utter terror

pete1w

pete1w

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peter
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hi all. not posted for a while as the camera has been pretty dormant due to work and the lousy weather. however i have a huge dilemma looming around the corner. a member of the family has asked if i will take some photos of his preliminary wedding meal as the actual wedding photographer is not booked until later in the day. needless to say i am terrified. where do i start? well if tell you my kit consists of a nikon d3200, 18-55 kit lens, 55-200 nikor lens and a 35 mm 1.8g lens along with a tripod thats about my lot. the question is which lens would be preferable for (i guess) mostly indoor shots? i appreciate you guys cannot suggest iso settings or aperture sizes but are there any general rules or simple guides i can follow. also is there anything i can do in the meantime to practice as the wedding is still a fair way off. i really want to get some nice shots and do them proud. i get the feeling they have seen the DSLR and think that all i have to do is point and shoot and all will be well. i am genuinely petrified about this prospect but please please please can you kind ladies and gentlemen point me in the right direction. many thanks in advance pete
 
I'd say your 35mm is likely to be the only usable lens with it's wide angle and large aperture. I have one too, and it's my default for indoor family type shots. The aperture will let more light in, always good indoors, but I'd be inclined to practice how the focus reacts with the shallow depth of field.
 
Can you go and look at the venue?

If so it would give you a chance to suss out what lighting there is and have a play about with some different settings.


Heather
 
If possible take a look at the venue to get an idea of the available light

I would get a decent flashgun as you may need to go wider than the 35m and your 18-55 is not as fast. Actually on a crop sensor camera you do not have a lens that is really wide so I would get an idea of what kind of group shots they may want.

But then I have no idea what a 'preliminary wedding meal' is..:confused:
 
Hi all thanks for the advice. I never thought to visit the venue first. I'm lucky as its not far from where I live. I will go and investigate and maybe even try the food while I am there! And Brian maybe I was been a bit posh saying preliminary wedding meal. Its just a bit of scran before they get married for the close family.
 
pete1w said:
Hi all thanks for the advice. I never thought to visit the venue first. I'm lucky as its not far from where I live. I will go and investigate and maybe even try the food while I am there! And Brian maybe I was been a bit posh saying preliminary wedding meal. Its just a bit of scran before they get married for the close family.
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And if they are anything like I was the B&G wont be able to eat a thing!
 
yeah dont bother, and with a 35mm lens you will have to kneel in front of the top table in order to get anything as if you stand at the side everyone will be like pin heads. your zoom would work with off camera flash. if you are comfortable with off camera flash. But seeing as your reply is utter terror then i wouldnt do it.
 
Pookeyhead said:
Then why do it? If you're not going to enjoy it, don't do it.
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I am doing it because I want to do it hence the request for the advice. I am not the main wedding photographer as I am nowhere near close enough to a standard to volunteer for that job. Its just a few photos of close family prior to the main event. I just want to do them justice on their big day.
 
Fair enough. Sounded like you were under pressure to do something you didn't want to.

The problem is lens speed here. Only your 35mm is wide enough to avoid silly ISO. The kit lens and 55-200 is f3.5f4 respectively at the wide and and 5.6 at the long end, so that's not going to be great. You have no flash equipment, so you only have the on camera flash, which I would avoid, as they always look awful.

I'd take the kit lens and 35mm, and crank up the ISO as high as you dare.

I can think of scenarios where all of your lenses may be useful, but the kit lens and 35 would probably be the the most called upon.

mart77 said:
yeah dont bother, and with a 35mm lens you will have to kneel in front of the top table in order to get anything as if you stand at the side everyone will be like pin heads. your zoom would work with off camera flash. if you are comfortable with off camera flash. But seeing as your reply is utter terror then i wouldnt do it.
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What? It's a APS-C camera... a 35 is a standard lens for that camera... it;'s not wide angle.

Ignore mart77.. he's giving terrible advice here... the 35 will be VERY useful to you!!! It's a normal lens for your camera, and is SIGNIFICANTLY faster than the other lenses.
 
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Pookeyhead said:
Fair enough. Sounded like you were under pressure to do something you didn't want to.

The problem is lens speed here. Only your 35mm is wide enough to avoid silly ISO. The kit lens and 55-200 is f3.5f4 respectively at the wide and and 5.6 at the long end, so that's not going to be great. You have no flash equipment, so you only have the on camera flash, which I would avoid, as they always look awful.

I'd take the kit lens and 35mm, and crank up the ISO as high as you dare.

I can think of scenarios where all of your lenses may be useful, but the kit lens and 35 would probably be the the most called upon.




What? It's a APS-C camera... a 35 is a standard lens for that camera... it;'s not wide angle.

Ignore mart77.. the 35 will be VERY useful to you!!! It's a normal lens for your camera, and is SIGNIFICANTLY faster than the other lenses.
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I thought he was talking about shooting the wedding breakfast.
 
It's still a standard lens for that camera... I fail to see what difference the meal makes... it's till people sitting at a table. They will not be pin heads, and he will not need to be right up against the table. A 35 is a standard lens, and will give 1x magnification. It will be far and away the most useful lens in his kit.
 
Pookeyhead said:
It's still a standard lens for that camera... I fail to see what difference the meal makes... it's till people sitting at a table. They will not be pin heads, and he will not need to be right up against the table. A 35 is a standard lens, and will give 1x magnification. It will be far and away the most useful lens in his kit.
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If you shoot stood in the sidelines you will be maybe 20 foot away. depends on the venue, you may end up further away. If he gets in among the tables then he will be fine as I say. If he wants to use the 35mm he will have to up at the top table to do it. In which case it will work. Which is what i said :P Seeing as he is low in confidence I doubt he will do that.
 
nows the time to buy a flash ,,,,,,sb600 or something
 
mart77 said:
If you shoot stood in the sidelines you will be maybe 20 foot away. depends on the venue, you may end up further away. If he gets in among the tables then he will be fine as I say. If he wants to use the 35mm he will have to up at the top table to do it. In which case it will work. Which is what i said :p Seeing as he is low in confidence I doubt he will do that.
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As its all close family members they will do what I bloody well tell em to do! I think my original post has been slightly misunderstood. The meal we are attending is prior to the actual wedding. The happy couple have got a professional photographer for the main service. Thanks all for your help and advice
 
Nah, go for it. So long as you set expectations that you're not a pro, but you'll give it a go etc. I'd say definitely go check out the venue, ideally when the light's about the same as the real thing. Stick the 35mm on, use the highest ISO you can get away with and have a look in the room where the light sources are likely to be - e.g. if it's daytime, have they got big windows on one side etc. Take a few test shots in the room and see what it looks like. If it comes down to it, sharp slightly underexposed pics are better than blurry perfectly exposed ones, especially if you shoot RAW. Don't go lower than say 1/50th second if you can help it. If you shoot wide open then hopefully you'll get away with it! Watch your focus, and make sure you get people's eyes sharp!
When it comes to processing, a little NR in Lightroom and dropping the black and shadow levels a little will hide a lot of noise, especially if you convert to B&W.
 
pete1w said:
As its all close family members they will do what I bloody well tell em to do! I think my original post has been slightly misunderstood. The meal we are attending is prior to the actual wedding. The happy couple have got a professional photographer for the main service. Thanks all for your help and advice
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ah right yeah then you will be fine with the 35 :) my 2nd shooter uses it often at weddings, will be just fine for that. thought you meant wedding breakfast.
 
Just thought I'd note that if the OP feels the need for an additional lens or two, they might consider renting it/them - no need to buy, after all, if it's just for this occasion.
 
A flash will be your main ally. I was 'volunteered' to be the main photographer for my sister-in-law's wedding last year with a Canon 450D. I would not have been without my 30mm f1.4 for the service shots and flash, which was useful for fill-in when shooting against the light when they were in front of a window signing the register.

I had no experience, but I understood my camera and shot in raw. Make sure you shoot in raw if you don't already as that will give you leeway with colour balance. If you've not used raw and are not sure about it, shoot raw + JPEG. That way, if the JPEGS turn out fine then there are no issues, but if you need to do some work with the raw file, you will have time to learn afterwards. Better to have the raw file and need to learn how to work it than to not have it in the first place.
 
Your 35 1.8 will be your best bet to avoid all the higher ISO shots, however if you can afford a flash before the event that would open up so many more opportunities not just for the day but for future use as well. If it's necessary to shoot with the on camera flash then do so, like most on here say it's not brilliant but it's better than not being able to get the shot at all, or making it look worse trying to get it bright enough in PP. The shots will look fine for people who aren't into cameras and don't see the benefit of a flashgun and your family will be happy they've got a photo to look at.
 
A decent flash would be my main tool. The f/3.5 lens would not be a problem. Check the venue ceiling for suitability for bounce flash. If it is wood or very high it's probably too dark. A white ceiling about 3.5m high is OK with a decent flash. Test it.

Expectations and confidence: Get the couple to suggest a list of "must have" shots. Work through them on the day. It'll give you something to concentrate on and a confidence boost when they're in the bag. You may need to get people to cooperate to get some shots. Be polite but be clear and confident on what you want from them. Then people are ususally happy to oblige.
 
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ianp5a said:
A decent flash would be my main tool. The f/3.5 lens would not be a problem. Check the venue ceiling for suitability for bounce flash. If it is wood or very high it's probably too dark. A white ceiling about 3.5m high is OK with a decent flash. Test it.

Expectations and confidence: Get the couple to suggest a list of "must have" shots. Work through them on the day. It'll give you something to concentrate on and a confidence boost when they're in the bag. You may need to get people to cooperate to get some shots. Be polite but be clear and confident on what you want from them. Then people are ususally happy to oblige.
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Hi. I think you have pretty much hit the nail on the head there with my high expectations (of myself) paired with my low confidence due to little experience of this kind of situation. I am more than happy to go along and snap away in auto mode but then why have a half decent camera if I can't utilise it to its full potential. I now realise photography is so much more than 'pointing and shooting' and appreciate all the work that goes into getting the kind of shots that really stand out.
 
I don't know why you don't try the onboard flash too, especially if you can do a trial run and get someone to sit as a 'crash test dummy'. You will get harsh shadows with the raw onboard flash but if you just use a simple card deflector or even a simple piece of tissue over it to use as a diffuser you will get better results. Try it out at home first, you lose nothing for trying. Plus of course putting the flash in use will boost the speed up too and allow you to go for a little more depth of field. Again, try itfirst.

The 35mm will do but the kit lens at 50mm will give better facial shape. If its just family its more likely to be quite relaxedand not need formal photos, the less formal the better for you! Plus you'll no doubt have everyone elses cameras to contend with anyway. just get a few laughs with quips.....

one last tip - KISS- keep it simple, stupid! Good luck and just enjoy having a go.
 
Gerry said:
I don't know why you don't try the onboard flash too, especially if you can do a trial run and get someone to sit as a 'crash test dummy'. You will get harsh shadows with the raw onboard flash but if you just use a simple card deflector or even a simple piece of tissue over it to use as a diffuser you will get better results. Try it out at home first, you lose nothing for trying. Plus of course putting the flash in use will boost the speed up too and allow you to go for a little more depth of field. Again, try itfirst.

The 35mm will do but the kit lens at 50mm will give better facial shape. If its just family its more likely to be quite relaxedand not need formal photos, the less formal the better for you! Plus you'll no doubt have everyone elses cameras to contend with anyway. just get a few laughs with quips.....

.
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Absolutely terrible advice here - don't use the onboard flash , its not powerful enough to bounce or diffuse effectively (you'll just wind up with under exposed shots) - get a flash gun , either hire a decent one , or buy a nissin or younogo or similar (you can get them for about 40 quid S/h) make sure its one with a poseable head

Also on a crop sensor the 35mm is a standard lens so the facial shape will be fine, the kit lens is too small a max aperture and will struggle in any non flashed interior shot. If you really want to use a 50mm , you can get a 50mm F1.8 prime pretty cheaply , but tbh although it would be good for single person portraits the field of view will be two narrow for groups of people sitting at a table
 
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Gerry said:
I don't know why you don't try the onboard flash too, especially if you can do a trial run and get someone to sit as a 'crash test dummy'. You will get harsh shadows with the raw onboard flash but if you just use a simple card deflector or even a simple piece of tissue over it to use as a diffuser you will get better results. Try it out at home first, you lose nothing for trying. Plus of course putting the flash in use will boost the speed up too and allow you to go for a little more depth of field. Again, try itfirst.

The 35mm will do but the kit lens at 50mm will give better facial shape. If its just family its more likely to be quite relaxedand not need formal photos, the less formal the better for you! Plus you'll no doubt have everyone elses cameras to contend with anyway. just get a few laughs with quips.....

one last tip - KISS- keep it simple, stupid! Good luck and just enjoy having a go.
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KISS.i like it. I think I have been my usual self here and over analysed what should be an enjoyable experience. I have considered renting a lens but at the end of the day it will still be me setting up the camera and my fat sausage fingers pressing the shutter.
 
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