Go ahead and make yourself a sandwich or a cup of coffee. I practically wrote a book.
That's great that people are interested in your work and want to hire you for it!
But to tell you the truth, you should have declined the offer and said that they need to hire a professional, ESPECIALLY if the client is going to be a friend or family.
A wedding is a once in a lifetime event (sometimes
), Do you really think you can do it justice? I sure can't. I've never shot a wedding, but have had many people ask me to do it, and every time I do it i tell them they need to hire a pro that knows what they're doing. I'm a street/landscape/studio product photographer.
The reason I say to decline the job if it's friends or family is because you can ruin your relationship with them. I've seen it happen twice. One of my friends got hired to shoot a wedding, she was using a Rebel and the 18-55 kit. She didn't get a single sharp image inside the church, and the outside shots, although sharp were horrible. She charged $1200, and even though she got her money, she lost a friend because she didn't know what she was doing. The other person forgot that the wedding is mostly about the bride.
I don't know if I'm being harsh enough or not, but what I'm trying to tell you is that you should not be
the shooter. The bride and groom's best bet is to hire a professional and if you still want to shoot, you be an assistant or a 2nd shooter for the pro.
Now even though i'm not a wedding photographer, i still know a few things about it. So i'm going to tell you what I do know.
Ok, lets say you've tried your best to tell these people that you're not going to shoot this, but they're reluctant and you really do end up shooting this thing. This is what you need to get, and this is what you need to give them to fill out before
the day, and you need to make sure that you can get all that they check.
probably not THIS, but something like it.
Ok, once you've got that squared away, you need different equipment. The D40 is a cool body, but it's lacking as an SLR, and don't even think about using the 18-55mm. I wouldn't walk into a wedding without what I'm about to list, so I hope that you or your client has money, because as a minimum you're going have to rent/buy/find everything as follows:
-At least one assistant. You're going to need an assistant to do what you can't. Assistants rock for holding fill cards, carrying gear, shooting at the other side of the scene, etc…
-A pop out fill card or reflector, or both. These are LIFE SAVERS. These are circular discs that work like pop out tents. I suggest getting one that's just white on one side, and gold reflector on the other. That way, if you're shooting at noon, you can have your assistant hold it at an angle of the subject and bounce light back into the nose shadow and eye sockets of the subject. Because the sun is such a small pint in the sky, it's a specular light source, so the shadows cast from is are going to be harsh, and contrasty. You need to lower that contrast ratio to get a flattering portrait.
-A scrim. Scrims are used to knock down light and give it direction. If it's an overcast day, you're going to have diffused light coming from the top of people's heads. Use a scrim to give the light some real direction and create some shadows on a side of someone's face. You can use a black piece of foam cor from office depot for this.
-A monopod. Tripods are obnoxious, big, and cumbersome. A monopod will suffice with the glass you're going to need to rent anyway.
-If the event is going to take place inside, ABSOLUTLY buy a speedlight. I'm not saying you need an SB-800, but at least an SB-600. I love my SB-600 and could not live without it, you should have one of these anyway if you take your photography seriously. It does 90% of what the SB-800 does. You'll need the SB-600 to bounce flash off of bright walls and ceilings to give a natural sense of illumination and you need it as fill flash in broad outdoors if your assistant is busy, or you don't have time for the fill card. You need to learn how to balance fill flash in daylight and a variety of darker lighting situations. You need to learn how to do slow sync flash so that you can still get the ambient light in your shot and so your subject isn't lit and everything else is black. Balanced flash is CRITICAL. You can use your D40 for that in the meantime, it's got the incredible i-TTL flash system, so it gives disgustingly consistent results. Go grab your brother and use him as a model. Using fill flash in the shade works well.
-Leave the D40 behind, get at least
two D80's. larger buffer, larger body, WB trims, more buttons on the outside for quicker access of simple things so you don't have to franticly flip though LCD menu's just to change simple things such as your AF mode from single to continuous. I've lost awesome opportunities because I was doing that. On my D70. Good SLR's have the important adjustments at the tip of your fingers and can do them instantly. The D80 has MUCH better AF too, it's more sensitive, faster, and has 11 points, critical for moving subjects. People will also get out of your way if they see a big camera.
-Leave the 18-55 kit at home and rent/buy the Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 DX, 70-200 f/2.8 VR (or 80-200 f/2.8D), and the 50mm f/1.8. The 18-55 kit is little but a paperweight in comparison these lenses. You'll put the 17-55 on one body and the 70-200 on the other, and carry them at the same time. That way you'll be able to react faster and wont' need to interchange lenses, just switch bodies. Out of what I listed above, I shoot with the 17-55 f/2.8 DX and 80-200 f/2.8D and they're flat-out incredible. You have more creative control with pro-caliber glass because you'll be able to open the aperture to f/2.8 and throw the background out of focus, and still have a tack sharp image, thus giving a finished and professional look. The lousy 18-55 tends to bring everything in focus because it's such a slow lens and is f/5.6 at the long end. Using pro-caliber lenses also allows you to shoot at faster shutter speeds because the aperture is wider. For example, take a picture with the 18-55 kit lens, wide open. Let's say the exposure is 1/30th of a second at 55mm and f/5.6 ISO 200. Support is required, you cannot hand hold that unless you bump up your ISO to 400 or 800 where the exposure would be 1/60th of a second at ISO 400 and 1/125th of a second at ISO 800. If you were shooting with the 17-55 f/2.8 lens, that same exposure would be 1/125th of a second at 55mm, f/2.8, ISO 200. With two stops less in your ISO, and two stops faster in your aperture, you'll have less noise, AND you'll be able to hand hold it! Use the 50mm f/1.8 for formal, posed portraits because than the background will REALLY be thrown out of focus. But you need to watch out for that shallow aperture, for portraits, you absolutely need to focus on the eyes, that's where people connect. The 70-200 VR is the telephoto where the 17-55 just doesn't get close enough. It's also fantastic for portraits, but the 50mm is a lot easier to work with.
-Bring many spare batteries, and at least 4GB worth of memory. I suggest 4 1GB memory cards because it's safer. If one card goes corrupt you don't lose all your images. Don't be an idiot, shoot NEF's.
If you're lost in what I just talked about in the above paragraphs, ask yourself if you're ready for this.
Alright, so you've got your equipment, you've got an assistant or two, you're ready to go shooting right? Wrong. You need to know about posing and composition.
-For flattering images of brides make sure they never have their arms bent (a slight bend is best, but not straight!) while holding her bouquet. Read though womens magazines like Vogue and Cosmopolitan.Yeah, yeah, whatever, I know, but look in themto see how the models pose to get a good idea.
-Remember,
THE WEDDING IS ABOUT THE BRIDE.
-Use architecture to lead the viewers eye to the subject and possibly frame them in. It's a great graphical tool.
-Use camera tilt! Don't' get carried away, but a few intentionally tilted photos gives the photos some variety and makes them dynamic! Have the subjects looking into the frame, not out of it when you do this.
-Don't be afraid to get in on details like the bride and groom holding hands or as they put the ring on. close-ups of the nervous look on the grooms face as he eagerly waits his bride before the ceremony or simply a flower arrangement that catches your eye-a lot of money is spent on wedding flowers and it's nice to show the couple simple generic images that bring back memories. Some photographers take still life shots of the brides shoes or if her dress has an unusual feature. The still life's are often the best shots. Try to get the reception hall before everyone crams in there, get close ups of the cake, candles, table arrangements, etc..
- Try experimenting taking pictures of the first dance using a very slow shutter speed giving your images a sense of movement and if possible use only ambient light to accentuate the mood. I'm talking about something along the lines of 1/10th of a second, ISO 100, and panning the subject, so they are still relatively sharp, and the rest of the scene is blurred.
That's really all I can think of off the top of my head, If you do decide to go shoot it, HAVE FUN!
EDIT, I think this is the longest post i've ever written on here.
