[Sandy Hancock]

I'm not sure what you mean by more patterned fabrics? Like Hawaiian shirts?

I was thinking more about tulle, lace, and the herring bone pattern in some satin, that sort of thing. Cameras without an anti-aliasing filter (like the K-5 IIs) can create unflattering moire in the sort of fabrics brides like to use in their dresses. The sharper the shot, the worse it is, and it can be quite tricky to deal with in post-processing.

The quieter shutter is a good point though. I haven't owned a K-30 or K-50, but I certainly appreciate the quietness of my K-5 IIs and K-3 when I am surrounded by Canons going off next to me

[pentaxgirl86]

I've done a few weddings for friends, some paid, some not. Since this is not your vocation, I'd suggest just keeping things simple and stick to your strengths. A lot will be going on and you'll want to do the best you can, but if you reach too far out of your comfort zone, you may not have the time to sort things out and things move fast at weddings. Figure out the focal length you need based on where you are and keep the cam glued to your eye and wait for the happy expressions. If you keep the cam at your chest, when it happens it's too late. You'll be watching the wedding through a viewfinder but you'll get natural expressions.

Since you're going to be on a beach, presumably with sun, make sure you don't over expose! Dial in at least 7/10's underexposure, shoot raw, and fix it in post. Take some shots of her dress and make sure they are not too overexposed. I know this is hard when it's sunny and her dress is white. Look and evaluate your shots often! Make sure your settings aren't wrong for too long, though it will happen at some point. When it does, fix it and don't beat yourself up. They asked you to help - they know your experience level - they will be happy that you were around to help. When the lights get dim, don't underexpose as much since your iso's will be higher and may not give you as much opportunity to fix it in software without paying a huge noise penalty. If it's uneven light with some serious dark areas, figure out where the well lit areas are where there will be activity and camp there. Or use your flash if you have to.

Figure out how you will carry this gear without damaging it (sand, banging cams into each other, etc). A messenger bag works great for easy switching of bodies - just make sure it doesn't have velcro - imagine a quiet part of the ceremony and you have to change bodies and you fill the air with velcro ripping sounds - ugh.

Try to get pics of guests and family even if they are sitting down - wait for a moment when they are smiling, take your photo and move to get another persons photo - wedding photogs often overlook some people.

Remember to eat! Even if you have to have a energy bar in your bag, keep your body fueled up. Have water on you and stay hydrated. Any meds you might need like advil, sunscreen, bug spray - it's got to fit in your cam bag.

As far as camera settings, I'd suggest putting the cam on machine gun drive mode - people blink, memory is cheap, and choose the best shot later. I often shoot in AV mode with ISO on auto allowing it to go to 6400 or higher if you have to.

These are just some random thoughts - good luck and remember to have fun!

Great tips!!! I am always afraid of using high iso with my k50, I feel like the noise it absolutely unacceptable over 800 but I guess I should get used to it if I need to shoot indoors. Thanks for all of the recommendations to eat, drink ex.. it's amazing how we can overlook those things when we are in the zone.

I really appreciate everyones help on this thread! I will get my extra gear reserved for the big day!

---------- Post added 09-29-14 at 07:05 PM ----------

I am in agreement with all the advice I see from my fellow forum member. Having done wedding photography for three years back in 2004-2007. I learned a lot about it and came to appreciate how hard it is to do it right.

I had the k5IIs for a while. It is a fantastic camera. One thing I like about Pentax is the relatively consistent interface.

As far as gear goes, a second body is a must. The lenses I used a lot (on Canon system at the time) were the 24-105 and the 70-200 f2.8 IS. I also used macro, fisheye and a bunch of prime lenses to create unique looks for my clients. You will need two bodies, two flashes and as many lenses as you can afford to bring along. Extra batteries, plenty of memory cards... the list goes on. I never had bodies die on me. But two of my flashes died separately in the middle of a wedding shoot. So be careful.

A little bit on the responsibility of a wedding shoot. If you shoot any event, weddings or otherwise, the expectation is to produce excellent results whether you get paid or not or you are a pro or not. You have to produce or risk the friendship. If something goes wrong and you do not give them good pics, you will never hear the end of it.

Oh, and theft, another big one. My friend's gear was stollen sitting five feet away from him. This was in Beverly Hills Hotel!!!, a very safe and expensive place to shoot a wedding. Out of the country, in a strange town, I would be very careful.

Don't mean to scare you off but you have to consider all the risks and see if the rewards are worth the risks.

Thank you for the advice, the wedding is in about 2 weeks so I won't be pulling out now. They are good people and I won't walk away from that day without some great pictures for them. I am a little paranoid about leaving my gear in my hotel room. I guess maybe I should keep it on me at all times or lock it away in the safe.

---------- Post added 09-29-14 at 07:07 PM ----------

I was thinking more about tulle, lace, and the herring bone pattern in some satin, that sort of thing. Cameras without an anti-aliasing filter (like the K-5 IIs) can create unflattering moire in the sort of fabrics brides like to use in their dresses. The sharper the shot, the worse it is, and it can be quite tricky to deal with in post-processing.

The quieter shutter is a good point though. I haven't owned a K-30 or K-50, but I certainly appreciate the quietness of my K-5 IIs and K-3 when I am surrounded by Canons going off next to me

I didn't realize that was what the anti-aliasing filter did. I will need to do some more reading about that. Also, its good to hear first hand from you that it is quieter. At my brothers wedding I was just taking pictures for fun and the photographer and her assistant were shooting canon and their gear was so much quieter than mine

[btnapa]

Great tips!!! I am always afraid of using high iso with my k50, I feel like the noise it absolutely unacceptable over 800 but I guess I should get used to it if I need to shoot indoors. Thanks for all of the recommendations to eat, drink ex.. it's amazing how we can overlook those things when we are in the zone.

I really appreciate everyones help on this thread! I will get my extra gear reserved for the big day!

---------- Post added 09-29-14 at 07:05 PM ----------



Thank you for the advice, the wedding is in about 2 weeks so I won't be pulling out now. They are good people and I won't walk away from that day without some great pictures for them. I am a little paranoid about leaving my gear in my hotel room. I guess maybe I should keep it on me at all times or lock it away in the safe.

---------- Post added 09-29-14 at 07:07 PM ----------



I didn't realize that was what the anti-aliasing filter did. I will need to do some more reading about that. Also, its good to hear first hand from you that it is quieter. At my brothers wedding I was just taking pictures for fun and the photographer and her assistant were shooting canon and their gear was so much quieter than mine

I am paranoid about my gear being stolen too. I left my very first and beloved Pantax MX in my car back in early 80's for 5 minutes and came back to a broken window and stolen camera gear. This was on a rainy night and it was pouring. Since then, my policy is to never leave my camera in my car. As far as hotels, if Beverly Hills Hotel is not safe, then no hotel is safe. If I were you I would not let any of my gear out of my sight for even a second.

As far as the shoot, make sure you shoot in RAW and if not sure leave the camera in auto white balance and in auto exposure mode. If you shoot RAW and something does not come out right, you can do a lot in post. Under exposed images are easier to fix than over exposed ones. If you blow the highlight, they are gone forever. So under expose if you must, but never over expose too much. Two stops in each direction is generally fixable. More on the under side but not much more on the over side.

Use a stofen or a bounce card for the flash. Direct flash is ugly. Avoid it if you can.

See if you can find anything on the net for posing. Hanson Fong is the master. He knows his stuff when it comes to posing for formals.

[Drake Avenue]

I've shot several weddings (and fashion!) with the K5iis, and moire has NEVER ruined a shot. In tens of thousands of photos, it hasn't been a problem, and when it actually does show up, it's easily corrected in post.

[btnapa]

Great tips!!! I am always afraid of using high iso with my k50, I feel like the noise it absolutely unacceptable over 800 but I guess I should get used to it if I need to shoot indoors. Thanks for all of the recommendations to eat, drink ex.. it's amazing how we can overlook those things when we are in the zone.

I really appreciate everyones help on this thread! I will get my extra gear reserved for the big day!

---------- Post added 09-29-14 at 07:05 PM ----------



Thank you for the advice, the wedding is in about 2 weeks so I won't be pulling out now. They are good people and I won't walk away from that day without some great pictures for them. I am a little paranoid about leaving my gear in my hotel room. I guess maybe I should keep it on me at all times or lock it away in the safe.

---------- Post added 09-29-14 at 07:07 PM ----------



I didn't realize that was what the anti-aliasing filter did. I will need to do some more reading about that. Also, its good to hear first hand from you that it is quieter. At my brothers wedding I was just taking pictures for fun and the photographer and her assistant were shooting canon and their gear was so much quieter than mine

How could I forget!? For ideas also check out my buddy's site Time On Film

[Sandy Hancock]

I've shot several weddings (and fashion!) with the K5iis, and moire has NEVER ruined a shot. In tens of thousands of photos, it hasn't been a problem, and when it actually does show up, it's easily corrected in post.

I'm delighted to hear it.

[pentaxgirl86]

I am paranoid about my gear being stolen too. I left my very first and beloved Pantax MX in my car back in early 80's for 5 minutes and came back to a broken window and stolen camera gear. This was on a rainy night and it was pouring. Since then, my policy is to never leave my camera in my car. As far as hotels, if Beverly Hills Hotel is not safe, then no hotel is safe. If I were you I would not let any of my gear out of my sight for even a second.

As far as the shoot, make sure you shoot in RAW and if not sure leave the camera in auto white balance and in auto exposure mode. If you shoot RAW and something does not come out right, you can do a lot in post. Under exposed images are easier to fix than over exposed ones. If you blow the highlight, they are gone forever. So under expose if you must, but never over expose too much. Two stops in each direction is generally fixable. More on the under side but not much more on the over side.

Use a stofen or a bounce card for the flash. Direct flash is ugly. Avoid it if you can.

See if you can find anything on the net for posing. Hanson Fong is the master. He knows his stuff when it comes to posing for formals.

I found a whole bunch of different ideas online for posing that I'm going to save to my IPad to bring along for reference. I do always shoot in RAW now, I like that I am able to tweak the images the way that I want too, I found that my k50 tends to oversaturate things a bit in jpeg so switching to raw made a huge difference. I will definitely check out Hanson Fong! I have been shooting primarily in AV mode for all of my portraits. Any reason why I should do something different?

---------- Post added 09-30-14 at 08:22 AM ----------

I am paranoid about my gear being stolen too. I left my very first and beloved Pantax MX in my car back in early 80's for 5 minutes and came back to a broken window and stolen camera gear. This was on a rainy night and it was pouring. Since then, my policy is to never leave my camera in my car. As far as hotels, if Beverly Hills Hotel is not safe, then no hotel is safe. If I were you I would not let any of my gear out of my sight for even a second.

As far as the shoot, make sure you shoot in RAW and if not sure leave the camera in auto white balance and in auto exposure mode. If you shoot RAW and something does not come out right, you can do a lot in post. Under exposed images are easier to fix than over exposed ones. If you blow the highlight, they are gone forever. So under expose if you must, but never over expose too much. Two stops in each direction is generally fixable. More on the under side but not much more on the over side.

Use a stofen or a bounce card for the flash. Direct flash is ugly. Avoid it if you can.

See if you can find anything on the net for posing. Hanson Fong is the master. He knows his stuff when it comes to posing for formals.

I've shot several weddings (and fashion!) with the K5iis, and moire has NEVER ruined a shot. In tens of thousands of photos, it hasn't been a problem, and when it actually does show up, it's easily corrected in post.

Thanks Drake! I have a feeling I will be getting the k5ii very soon but probably not the best thing to throw in the mix at the moment. The last thing I need is the mess up a shot because I'm not familiar with my gear.

[btnapa]

I found a whole bunch of different ideas online for posing that I'm going to save to my IPad to bring along for reference. I do always shoot in RAW now, I like that I am able to tweak the images the way that I want too, I found that my k50 tends to oversaturate things a bit in jpeg so switching to raw made a huge difference. I will definitely check out Hanson Fong! I have been shooting primarily in AV mode for all of my portraits. Any reason why I should do something different?

---------- Post added 09-30-14 at 08:22 AM ----------





Thanks Drake! I have a feeling I will be getting the k5ii very soon but probably not the best thing to throw in the mix at the moment. The last thing I need is the mess up a shot because I'm not familiar with my gear.

Overall, stick with camera modes that you are familiar with.

For weddings interior shots, my routine was to set the camera to M mode set my shutter in the 80-100 or so range and let the flash do the rest. If I did not have high budget shoot and did not want to set up multiple flashes inside, I would sometimes dial the shutter speed down to 30 or even lower to let some ambient light in from the background. The background light was usually yellowish so it was a compromise, dark backgrounds or yellowish ones. Experiment and set it to your taste.

For available light I used one of the auto modes too. I generally chose my f-stop and let the camera set the shutter. If the shutter was too low for comfort, I dialed the ISO up to make the shutter faster. For portraits, you will be shooting lot of wide open shots. That is why a good lens (read pro glass) is needed to give you good pics wide open.

[Tan68]

Why not make a comment as well...

I have nothing for wedding stuff
Some of the comments have been great

I don't know if you are a hat person. A hat can be great, though, in the sun... Of course, don't forget to wear the sun screen and stuff. It will be cooling but I don't know where you will be. The hat shields you and the camera, if the brim is large enough.

Water is a good idea and so it less coffee/diuretic that morning...
Sipping some through the day can be better than drinking a lot at a 'break time'...
A large slug to 'catch up' water intake can have you off to the bathroom...

Much agree with the super protection of highlights and fix later
Any of the cameras will allow correction of reasonable 'underexposure' with little trouble

"...I am always afraid of using high iso with my k50, I feel like the noise it absolutely unacceptable over 800 but I guess I should get used to it if I need to shoot indoors. ..."

Well, for available light, you may need to... I know everyone is different, but I think ISO 800 leaves me a little room to still lift shadows in PP. I can add more noise reduction in areas where noise is more likely; smooth tones, etc (don't exactly mean skin here, but sky or walls or etc)

The important thing is to use the shutter that gets motion stopped and the aperture for the DOF you want. After that, there is nothing to do because you are letting in as much light as you can so ISO is what it is...

For indoors, try to figure the minimum shutter you need for stopping movement.. Not sure, myself what that would be, maybe you will get some advice. If you are using 1/1600, for instance, I think you will be wasting some light and having higher than needed ISO :^)

For the recommendation of Av and then check shutter is okay and adjust ISO if shutter is too low... If that sound attractive, try Manual with auto ISO. Not trying to add a new thing for you, but I think your K50, and perhaps the K30, allow this..? With M and Auto-ISO, you set the shutter and aperture you think is appropriate and camera sets ISO based on the range you have given it to work with. Removes the step of you having to keep an eye on shutter to adjust ISO yourself... If this is helpful.. There are many ways to set metering mode and whichever you know is likely the best..

+ again
If you have a not very fast lens but want to have blurry background, be sure to have room between your subject and the background. A fast lens might blur stuff a few to several feet behind. For a slower lens, you should try to have stuff several to many feet behind. Sometimes, can't be helped. When it can be, the added separation helps your not-so-fast lens create blurry background.

[pentaxgirl86]

Why not make a comment as well...

I have nothing for wedding stuff
Some of the comments have been great

I don't know if you are a hat person. A hat can be great, though, in the sun... Of course, don't forget to wear the sun screen and stuff. It will be cooling but I don't know where you will be. The hat shields you and the camera, if the brim is large enough.

Water is a good idea and so it less coffee/diuretic that morning...
Sipping some through the day can be better than drinking a lot at a 'break time'...
A large slug to 'catch up' water intake can have you off to the bathroom...

Much agree with the super protection of highlights and fix later
Any of the cameras will allow correction of reasonable 'underexposure' with little trouble

"...I am always afraid of using high iso with my k50, I feel like the noise it absolutely unacceptable over 800 but I guess I should get used to it if I need to shoot indoors. ..."

Well, for available light, you may need to... I know everyone is different, but I think ISO 800 leaves me a little room to still lift shadows in PP. I can add more noise reduction in areas where noise is more likely; smooth tones, etc (don't exactly mean skin here, but sky or walls or etc)

The important thing is to use the shutter that gets motion stopped and the aperture for the DOF you want. After that, there is nothing to do because you are letting in as much light as you can so ISO is what it is...

For indoors, try to figure the minimum shutter you need for stopping movement.. Not sure, myself what that would be, maybe you will get some advice. If you are using 1/1600, for instance, I think you will be wasting some light and having higher than needed ISO :^)

For the recommendation of Av and then check shutter is okay and adjust ISO if shutter is too low... If that sound attractive, try Manual with auto ISO. Not trying to add a new thing for you, but I think your K50, and perhaps the K30, allow this..? With M and Auto-ISO, you set the shutter and aperture you think is appropriate and camera sets ISO based on the range you have given it to work with. Removes the step of you having to keep an eye on shutter to adjust ISO yourself... If this is helpful.. There are many ways to set metering mode and whichever you know is likely the best..

+ again
If you have a not very fast lens but want to have blurry background, be sure to have room between your subject and the background. A fast lens might blur stuff a few to several feet behind. For a slower lens, you should try to have stuff several to many feet behind. Sometimes, can't be helped. When it can be, the added separation helps your not-so-fast lens create blurry background.

I used to shoot in Manual with auto ISO until I realized my camera was constantly shooting at high ISO, I know the lighting wasn't that bad, I was outside in the shade in the middle of the day. So now I no longer let my camera choose the ISO, perhaps I was doing something wrong at the time. Time to go and practice practice some more! Thanks everyone for everything!!

[Tan68]

Well, it should choose the ISO to complete the exposure triangle such that had you chosen the ISO and aperture in Av, it would choose an appropriate shutter.. all for the same over all exposure whether M+Auto-ISO or Av+Manual-ISO. Maybe exposure compensation was on or maybe you had a really fast shutter speed. ?

Not arguing your point, of course, and which ever gets the job done!

I stopped in to add a note about theft. I don't know if you travel often, but I have, at times. I don't really worry about someone working at the hotel stealing my luggage from my room. I am concerned that someone may go through stuff and take.. a thing. I know other comments were about theft while out for the day, but this is my thought about hotel room. If I don't want it touched, I lock it.

It is easier to take a /thing/ than luggage. If the person is one that would do this theft and is smart, they would take one ear ring or a shirt or something that could be easily argued to have been lost. The person may wonder if they just lost it and not think theft...

So, I generally keep my bag locked. I use an not-TSA approved lock and don't worry

I have had loose things gone through (clothes on hanger or in drawer) and read about other people having a thing or two go walk about. Never had any worry a suitcase would walk off :^)

PS - I don't yet know how this board is. I know some would rake me over the coals for my simple use of the 'exposure triangle', but it gets the point across...

[CWRailman]

Here is a guide for putting together your wedding shot list.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10154636606720713

[pentaxgirl86]

Here is a guide for putting together your wedding shot list.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10154636606720713

Wow! Thanks! I about died laughing

[Oldbayrunner]

I used to shoot in Manual with auto ISO until I realized my camera was constantly shooting at high ISO, I know the lighting wasn't that bad, I was outside in the shade in the middle of the day. So now I no longer let my camera choose the ISO, perhaps I was doing something wrong at the time. Time to go and practice practice some more! Thanks everyone for everything!!

You can program how high the auto ISO sensitivity can go via your cameras menu. See page 87 of your manual

[polachekphotography]

The hotel that they are having their wedding at provides a photographer for the ceremony as part of the "wedding package" but she has heard that the pictures they give you aren't very good.

If this is the case, you may be very limited in the shots you can get of the ceremony as the person provided by the venue will be the official photographer. They may even have a contract that stipulates that they are the sole photographer for the event. If at all possible you should do some research on the hotel's policies, and talk to the official photog beforehand and ask if they mind if you take some shots as well. If they decline you may be asked to remain in your seat during the ceremony and not move around. Not to rain on your parade, just something for you and the couple to be aware of. Is the photographer being provided just for the ceremony?