Photographer's Note
My mentor said, wedding photography photojournalism style is tough. In fact it is the toughest, and a lot more demanding compared to, say, sport/action photography. And no room for mistakes and no excuses. You missed it, you lost it and your client might not be so eager to pay. You must understand, a wedding is a once in a life time kind of thing and there's no such thing as a "retake" the next day. You bungled it, you die.
To have a good chance of coming through a wedding event, you need a quick and responsive low light lens or fast lenses. So what is fast lens? If you see F2.8, F1.8 or F1 on the lens's marking, this is what most photographers labelled as "Fast Lens". The F number thing is the widest aperture the lens could see through. The smaller the number, the "faster" the aperture speed you could go with it. We all know, handholding at aperture speed of less than 1/60 is asking for trouble. Unless you are anything like Norbert :)
If you can't get this fast lenses, get those lenses with image stabilizers. If you see abbreviations like IS, VR on the lens, short of you being epileptic, you have better/more chance of getting your picture sharp, when the ambience is in low light using these image stabilized lens.
You also need very much the best flash that works 100% with your camera. If you haven't been to a wedding, I would like you to know, the setting inside the church is a lot like a romantic candle light setting. It's not like they have a flood light daylighting the event! Beside this 100% reliability with your camera, get the flash that can swivel left, right, up and down, with TTL exposure and Flash Exposure Compensation or FEC. Those flashes with one way flashing, reminiscence of the retriever stance, just doesn't cut it anymore.
Select the highest ISO in your digital which has an "acceptable" noise, the kind of which NeatImage has no problem removing. On average, that would be ISO 400. In sport photography, we believe it is better be grainy than blurry. It is a lot easier to fix grainy images than blurry images don't you think.
If you think you couldn't hack it or will not having fun doing wedding photography, then you better don't.
But there's something similar to Wedding Photography.
Here's the run down. You couldn't control the event just like wedding but you have great light, unlike wedding's. It is casual, loud and exciting to everyone unlike wedding which is formal, romantically or religiously quiet and the only ones excited is the bride & bridegroom. The last time I checked, they even have a magazine for this kind of events; Sport Illustrated.
Critiques | Translate
ywho79
(384) 2004-12-20 1:25
Beautiful picture of a beautiful moment. I am shopping for an auto flash myself too for my S7000Z. Luckilly I saw your note first.
GrahamB
(939) 2004-12-20 3:26
Nice shot, I like the tight framing. You have handled the exposure well which can also tricky at weddings with a bright white dress for her and a dark suit for him. You have managed to keep detail in both here.
One thing keeps drawing my eye to it now I have noticed it - the grooms pocket flap is sticking up. From the pointed finger of the minister I guess it wasn't a good time to ask the groom to sort this out for you!
shutterbug
(531) 2004-12-20 3:42
I know what you mean Rabani...I have shot a wedding, but only one and it was HECTIC!!! Although I was lucky enough that it was an outdoor wedding up in the mountains in beautiful lighting conditions with an absolutely amazing background for each photo...all this and I still swear that I couldn't do it for a living. :D I wish I would have been able to read your notes before I shot it, sure would have came in handy, very informative. Great job, I love the POV it's all that is needed to show this is a wedding. Great job!
~Stacey
RGatward
(20108) 2004-12-20 3:47
... and the hardest thing of all, which you don't mention, is to do something original with the genre, which you've managed very well here. Nice work.
PixelTerror
(0) 2004-12-20 4:51
Hi Rabani, it's a very well detailed note with a superb background, sounds like a shopping guide before Christmas ! I think many of us can learn a lot studying carefully what you have written.
I think you should post a note like this in the technical forum, as it will have more chances there to remain and be seen.
BTW, busy reading I almost forgot the photo... great light on it, superb sharpness, beautiful colors and interesting composition including all essential elements of the wedding in this tiny space, well done !
supereira
(9576) 2004-12-20 6:15
Great shot.Very good colors and good contrast between them.Great textures ,light and sharpness.Very good point of view and framing.Well done!
jhm
(211734) 2004-12-20 7:04
A very beautiful bouquet flower, Rabani, the book and the finger of the man is excellent to seen on screen, very great note too. The colours are really.
Thanks for visiting at my 300th photograph and sharing.
Hanssie
(11022) 2004-12-20 7:55
Once I did the wedding for my brother-in-law and his wife. They asked me and then I had long nights without sleep.....but when it goes wrong ? I decided to do it and I succeeded very well, the serie was very good but I'll never do it again.....
This shot is excellent, great colours and sharpness and a very good composition, nice Rabani !
ChrisJ
(171146) 2004-12-21 3:35
Hi Rabani
A good detail shot from a wedding. Excellent accompanying note. Good lighting, sharpness & color.
elihesamian
(26149) 2004-12-21 14:56
Beautiful,a lovely moment with an excellent POV which you well cropped with your eyes,very fine ,neat and real,I like it,nicely captured and really very well composed,Great work,Rabani.
maphoto
(8082) 2004-12-21 22:52
Very nice Rabani, excellent composition with great details for the scene, colors and sharpness are outstanding, great informative note, thanks for sharing.
alford
(4063) 2004-12-22 5:39
Very detailed and useful notes, Rabani! I see you're now trying your luck in wedding photography :) I like the solemness in your pic, you've captured it perfectly, and of course, the sharpness is again excellent! Great shot! I'll remember your notes when if ever I get the chance to shoot some amateur wedding photos. merry xmas and rgds.
Piotr
(0) 2004-12-23 8:17
Original wedding ceremony detail, interesting composition, well done
Regards, piotr
Photo Information
-
Copyright: Rabani HMA (rabani)
(9645)
- Genre: Gente
- Medium: Color
- Date Taken: 2004-12-19
- Categories: Ceremonias
- Camera: Canon EOS 300D, Sigma 24-70 f/2.8
- Exposición: f/9.0, 1/250 segundos
- Versión de la foto: Versión original
- Tema(s): Weddings, Marriages [view contributor(s)]
- Date Submitted: 2004-12-20 0:37