results with a D80 and its companion kit lenses. But, and I hope, if you’re not accepting any money for the job – I suppose your gear will do the job. If but you do expect compensation, do try to study technique — perhaps that will fill the gap in your equipment.
Ryan’s website:
http://www.ryanbrenizer.com/
Sorry, no equipment thoughts, but:
One hint – take at least one roll of black & colorless. Our photographer (a friend who we paid) did that, and his wedding present to us was one of the black&colorless photos of my husband and I done in sepia tones. It is such a classy looking photograph.
We gave our photographer a check list of the photos we wanted – all my family, all his family, etc. It helped a lot.
I have recently started my own wedding photography business after being an assistant for 3 years.
Your kit sounds very ample indeed. You have a wide array of lenses excellent enough to get what you need, the most vital is a wide angle for group shots but your 18-55 Kit will do that and your 55-200mm is excellent for informal shots and close ups from the back of the church. The 50mm prime will be excellent for close portraits but you know what your doing there and the 18-55mm will be excellent again for macro (Cake and Rings).
You would subsidy from a Speed-light and the SB-400 will do the job but the internal flash would do just fine, i recommend turning it down a couple of notches in the in-camera menu as it can be harsh or make a diffuser at home to stick over it so it’s a touch softer.
I strongly recommend a 2nd battery as you’ll be snapping loads and you don’t want it to die on you, a tripod for formal shots as you want them crisp and a following memory card to back everything up just in case.
You may want to invest in a Cokin P-Series filter kit to use so you can add some effect to the arty shots or you can do that in post-production if money is tight (You may find them clever with your flower shots in prospect though?).
Have a chat with the vicar/priest or registrar previous to hand to see what you can photograph and what you can’t and i recommend casing the location of the wedding and the reception venue at the time the wedding/reception will be beforehand to see the best place to take photos this is also clever as you’ll know where you can take snaps if it rains!!
Dress smart, be punctual and polite and you will glide through the day, don’t be frightened to question the groomsmen to help you where doable, that’s their job!
Excellent Luck!
The question scares me. I suggest you become a wedding crasher just to scope out the photographers. Become an apprentice. I would despise to have that burden lacking the experience to go with it.
If you can swing it at all, get the SB600 or 900, or a used SB800 rather than the SB400. They are more powerful, and swivel and tilt which you will need, and they will work off camera with the D80′s command mode. Also check into the various types of diffusers available. Stofen, Demb Flip-it, Better Bounce Card, Lightscoop and the Gary Fong Lightsphere are a few.
Your lenses are fine, use the 50 f/1.8 for portraits and low light, and the WA kit lens for the most part. You do need a backup Nikon body. If doable, check into renting a D300 or D700.
Here is my favorite link for first time wedding shooters:
http://www.rokkorfiles.com/Wedding101-page1.html
Make sure to control expectations. Shooting a wedding is different from flowers or even portraits (although if you are excellent at portraiture, you have a huge advantage when shooting the formals and the “romantic” B&G portraits.) Get a list and go over with the B&G detailing what shots are “must-haves” for them. Spare batteries. Lots of memory. I rather several smaller cards of 2-4GB rather than one huge card.
Excellent luck and best wishes.
If you’re a excellent friend, you should tell your friend to please hire an experienced wedding photographer. People seem to take upon yourself that excellent likeness or general photographers can do fantastic weddings, and that’s seldom right. It’s a perfectly different – more worrying – more technically demanding ballgame.
That’s not to say you can’t take some shots and just get some do in, but a wedding is a once in a lifetime event, and you REALLY don’t want to be the person that mucks it up.
Your equipment shouldn’t be an issue. The issue is knowledge and experience in the wedding photo business. I’ve known way too many people, and seen way too many on here, who’ve done what your friend is asking you to do only to majorly regret it in the end.
Remember, there’s a reason wedding pros make the money they do – it’s a VERY hard thing to do.