This shoot was much longer than my previous wedding shoot. This was nearly a straight 15 hour day for me. My footwear and neck held up but my left arm was beginning to ache near the end of the day. It was cool being able to witness and shoot Liz at her mom's home as she was getting ready for her big day. Having those big mirrors in the room allowed me to play with the angles better and it allowed me to stay out of the hair stylist's way as she was working her magic. The room also has a lot of character, it definitely had a different feel in comparison to getting ready at a hotel. Having more open space allowed for more different types of shots. The lighting was trickier this time around, the room was bathed in sunlight which was a different from the candle light which was also different from the incandescent light as well. I choose not to use flash during this portion fearing that the mirror would catch too much of it. I was recommended by another photographer post wedding that I should try to bounce my flash next time.
The shoot at the hotel was different, from the shooting done at the house. The room was smaller, more narrow and we had less time, I didn't want to get in the primary shooters way but it was definitely harder to get the angles going in a smaller room and more people around the same room at the same time. There was a couple times where I got in the other photographer's shot and I definitely wanted to get different shots than the other guy because there isn't really a point to have 2 photographers if they both came back with the same stuff.
At the church, I like to add that this was the first time that I got told to walk into the women's restroom. Was purely for photographic purposes I'm telling you, but that doesn't sound any better does it. Anyways, the lighting for the ceremony was pretty easy to work with. Not too dark where I needed a flash. No funky lighting coming from windows. The difficultly came with the room design. The only way to move from aisle to aisle was from the very front else you have to go through doors to in the back. The other photographer and I mainly just picked an aisle and stuck to it. I had to trust that he would get the shots that I couldn't and likewise I had to make sure I get the shots that he couldn't. That being said I tried to do profile shots of the bride's maids walking down the center. The other photographer was shooting down the middle and I wanted something different. I did get the shot but since people were between me and the ladies it was a distracting shot. I ended up with half body shots at best. I should try this shot again only if there is a walkway between the aisles where I can do more of a full body type shot. If not next time maybe I should just shoot from the back just before they enter the room. I'm happy to say that I got the kiss from the front room and nearly dead center. I made sure I was there for it this time. The ring shot was harder to get this time around. The stage had more stuff to move through and would have been too distracting for me to walk up that close to get a good shot in. The stage was setup beautifully but the decoration made a perimeter around the couple and pastor, something I just didn't want to invade.
The group pictures after the wedding went by smoothly besides the fact that between me and the other guy we lost his diffuser cap. The only difficulty we experienced was that we setup 2 flash on tripods aimed at either 30% or 60% depends on how you look at it, with pillow like diffusers, that are triggered by ir from the main flash on my camera. The ideal angle would have been 45% but the row of pews were in the way and we couldn't quickly get around it, also one of the stands could only be raised up so much, maybe about 6.5 to 7 ft. Most of the shots came out fine, we ran into trouble when we did big groups where we had 3 rooms of friends and family in the shot. Also for some reason my flash seem to be more hot than his. Maybe my flash was closer to the group than his, I can't remember anymore.
The trip to the reception was the scariest. The guy I rode with blatantly ran a red that was red for over a second or 2 before we crossed. My love and appreciation for the other drivers out there that kindly waited for us to cross before moving.
The reception site looked like a huge barn house. The roof and ceiling was too high to bounce a flash off of. I just relied on the bounce card on the flash the rest of the night. At this point I should have blew up my pillow diffuser and strapped it on. The lighting was dim and nice for the occasion but it didn't mean it was easy for me to shoot in. I think the main reason why I didn't use the diffuser was that I left it in the other car and I didn't want to give up any shots because I was too busy tracking down the driver and his car.
What I've learned:
- Bride moves faster than I thought.
- Bring everything whether you think you need it or not.
- Another 8gb CF card might be handy, I keep having to make a transfer mid way.
What was done well:
- Making better use of my angles.
- Found the squeaks in the floor of the church before hand and just avoided those areas.
- Didn't go under iso 1600 for the whole day.
What to work on before the next one:
- How to shoot in more low light settings like the reception
- More confidence with flash
- How to take pictures where the dancing couple is in focus but the rest of the room is blurred
Congratz and best wishes Liz and Greg!
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