First Wedding

[metalgearsolid]

So I'm about to shoot my first wedding this satuday as a favor for a friend and need some advice. What should I use for indoor lighting and which flash/lens should i be using 80% of the time.

My gears are a 70-200mm, 24-70mm, 50mm, 110mm macro, and 16-35mm. Only camera i have now is a D7000. With two flashes SB700 and SB900 and one gary fong light sphere.

[BenE]

I looked at the date of the post... Today, Friday, and the wedding is tomorrow?

Good luck. With no more information given , I would venture a guess. 24-70mm, with either strobe.

[bryanlindsey]

Definitely use the Fong...it's the mark of a pro.

[metalgearsolid]

YEAH I KNOW TODAY IS FRIDAY. lol ok i just found out that i can NOT use flash inside the church... gahh. and there are specific areas photographers can be so I'm going to go with the 70-200mm

[ndsimm]

hopefully your lenses are 2.8's because if not you are going to have problems shooting a wedding with no flash and limited distance. Most photographers with experience do it, but since this is your first one, I wish you good luck and please make sure that the friends you are doing this favor for understand your limitations for the sake of the friendship....

[auddii]

Definitely take a tripod. If you don't have one, borrow a friend's. If you don't have friends with one, try and rent one (don't know if that's possible).

And +1000 to being realistic with your friends and make sure their expectations aren't too high. I have not heard of direct cases, but many people on this forum have mentioned many friendships ruined over weddings gone wrong.

Good luck.

[KenJulio]

First, i'm not a wedding photographer and not a pro, I'm sure someone will correct anything I misstate.

Ceremony
I'm assuming you have Nikon glass instead of Sigma, if so, the 24-70 and 70-200 will be your workhorses. Get there early, do some test shots, figure out what ISO you can live with to get your shutter speed to something decent.

Reception
I would go with the 16-35 or 24-70 and bounce the flash off the ceiling, assuming theyre not 30ft tall or black. You could get some rim light dance shots with a single flash if placed properly, using Nikon's CLS.

A bit off topic, if you have the AF beep turned on, turn it off!

[LadyShutterBug]

if you don't mind sharing the locations we may be able to further assist with lighting/lens choice.

there will probably be a church lady/minister who can't wait to tell you what you can't do... so just smile and make mental notes.

[David Whatley]

Borrow a 2nd camera, and I would suggest it be a nikon so you can use your len's.

[khanhfat]

Surprisingly, I think I met him yesterday :), I was doing second at the reception. He's doing fine, very active to get the shot :D. Though I haven't seen his photos yet to give some advice during the wedding reception.

[metalgearsolid]

Lol wussup khanh?!

[Howard Barlow]

Well??? How did it go?

[metalgearsolid]

it went great, though i could've taken better shots, still figuring out all the settings. Most of them came out blurry, a few decent ones.

[J Eddington]

Originally Posted by metalgearsolid

it went great, though i could've taken better shots, still figuring out all the settings. Most of them came out blurry, a few decent ones.

This makes no sense, if most were blurry then it did not go great!

[metalgearsolid]

well out of the 5 shots i took during each frame, most will be blurry.