GULP.....need some advice

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PistolPeteUK

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Pete
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Hi guys,

My sister-in-law is getting married tomorrow and her photographer has royally dumped her in it with no backup with barely 24 hours notice so I agreed to step in at the last moment. (I won't be naming / shaming as it's being dealt with by my wife who is a barrister).

I appreciate all the normal comments on here about inexperienced photographers doing weddings but at this short notice I simply have to make the best of a bad situation.

Kit wise I should be fine: I have a Canon 5DIII and a 7D both gripped with 2 sets of batteries and 2x 16GB cards each, lenses I have with me are a Sigma 50mm f1.4, 16-35 f/2.8 L, 24-70 f/2.8L and a 70-200 f/2.8L IS II, plus I have some extension tubes.
I also have 3 speedlites (2 sets of batteries each), radio triggers (2 sets of batteries each), a few light modifiers, stands, light meter, chargers (for camera and flash batteries), 2x card readers, 2x external backup drives, 2x laptops & tripod. I have my daughter with me who is doing photography at GCSE who will be helping me so I can simply ask her "setup 2 light stands in the corners facing in set to 1/4 power" and she's able to do that so that'll help me.

We've agreed that I'd cull anything I'd not want seen first, then together we'd select the keepers and I'll process them. Not decided what they will do from there but we can do that later.

Experience wise I do OK. No where near the level of the guys that post on here but my family love what I do. Most of my stuff is event photography with the occasional portrait but what is worrying me is the pace that things move at during a wedding. I have on my side the fact that it's my family and we've agreed that I can slow things down I need it but obviously I'm going to need to be on the ball. I have the running order and approximate times for stuff but have no idea how long stuff takes. I'm staying at the venue this evening so I'll have plenty of time to look around so that'll help too.

If you can offer a guy any helpful advice, any gotchas to look out for, or generally any way I can make this go more smoothly I'd appreciate it.

Please can we keep this thread friendly - as I said, threads like this normally need a flameproof suit but I'm stepping in at the last moment to save what has rapidly become a very stressful event for my family. If your post is not constructive or will be unduly negative for the sake of being negative, I'd prefer if you didn't post.

Thanks in advance.
 
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Crikey - my worst nightmare! It looks like you've got all the necessary kit, and your daughter should be very useful as an assistant. To my mind, the one thing that makes a good wedding photographer over a mediocre one is self-confidence. If you go into it thinking it's going to be a disaster, it probably will be. You've clearly got what it takes to make good images, so have the confidence to take control and make yourself heard. You need to have control of the groups of people without taking over the whole event (which some photographers do!). That and lots of good luck! :)
 
Go for it be confident and keep it simple. Don't try and be fancy with lighting it will just over complicate. Spend any time you have reading about posing and looking at wedding sets. If you get the key moments sharp and well exposed the bride will be delighted.
 
Stay calm, don't over analyse things and try to enjoy the day. Good luck!
 
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just check all your equipment , charge your batteries , make sure memory cards are empty, there should be no problems , you haave the right kit. so go for it

good luck.
 
You're on a good footing as I would imagine you'll know most of the family so will be able to control the formal shots better than most people.

Keep an eye on your shutter speeds, it is easy to let them drop in dark spots, don't be afraid to ramp the ISO up, particularly with the 5D3, I've shot weddings at ISO 6400 and had great results. If you've got a grey card try and get an assistant to hold it in each different light, eg front of the church, each reception room etc so you can batch sort the white balance.

Go in confident, believe you can do it, and enjoy it, once you're in situ and working they're far less daunting than thinking about it beforehand.
 
MWHCVT said:
Try and get her shot list so you know what photos she wants you to try and get :thumbs:
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I'd second that. If you have a list of the crucial shots, it will relieve some of the pressure of trying to remember it all on the day. Especially important if there will be guests that you only get to see at this sort of family event, due to distance or age - not including them in at least one shot could be what you get remembered for rather than all the nice pictures I am sure you will take.
 
Since you'll be the official photographer, don't be afraid to tell Uncle Bob that he can take photos of the same subjects after you've taken yours to your satisfaction. We all have an Uncle Bob (wait, I'm not Bob, honest!).
 
2 things, make a list of the shots that she wants, bride exiting car, bride entering church, bride at the altar, but don't forget to ask permission of the vicar to photograph in church. He'll tell you what you can and can't do.
2nd thing is to remember to organise the guests to the groups that you need, you'll have to make yourself heard. There's no need to take over the wedding and don't forget to work WITH the bride.

enjoy the day and take loads of shots.

Kev

ps, if the bride has a white dress with lots of subtle detail, remember to expose for the dress on some of the shots.
 
Thanks guys, all very helpful. I'm at the venue now, scoped out some nice spots for the portraits, not seen where the ceremony is taking place yet (is a civil ceremony so it's not in the on site Chapel) but I've spent some time looking at other photographers who have shot here to get a rough idea of the layout. Bride is staying here so no car shots to worry about. Groom lives about 15 mins away so going to pop over there to get some prep shots.
Already have a shot list, got that agreed first thing as my brain will go to mush. Dress is white so I'll keep an eye on that too.

Organising groups and such like is the terrifying bit as they are family. I just guess I have to imagine they are no-one I know so I can tell them what I need and not take any abuse from them!

It also appears the wedding planner is AWOL so the running order of the day is now pretty much on the fly so that'll help me.

Gonna get a good night's sleep tonight, I'll post some pics during the week (after the B&G have gotten them.)
 
Best of luck fella.

Don`t panic.
Get somebody to help with the group shots.
The list can be flexible.
Look for different type shots.
Don`t panic.

What sort of an asshole lets a woman down so badly the day before her wedding. What a scumbag.
 
Good luck Pete, don't panic, take it easy and do what you know how to and you'll get through it ok. I hope you do the unhappy couple happy with your photos and shame on the guy who pulled out at the last minute.
 
Try not to panic! Be assertive when managing the bridal party or group shots. Use ushers etc to Help you gather up people for shots.

Take multiple shots for the group shots as you usually get blinkers!

Don't overdo it with flash unless you have it off camera lol, use natural lighting as much as you can! Window light will be your best friend haha

Good luck buddy and most of all have fun!! Smile and don't be afraid to crack some jokes!
 
Unless you're an amoeba, you don't ned a shot list. The biggest barrier to creativity is a shotlist.
A shotlist will make you walk past interesting and gorgeous photos looking for the next shot on your list.
Watch the bride, when you've shot enough of her in the same place, listen out for other interesting shots.
Get help with the groups, but keep the number of groups to a minimum.
 
Personally I'd try not to get in the way of anything important and keep photography secondary to the day whilst using a little quiet persuasion to try and ensure that the basics are covered.

Other than that just do your best, who could ask for more?

Good luck.
 
PistolPeteUK said:
I can simply ask her "setup 2 light stands in the corners facing in set to 1/4 power" and she's able to do that so that'll help me.
Click to expand...

As others have said, don't over-complicate things. You can do a lot with natural / available light, and messing around with off-camera flashes and modifiers if you're not 100% comfortable on the day, can create problems you don't need.

PistolPeteUK said:
Experience wise I do OK. No where near the level of the guys that post on here but my family love what I do. Most of my stuff is event photography with the occasional portrait but what is worrying me is the pace that things move at during a wedding. I have on my side the fact that it's my family and we've agreed that I can slow things down I need it but obviously I'm going to need to be on the ball.
Click to expand...

Weddings are one of the slowest paced and most predictable events you can shoot. So don't stress, keep your eye on the important people, and shoot them in the pretty looking places. :thumbs:
 
give a camera to your daughter so she takes pics too?
check your shooting raw, simply for the post processing, and saving some shoots

might wanna have some way of unloading pics partway through the day

goodluck and enjoy :-)
 
I'm not a wedding photographer so can't offer any real advice, but I would say put your 5dIII in silent high speed shooting mode during the actual ceremony.

Other than that, best of luck! Look forward to seeing some of your shots.
 
Not a wedding photographer so not going to offer any advice, just wish yo (and your sister in law) good luck for today and the future.
 
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I'd be terrified to do this, which is why I've turned the offer down twice for friends. I'll be interested to see your results if you fancy posting them (I think I'm safe saying this as it's now midnight the day after!).

The only thing I was going to say is what was mentioned above, but obviously it's too late now. Just get a list of what photos the bride wants and then go ahead to the areas you'd be photographing and ask to see if doors/windows will be open or if lights are on, etc. At least that way you can quickly set up on the way in, hopefully limiting throw away shots (not that this is much of an issue these days with digital anyway!).

If it was me I'd have begged a mate or asked on a forum if there was someone in the area that could come along as a favour, as a second photographer. I'd be so nervous of missing things, or finding out later the ace shot I thought I had was actually out of focus, etc.
 
Quick update.

Day went pretty shockingly, mostly (I feel) due to the lack of the planner and meant lots of family running around like headless chickens and trying to deal with the venue staff who were on their 4th wedding of the long weekend and clearly were struggling.

Timetables that the B&G had and the timetable the venue were running to seemed to be different so the rough schedules we had went out of the window and this threw me a fair bit. Some of the shots I wanted to get I couldn't, like the bouquet toss as it didn't happen but got all the shots the B&G wanted for the bits that did happen.

Evening went well, but really struggled to focus in the low light though. AF Assist light on the flash didn't seem to assist much!

Overall I'm happy with the bits I had the ability to control, but I feel I was not able to react quickly enough to the the bits suddenly changing.

My family are happy with the shots they've seen so far (but that's family so they'll always be biased) , but I might consider assisting a photographer in the future and working up to second shooting as I did enjoy the day overall.
 
Just a quick question regarding AF... are you on the latest firmware for the 5D3?
 
Pete, you can now breathe :)

Well done for doing it in the first place, nothing worse than a last minute nightmare ;)
 
Well done for surviving - sounds a bit of a shocker.

Just a quick thought regarding AF-assist beam. If you use AI-Servo or AI-Focus, AF-assist beam doesn't fire, it only works in one-shot...
 
On the struggling to focus in low light then even with an assist beam if it's really dark like most evening do's / disco's are then you can still find it hard at times to focus... best tip is to use the centre point and aim for an area of contrast. If you can point at a bit that's lighter than the rest of the couple or person you're shooting the focus locks on no problem... pick a dark area and sometimes even with an assist beam it's not going to happen
 
fracster said:
Best of luck fella.

Don`t panic.
Get somebody to help with the group shots.
The list can be flexible.
Look for different type shots.
Don`t panic.

What sort of an asshole lets a woman down so badly the day before her wedding. What a scumbag.
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EDIT
Too late for advice i see!
 
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PistolPeteUK said:
Not yet - probably upgrade this weekend when I have a spare 5 mins.
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Do so, it will fix your abysmal AF performance with the flash AF assist beam.

I used my camera post upgrade with AF assist for the first time on saturday. It was actually usable rather than previous where it felt worse than with beam turned off.
 
nice recovery!

It must have been a night time wedding if you were struggling with 2.8 lenses :D
 
ajax_andy said:
On the struggling to focus in low light then even with an assist beam if it's really dark like most evening do's / disco's are then you can still find it hard at times to focus... best tip is to use the centre point and aim for an area of contrast. If you can point at a bit that's lighter than the rest of the couple or person you're shooting the focus locks on no problem... pick a dark area and sometimes even with an assist beam it's not going to happen
Click to expand...

One thing that can be done on Nikons, so i assume something similar can be done with canons

Some flash project a red af assist that seesm to work a lot better than the on camera assist.
 
RichardtheSane said:
Do so, it will fix your abysmal AF performance with the flash AF assist beam.

I used my camera post upgrade with AF assist for the first time on saturday. It was actually usable rather than previous where it felt worse than with beam turned off.
Click to expand...

The AF assist was from the flash, not the body, if that makes any difference.
If I'm really struggling I pop a Yongnuo YN622c on the body and use the AF assist from there as well but I really struggled with both the 7D and the 5D3 where I normally dont. Might get around to upgrading this weekend to see the difference.

Tizer said:
nice recovery!

It must have been a night time wedding if you were struggling with 2.8 lenses :D
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Wedding was at 3pm (well 3.45 by the time the venue got their act together) but it was in an old manor house with mahogany panelling EVERYWHERE! It just seemed to suck the very little coming into the room through the tiny windows. "Evening" part of the event started around 20:30, sun was rapidly dying and the reception was in another virtually pitch black room. DJ didn't have the brightest of lights - I tried to make use of his lighting to focus easier but it was no go for me.

Never mind, you live and learn!
 
I discovered disco lighting during gigs. I was surprised how much it can throw out the metering and even the post processing with certain lighting.

I just wish I'd carried on with photography when I was a kid 'assisting' my dad. I feel I've missed out on 25 years of fun/challenging photo sessions :)
 
interesting thread! ....you had balls to take it on in the first place' well done

at least you have broken your wedding "cherry" so to speak ... you can only get better which is a good thing
 
how did it all go Pete? Good photos, family still speaking to you?
 
Paulsim said:
how did it all go Pete? Good photos, family still speaking to you?
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I was not initially happy looking at the pre-pp'd shots, I feel I didn't take enough varied shots and as I explained earlier a few of the normal wedding shots got missed completely. However, I had a session on Sunday of culling the rubbish and I started tweaking the rest and I was happier. Family saw the initial previews and I made the mother of the bride cry (in a good way!)

I know that they are not up to the standard of many on here, but the "customer" is happy ATM and that's all that counts for me.
I've sent a few dozen over to the B&G and I'm awaiting their feedback - if they are happy for me to I'll post a few.

RichardtheSane said:
Yep, that's what it fixed - external flashes af assist
Click to expand...

Sweet - I'll try and get it upgraded this weekend.
 
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