All pictures are shot with a Canon 300D, 10D or 20D and a 420EX flash unit.
My lessons learned
Think again
You should only shoot a wedding if you're convinced your skills are good enough and if you have the equipment listed below. If you're (like me) not a professional photographer you should make it very clear to the couple that you're not. If they've seen some of your photo's and are comfortable (i.e. impressed) than it's ok. On the plus side most couples are far less of a perfectionist than you may be. I've never had a complaint, quite the opposite in fact) and I must say I loved doing it.
Picture details: 1/90s @ f5.6, ISO 400, 28mm, flash fired
Don't shoot a friend's wedding
Apart from the fact that you have a huge problem if you screw up, it's impossible to be focused when you know a lot of people at the wedding.
Clearly define what you will and will not shoot
A full day of shooting is exhausting and stressful. You must be fully concentrated almost the entire day. You may also be asked to stay and shoot the party all the way to the end. Be clear about this up-front.
Shoot the important people
Try to find out who the important people are. This is perhaps the most difficult part of shooting a wedding and at the same time one of the most important things for the couple. If you're lucky the family and best friends wear some sort of flower to set them apart from the rest. Usually the morning gathering is your best chance at shooting the important people, however they will looked stressed then. But at least at that time you can try to remember who's important (and who's not). Getting this right is what separates an amateur from a professional.
Be prepared, be earlyMost of the items below come down to being prepared during the day and even prior to that to minimize your stress level. Arrive at the locations as early as possible. Get the time schedule, addresses and the mobile phone numbers of the masters of ceremony. Get a navigational system. You should appear to be relaxed otherwise you'll freak out the bride.
Picture details: 1/200 @ f/4, ISO 200, 50mm
Equipment - Two camera's
Most important of all. Consider what would happen if your single camera failed just prior to "the kiss"? Additionally, it means you don't have to switch lenses all the time. Obviously, you need a DSLR and not a fixed lens alternative. Personally, I've been faced with the dreaded Err 99 error twice, which freezes the camera completely and can only be resolved by removing lens and batteries. Perhaps you can start by borrowing a second camera, preferably a similar camera that you're familiar with.
Equipment - plenty of memory cards
Similarly, consider what would happen if you ran out of memory space? You can also get a Photowallet of some sort. Carry the memory card with you instead of in the bag. The bag is sometimes at a different location than you are and the cards are small enough to keep with you. I have about 4GB in total, but that's only enough for high quality JPEG shooting and not RAW.
Equipment - external flash and omni bounce or reflector for the flash
The flash on your semi-professional camera body sucks big time. Buy a proper external flash that allows you to bounce the light off the ceiling. When the ceiling is too high or just not there an omni bounce or flash-mounted reflector will produce nicer shots than a direct flash. Here's a great article about flash photography using weddingshots as examples.
Shoot detailsMuch time has been spent on making getting all the details of the wedding right. Flowers and other decoration, the wedding cake, table settings. Capture those details by making close-ups.
Picture details: 1/200s @ f1.8, ISO 800, 50mm
Equipment - enough batteries for your camera and a battery pack
Again, consider what would happen if you ran out of juice on an important moment. 4 batteries (two per camera) is enough if the batteries aren't too old. A battery pack is not only convenient because you don't have to switch batteries, it also serves as a proper handgrip and will provide a better balance. Additionally, it makes people think you're professional and know what you're doing ;-)
Equipment - enough batteries for your flash, use 2300 mAh and up
Same thing. Two sets of batteries is good. The problem with batteries that are less than 2300 mAh is that the refresh time is too slow. You'll be waiting for it to recharge. This can be especially problematic during "the kiss". Never bring non-rechargeable batteries as backup. You may not know this, but they have much less power than rechargeable batteries (around 1400 mAh).
Equipment - wide angle lens
As you'll know most digital SLRs have a crop factor of 1.6 turning your 28mm into a 35mm lens. This is not so much a problem for group pictures but it is when you're on a crammed reception or a dance floor that's really too small. You need something like 17mm or you can only shoot one person at a time...
Equipment - a fast portrait lensCouples expect portraits. The secret to making beautiful professional looking portraits is a good lens. Pretty much the only way to get a nice blurry background is with a really fast lens. With fast I mean f1.8 or faster. Canon has a cheap (approx 120 euro) but great 50mm 1.8 lens. You'll notice most of the pictures in this article are shot with this lens.
Picture details: 1/800s @ f1.8, ISO 100, 50mm
A lens with such a large aperture also allows for available light shooting in a church or other places where there's limited ligth, but it has to be noted that the DOF (Depth of Field) at f1.8 is so small that if you don't focus exactly on the eyes your pictures will be out of focus. Also, these lenses provide a sharper result when "stopped down" to a value between f2 and f2.8, however this cannot be accomplished when there is little light available, unless using a tripod.
btw The reason that it's more difficult to get a blurry background with a digital camera is that the CCD or the CMOS of a digital SLR 1.6 times smaller than a 35mm analogue film (without getting into the technical details). Currently, only two professional digital Canon SLR camera's don't have this issue (5D and the 1Ds). This is also why it's nearly impossible to make a nice portrait with a compact camera, that has an even smaller CCD (causing the lens to be put closer to the CCD).
Equipment - a telelensFor a wedding, I consider a telelens not really that important as the other lenses described. It can be useful at the reception to make pictures without disturbing anyone. Again, to get a nice blurry background you'll need a fast lens. For a telelens, 2.8 is great but very expensive. They do tend to look a bit intimidating for the quests...
Picture details: 1/4000s @ f1.8, ISO 400, 50mm, no flash, +1,5 steps exposure compensation. Technically, ISO should have been set to 100. One of the very few things I dislike about the Canon 20D is the lack of ISO information in the viewfinder.
Equipment - camera bag
Wedding photography requires a different type of bag than you may have for traveling. It's important that things can easily be reached. It also helps if you always store your things in the same place inside the bag so you don't have to look for it.
Equipment - tripod?
Not the most important thing. It's a pain to carry around with you. You may consider using it when shooting with long exposures in the church.
Shoot lots a pictures?
It's better to take one good shot than many bad ones. True. But with digital photography you do have the luxury of being close to unlimited to the number of shots you can take. Changes are a couple of them will be good. Taking a lot of shots may be considered compensating for a lack of proper skills. I often joke during the wedding that I take so many pictures because I'm a lousy photographer... However, the couple is generally quite pleased to have so many shots to choose from. They will, however, also expect at least a number of great shots that they can use to send to their friends after the wedding.
Eat and drink you must
Take Yoda's advice. It's very easy to forget this and you'll end up with a headache. The stress will make you sweat and burn more energy more than usual.
Difficult hatsYou may not notice it initially, but the large hats that women often wear create a shade in the eyes that's difficult to retrieve even with Photoshop. Flashing may also not work if your flash is positioned too high (above the hat). You're best bet then is to take the shot from as low as possible.
Picture details: notice that the eyes on the left are a too dark. 1/125s @ f7.1, ISO 100, 40mm, no flash fired
Anticipate events
Below are listed some of the events that a typical wedding will include. If you're out chatting to grandma or reviewing your shots on the LCD you may miss an important shot so it's important to be at the right place at the right time. When in doubt about what's next ask the best man or the masters of ceremony.
The bride coming down the stairsOften there's a strong backlight behind the bride confusing your light meter. Don't even consider taking these shots without a flash. Use your flash power wisely. Photoshop is your friend if you screw this up.
Picture details: 1/60s @ f4, ISO 400, 28mm, flash used
Taking group pictures
Ask the couple to determine up-front which combinations to make. Start with the largest group and then remove people. Don't take responsibility for gathering people, ask the masters of ceremony to do that. Try to elevate yourself, this will somewhat reduce the distance between the people in the front and the back. The group should ideally be in the shade. In case of backlighting you'll definitely need to fill the eyes by using the flash.
Only in this case the flash can be direct instead of bounced otherwise the effect will be minimal.Picture details: 1/200s @ f10, ISO 100, 17-40 4L @ 17mm
Because of the difference between people standing in front and in the back it's beneficial/important to use a smaller aperture (such as f8) if the lighting conditions allow for it. Boosting the ISO to 400 (but no further) may help here, even though this will reduce the color somewhat. Alternatively, a tripod will also help off course. Especially a group of people on a stairs implies a very large distance between the couple in the front and the people in the back. I would suggest to focus on the couple rather than somewhere in between. The further away you are from the group, the less of an issue this will be.
Flashing inside the churchIf the schedule includes a church than you have some different challenges. Churches are usually quite dark and some churches apparently don't allow you to flash although I've not come across this. However, even if you can flash it's still much nicer not to. The light is often very soft and warm.
Here's where you need a fast lens more than ever. I usually set my camera too 400 or 800 ISO which is acceptable when you filter out the noise afterwards. Combined with aperture f1.8 this usually just enough for a shutter speed of 1/45 or 1/60 on my 50mm lens. It's nice to make portraits of the people on the front row and the couple. However, for the action shot (the kiss) I use a flash to be safe.Picture details: 1/45s @ f1.8, ISO 800, no flash, 50mm
Your lens should be silent
Especially in the church a noisy lens is not really appreciated. Canon's USM lenses are all silent. The 1.8 50mm is not USM unfortunately but doesn't have to move it's glass very far so it's not too much of an issue in my opinion. I've recently purchased the Canon 50mm 1.4 USM which is silent, but it's approximately 4 times the price. Another thing to note, unrelated to lenses, is that the Canon 20D has a noisier shutter than the 10D.
Shooting the couple from the side with large aperture
When the couple is sitting or standing it's a good time to get a shot of both of them from the side. However, when there's not too much light, the aperture will be large and the depth-of-field will be limited (for example with the f1.8 lens). The person in the back will be out of focus. Unless this is intentional you may need to try and get more in front of the couple.
The kissBy many considered to be the crucial moment for the photographer. Sometimes (with a shy couple) the kiss is brief but mostly it's quite long. The mistake I made on my first shoot is to assume that you can start shooting just before the kiss and then keep shooting. Normally this would be true. Not with a flash... Unless you have fully charged batteries and/or a very good flashgun it's likely that your flash stops flashing after the first or second flash. You may end up missing the crucial moment. So be patient and confident and wait until they properly kiss...
Picture details: 1/500s @ f1.8, ISO 800, 50mm
Signatures momentAsk all people that have to sign to look into the lens and check that the picture is correct on your LCD. Don't be ashamed to ask again. Always position yourself correctly facing the person signing. Shooting them from the back is obviously useless. Kneel on the ground and shoot from below.
Moving targets, after the ceremony
After the ceremony usually the couple leaves the building and moves quickly towards you going through the crowd.
This is usually the shot the couples end up sending to their friends to thank them. Unfortunately, this is also a very tricky shot to get right because the couple is moving and your focus may quickly be off. To overcome this I always ask the couple (before the wedding) to pause a moment and wave at the crowd. A similar moment is when the father a bride enter the room together. In this case you cannot ask them to pause. I did not find the AI Focus or AI Servo setting on the camera useful to anticipate movement, but perhaps I need more practice. I also never use the automatic focus point selection; I keep it set to the middle focus point.Picture details: lost..., I think this was caused by the "Save for Web" feature in Photoshop. I applied some pretty intense sharpening to save this picture.
Dragging the shutter at the partyHow to create pictures at the party without blowing away the nice colors from the party lights with your flash? You set the camera to shutter speed priority at 1/30, the ISO to 800 and the flash on and perhaps slightly reduced in strength. The flash will freeze the motion while keeping a lot of the natural light and the background will be far less dark. This will create beautiful results. To deliberately add motion during dancing you can even experiment with 1/15. There's an excellent article about this.
Picture details: 1/30 @ f/4, ISO 800, 17-40 4L @ 40mm. Deliberately darkened the background to make the bride jump out.
Shade is your friend
All photography principals apply to wedding photography. If at all possible avoid taking pictures in the sun even when the family thinks it's a great idea for the group pictures to be shot in the sun. A CCD or CMOS deals with extreme contrasts worse than film and your pictures will look amateur like. The only exception is a backlight subject combined with fill flash or exposure compensation.
Convert to black and white afterwards not during
There's really no point using the black and white feature inside the camera. It's far better to do this afterwards using a tool like Photoshop of Nik Color Efex Pro. This way you still have the choice.
Delete the bad pictures, not during the day
Don't spend time or battery deleting pictures during the day. You can hardly judge your pictures on the little LCD and even a bad picture may turn out to be useful when your editing. Remove images that are really not good (closed eyes, out of focus) or duplicate.
Photoshop is your friendThank God for Photoshop. I always have a lot of respect for photographers that still use film and have limited editing possibilities. My personal opinion is that any type of editing is justified as long as the couple likes it (or doesn't notice it...). You do have to ask yourself if you're still earning money when you're spending so much time behind the computer. A lot of photographers don't like it. I enjoy using Photoshop almost as much as the photography itself so no problem there. My edits often even include making the teeth whiter and removing the dark area below the eyes.
Picture details: 1/2000s @ f1.8, ISO 100, 50mm. Shot with RAW. Masking done in Photoshop.
Blend in with the crowd and about the video man
Most couples don't like it when a photographer is very "present". I would suggest to wear at least a shirt and tie. A suit can be too warm at times. If there's a video man you'll need to share the space with him. You can also check with the couple beforehand who takes priority. I once shared the space with a very friendly video man and it turned out fine. It's all about mutual respect.
Delivery afterwards in sRGB
AdobeRGB is of higher quality then sRGB. I shoot in AdobeRGB and then convert to sRGB at the very end of the workflow (see my article on this). At first I delivered both. Now I only deliver sRGB. When an AdobeRGB image is viewed with a viewer that's not equipped for that, the color of the image will look washed out. Most viewers (such as the standard XP image viewer, IE and Firefox) expect sRGB. I really wish had known this earlier.
Commercial considerations
My guess is that most non-pro's ask between 600-1200 euro for a full day (including part of the party) in the Netherlands, also depending on whether hardcopy prints are included or not. I choose not to deliver hard copy prints but only a DVD or CD's.
You must realize editing and delivering after the actual wedding day can take 1 to 2 (or even 3!) full days. For analogue shoots this is obviously not the case. But it's fair to assume your pictures will improve because of this editing. On the other hand, the better your pictures are when you shoot them the less editing is required afterwards...
OtherThere are books available and articles online. I found that most books focus on the formal (dare I say American?) style of shooting weddings with studio flashes and well defined checklists of the shots to be taken. Some literature will tell you to go to the locations up-front. That's a little too much for me, because it will just take too much time. The modern way of shooting weddings is called "photojournalist style", meaning you capture the spirit and the events of the day as well as possible without making it seem unnatural. A book I liked is called "The Best of Digital Wedding Photography". Actually mine is the non-digital version by the same author.
Picture details: 1/20s @ f/4, ISO 800, 28-135 IS @ 44mm
Links
Digital Wedding Forum
Photographing a Friend's or Relative's Wedding
Wedding Photography Part 1 technique
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