How can I take professional wedding photos?

Question

I've been asked to take photos at a friends wedding reception. I'm not a professional photographer, but I do enjoy photography and have a Canon 20D camera with the standard 18x55 Canon lens, and a 28x200mm Zoom lens. I don't have any additional flash equipment, just what I stated here. The reception will be at dusk/night time. I want to get mainly candids, but I'd like them to be as professional as possible. Any tips or suggestions to think about?

...if I needed to purchase additional equipment, this is possible, but I can't afford $2000 lenses. You get the idea.

..just so everyone knows, they're not expecting miracles, and neither am I. I could just use some camera settings to try so I can get some decent shots in the light I have to work with. I will probably get an additional flash at least.

Answer 1

Shooting at dusk/night is a hard task for a novice wedding photographer.. It is very unlikely that you will get images that look truly professional, but you can give it your best effort. Just make sure the couple understand what they are getting, and make sure your friendship will be all right if the photos aren't.

First. get a Canon flash, and a bracket if you can to reduce red eye. If you can't afford a fast f/2.8 zoom, then use the lenses you have. The 18-55 will probably be the most useful and have the best image quality, although I am not familiar with Canon lenses, but definitely the 18 end will be necessary.

Is it indoors or out? Visit the venue before hand if possible. Take someone with you and practice a few shots. Note the camera settings and chimp for adjustments. If the reception is outdoors, you can practice anywhere at the same time of day. Make lots of shots and learn what setting make the best looking picture. The key here is practice. Learn how to meter for the sky and compensate your flash output.

If indoors, learn about using bounce flash and practice that. (You will have to have an external flash for that, the built in won't bounce.) You might also want to research diffusers, but you will need some practice with those, too.

Learn about a technique called dragging the shutter and practice that as well. A good resource is www.photo.net. Go to the wedding and social event forum and search the archives for first time and beginner threads.

Vary your point of view. Get some wide and some close. Don't forget to take some pictures of the details, the flowers, cake, special touches. Be careful when taking pictures of people eating. No one looks good while stuffing a forkful in their mouth or chewing. Also watch the table clutter.

If you are comfortable using manual, then do so. If you are not certain what settings do what, then you will probably be better off using the program mode. Be aware, program mode with direct flash equals deer in headlight snapshots that any guest with a point and shoot will be able to deliver.

Wedding photography is partly about gear and technique, but it is also about timing and capture. If you get some great emotion captured in your images, then you can consider your first wedding venture a success on that level. I have seen many "pro" images, although perfectly lit and executed, that have no life or emotional impact.

Good luck !

Answer 2

Get a BIG external flash such as a Metz, the Canon flashes don't have nearly enough power to photograph a wedding reception unless it's a very very small wedding. You will need an add-on diffuser on the flash to soften the light so you don't get harsh shadows, and it requires a lot of flash power to give enough diffused light to cover a group of people. Also get a flash bracket that lets you reposition the flash when you shoot either horizontal or vertical format so the flash is still beside and above the lens.

Shoot in RAW mode so your photos can be adjusted to get the best results possible. Anyone who shoots weddings in jpeg is shortchanging the bridal couple, even if they don't charge for the photos.

I agree with the answerer who suggested you decline the invitation. This should be a once-in-a-lifetime event for the couple, and it is a shame to not have a professional with experience shoot the wedding.

Answer 3

I assume you are doing this for free. If so, let your friend know that with the equipment you have it is not possible to get the best photos because of light. I don't know what a professional photographer would cost but you could ask your friend to pay you half the difference of a professional photographer if they want better pictures. You can use the money to buy the equipment (try used equipment). I personally would not volunteer to do it because it puts a lot of pressure on you and it takes away time for you to enjoy the wedding. If you really want to do this, maybe because it gives you the opportunity to test your skills out or you really will enjoy doing this, then just set the expectations out clearly to your friends so they are not disapointed and you are not blamed for it if anything goes wrong. good luck!

Answer 4

The above posters gave you lots of advice on whether or not you should be the primary photographer. I would like to give you the information you need to make it an awesome shoot, regardless of your inexperience or equipment limitations.

There are a few different ways to shoot a wedding. One of the more familiar is the traditional shoot, where the photographer takes specific shots (bride down aisle, bride & groom @ altar, exchanging of rings, first kiss, etc.) as well as posed portraits and group photos of the bride, groom, party & family.
With the surge in digital photography, as well as the variety of wedding styles, more couples are moving towards photo-journalistic styles for wedding photography. This involves the photographer mingling with and blending into the event & capturing all the moments.
This style can also incorporate some of the posed portraits & group photos, but they may be looser in composition.

Given your equipment & experience listed above, I would suggest that you take photos in the photo-journalistic style. Speak with the couple ahead of time & find out what specific moments they want captured. Get a schedule of the ceremony & events so you know what is happening when & can plan on being there to cature it. In addition, find out what the couple would like done in regards to the posed photos. Many times friends & family are in from out of town, and specific shots are hoped for.

I personally shot photos at my fathers wedding last year. His wife's nephew took the pre-determined portraits & group photos, & I walked around capturing the 'moments'. The resulting photo album I was able to put together was wonderful, and really told the 'story' of the day. (my camera was a Rebel XT with 18-55 mm & 75-300 mm, on-camera flash, & iPhoto basic editing post-shoot)

My tips to you:
1. Make sure you have an editing software that you can use to tweak, fix and modify the images. If you dont have any, an affordable product is Photoshot Elements, if you are shooting JPEG.
2. If you have the memory capacity (no less than 2G, 4G preferred), -and- you have an editing software that will support it, I would suggest you shoot in the RAW format. This will give you far greater control over the exposure of the images and can help to compensate for some of the lack of/intensity of the lighting conditions. (If you want to take a large number of pictures in order to capture it all, you can use RAW for the important shots, such as the ceremony & JPEG for the numerous shots of everyone @ the reception having fun.)
3. I was able to make some of my photos very professional looking with simple tools such as a tight crop post-shoot, or desaturization of the image into a B&W.
4. When I had time, I walked around & captured unique shots of the ceremony & reception locations, such as the flowers, cake, windows.

In addition to this, take some time to go to the bookstore or browse the internet for tips & examples of wedding photography. You will be amazed at all the different ways you can successfully shoot a wedding!

Answer 5

Without flash equipment, plus without wedding shooting experience, you would be doing the bridal couple a favor by declining. Wedding photography of any kind isn't just about shooting candids: you need to be able to know exactly how weddings and receptions are officiated and run. Plus the fact that you've got to have the equipment and the experience to do the job. It's not just about where you point the camera. You have to know how to get the subjects at their best during what is, at least, a very trying and difficult day.
Best to get a professional, and watch carefully what they do. After watching about 5-10 weddings and the photographers, you MIGHT be ready to start shooting on your own.

Answer 6

Weddings, as said before, are not just about candids. Im doing my first wedding coming up, and if you go to your local barnes and nobles, theres a book about professional wedding techniques...it gives you MANY MANY ideas about what shots are needed/wanted at weddings. Also, talk to your wedding couple and see what pictures THEY want...YOU might want candids, but I'm pretty sure they would enjoy some nice portraits of them with their family.

Answer 7

Make sure to take a sturdy tripod, that way you can take the evening shots and capture the ambient light without using the flash.

You can take romantic shots with the sun going down maybe if your lucky to catch it low in the sky you can have them kissing with them in the center of the sun with the firery colors surounding them.

As you said your hobby is photography as is mine so you already know that the most important elements are how you use color and light to your advantage.

If you have some filters you may want to use them like a defuser to make the pictures dreamy, if not you can use other things like jell paper for colours, a nylon ( real nylon not pantyhose) over the lens, it creates a prism effect of the light and doesn't distort the subject, there are all kinds of things you can use, look around the house and play with them over the lens before the wedding date so you know what you can bring to enhance the pictures.

I have the Canon Rebel XT so I don't know you yours has the same features as mine but mine has built in filters, one is sepia and another is black and white, and a few more, you can use them also. Black and white can be very dramatic for a wedding photo as can sepia. Just play around with things before the big day, you will be fine.

By the way, you may want to look into the cokin filters, you can use them with multiple lenses, it comes with a holder for each lens size and the filters drop into the holders so you only need one set of filters, they are amazing.

Happy Clicking!

Answer 8

Wait for the special. Do your larger prints and definitely the memory book from your photographer. Ask for their recommendation of where to make prints. If you're doing them on-line, MPix is a good, reliable printer. You are correct in thinking the pro prints will look better. (At least, they should.) But assuming you get corrected files and have them printed at a decent lab, your parent albums and show around album will probably be fine. Use the quality printing for your book and frame-ables.

Answer 9

hey man....it should be easy enough...sounds like you have a professioonal enough camera...but the flash is going to be the biggest thing..you need to get a high powered flash...which really shouldnt cost more than a couple hundred...

the most expensive part might be if yoiu set up the individual photo area...for this u might wanna look on ebay and see if you can find the whole light and background set-up....