First wedding - tips?

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Docj0nes

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Mark
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Hi all, just thought I'd share with you that I'll be involved as a second shooter for my first wedding gig this weekend. I'm pretty excited to have this opportunity to get some decent images and hopefully enough to make a mini portfolio. I'll be at the brides house an hour and a half before she is due at the venue to get some getting ready shots, as well as the main photographer.
I should mention that I know the bride, being a work colleague of my wife's.

Just looking for any friendly advice or nice tips I could carry with me for the day. I am conscious of not treading on the main photographers shoes and 'nicking' their shots - I don't want copy cat images anyway. They have already giving their approval of me being there and have spoken of giving me tips of their own on the day.

Just looking forward to the experience as I have had a number of requests from others to actually photograph their entire wedding from other work I have done. Before accepting any assignments I wanted to experience it without so much pressure of 'getting the shots' as I would hate for them to not get those memories recorded in the best way possible.
 
Havingdone a cuple of 'caual wedding shots' and esp as there is an 'official' tog I would ppersonally go fo rthe candid stuff - last time I used a 70 - 300 on a cropped sensor which alloerd me to dtsy out of hid/here way. It akso meant I got some real genuine emotions :) and momets

GL
 
Do candid/reportage type shots, getting people's genuine reactions to the wedding. Let the poor main photographer have to herd the cats and try and get all the group photos.

Either go zoomy so you're not people's faces all the time, or I've seen some lovely 2nd shooter work done with a nifty fifty.
 
Sounds like you know what you're doing.

My tip would be to be confident, if you want a picture then go and get it, you're there to do a job and people expect to be bossed about a bit by the togs and they're all in a good mood anyway so you can get away with a lot.

The couple will thank you for the great record of their day and no-one will remember you asking them to move.
 
Thanks for the replies. I've recently watched a tutorial that walks you through bridal shots in different scenarios and will attempt to implement a few of the techniques on the day.
I'll be going out primarily to get those candids as mentioned above, but would like to have a few minutes with the bride & groom to get a few of my own captures, do you think this is something reasonable on the day? I'm conscious that if the main tog takes a longish time with the couple they may want to finish when he does... I know on my wedding day I was glad when the photo's were finished, my cheeks hurt from all the smiling!

My gear is limited to an 18-200mm canon and the nifty fifty on the 450d. I primarily shoot in manual but was thinking of changing tactics to use Av to be a little quicker on the trigger.
 
I'll be honest, the couple probably will want the sit down and stop smiling by the time the main tog has finished with them. I actually stopped mine from taking photos at the end as I was just getting so tired of smiling.

It doesn't hurt to ask though :)
 
Hey, just to let you all know the wedding went well. The main tog was really welcoming and was offering me some time to shoot the couple and groups after he had finished. I declined this as I didn't want to mimic his shots and was going for more candid shots any how. I'm most pleased with some of my evening shots where I used off camera lights to get some nice side light going on for the dance floor. Much to improve but for a first attempt I think I done well. If I get the go ahead from the newly weds to share my images I will post a couple here to hear your thoughts.
Ta,
 
Hey,

Glad it went well! Hope you can share at least a couple of the images.

Are there any tips that you learnt through doing it, that you could pass on? Nothing beats practical experience!

Well done though, I'm sure the bride and groom really appreciated your efforts!
 
Candid shots can be very impressive...

i'm a second camera too with NO pressures....

heres a few of mine i always aim for.

1.jpg


3.jpg


2.jpg


IMG_1595.jpg


bwcolour.jpg


oh and dont forget 1 for yourself... lol (my reflection from the roller door'

reflection.jpg


martyn.
 
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if you're the second shooter, then the pressure's largely off so you can go for stuff you really want, & it won't matter too much if it doesn't come out
 
nom nom de plume said:
if you're the second shooter, then the pressure's largely off so you can go for stuff you really want, & it won't matter too much if it doesn't come out
Click to expand...

Depends on what you want out of it. Personally, I wanted to try a couple of things I had learnt in a real world scenario and they largely paid off. I also was aiming to get enough images to create a mini album of my own for advertisement as well as knowing a lot of friends that have never seen my work will be seeing these images and I have a certain standard I want to keep. So , the pressures were coming from more internal positions than external. I understand that it's not the 'same' pressure as when being relied upon for a couples memories. I must say that I would be confident enough in being the main tog at a wedding, I suppose the tests would be when you have multiple people that really don't want their picture taken!
 
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