Photographing my first wedding?
I'm photographing my first wedding for a couple who have a small budget and asked me to do it for little little money. They are aware that i've not done a wedding and appreciate that I'm willing to do it for such a small amount.
I currently have a Nikon D3000. My question is should I rent a different camera, leaning towards a D90 and 2 lenses, or rent 2 lenses for my D3000? I'm not worried about making a profit, i'm worried about getting good pictures and have a good experience.
Please be nice… I know this is a lot to handle.
You will need FAST lens for weddings. Why? Because you will have low light situations, and you will not want to use high ISOs and more than likely, won't be able to use a tripod.
My suggestions:
50mm f/1.4 (f/1.8 if your on a tight budget)
24-70mm f/2.8
70-200mm f/2.8 (might get away with not using this one if you don't have the budget for it.)
I would strongly suggest you at least talk to a professional wedding photographer and find out what the traditional, must have shots are before you start.
The quality of the images will be the same whether you use your D3000 or rent something you are not used to using.
If you decide to rent, rent the AF-S 24-70 mm f/2.8 and AF-S 50 mm f/1.4. If you do not have a dedicated flash like a Nikon SB 700 with flash diffuser and flash bracket, rent those too and spend the day before the shoot practicing using them.
You will also want to take a spare battery and a handful of 4 gb memory cards. If you shoot RAW + JPEG, you will have a better chance of saving any mistakes
Don't worry about your camera, it's good enough if you know how to use it. If you want to spend what little they are giving you on rentals then rent the following… In order of importance.
- FLASH (for reception and fill flash) 8$ … So grab 2 just to be safe in case one is defective.
- A 24-70 f2.8… That's the lens you will be using the whole time. 40$
- A Gary Fong light sphere. 12$
- A 70-200 f2.8… Good for the church so you're not in their face the whole time, give you some distance. 40$
- A 50mm f1.4 around 40$ or buy a 50mm f1.8 (140$) … You don't Really need this if you have the 24-70.It would be nice for the formals but the 24-70 should have you covered.
- An Extra Camera.
If you only have on camera battery, buy or rent a second one and get plenty of batteries for your flash. Try not to shoot everything on one card… If that card dies you lose everything. I shoot everything on a bunch of 2 gig and 4 gig cards.
Shoot in RAW. That way, if a shot isn't perfect you can recover it.
The next most important thing is get the couple to sign a paper that states that they understand you have never shot a wedding and that they won;t sue you if you fail to complete the assignment or if they are unhappy with the quality of the images.
It's all well and nice to have a verbal understanding but a verbal contract isn't worth anything in court. It just becomes a "He said, she said" scenario and some judges have forced photographers to pay All costs involved with a re-shoot of the photos.
Write yourself up a small checklist of combinations so you don;t forget an important shot. It's easy to forget a shot on your first couple of weddings… Trust me. On my first wedding I almost left without doing a single ring shot.
"I would strongly suggest you at least talk to a professional wedding photographer and find out what the traditional, must have shots are before you start."
I can't agree with him any more than I already do.
Weddings are one of the hardest things to cover.
You must have a mental list of every little thing in your head from the dressing to the ring to the kiss.
You can always stage "the kiss" but it won't be the same.
For what you need.
Make sure you have Class 10 memory cards.
Shoot RAW.
Get a good flash with a diffuser.
Rent a good wide angle(for group pictures), and a prime for the bokehlicious perfection shots.
If I can shoot with only 2 lenses for the whole wedding, I would choose 35mm and 85mm on full frame. In your case, I would rent a 24mm and 50mm for your crop camera. I would get a nice speedlite with battery pack to last you the whole day.
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