[Bunch]

My in-laws got married overseas 5 years ago. They live there as well, but this spring they're coming to the states to do a renewal of vows/ ceremony for us Americans that weren't at the wedding. It's going to be a rather small, minimal budget affair, with no professional photographer. I've been given photo duties. They want to do a shoot at an outdoor park, and then the candids taken at the reception, which will be a combo of indoor/outdoor.

My pretty limited lens lineup is:
DA 35
DA 50 1.8
18-135
55-300
A100 f4 macro
M50 f4 macro

I can probably just do it all with the 18-135, but if it's cloudy at the park I was thinking I could do the group shots with the 35, and the happy couple with the 50 1.8

[normhead]

I'd say shoot as much as you can indoors with the DA 50 and DA 35. Shoot everything outdoors with the 18-135. But do a couple bride groom, narrow DoF type images with the 50 outdoors at ƒ2.4 or under if possible. And since you're not being paid, make sure you have fun, and visit with the relatives. Don't take it all too seriously and make it a work day. If they wanted that, they'd pay you.

[frogoutofwater]

If the happy couple are keen on getting some good photos, you might suggest that they meet with you shoot portraits, in their wedding clothes, on the day before or day after the ceremony (as well as having some shot on the day of the ceremony). They (and you) will be more relaxed if you're not worried about paying attention to everyone else at the event. You also minimize the risk of weather or light issues messing up your shoot - you can aim to do the photos when the light is best, and you can accommodate a "bad weather" rescheduling if there's a problem.

Even though you're doing this as a favor, not as a pro, it's a good idea to put together a short shot list, so that you don't miss a key photo (or person) during the event. You can find some examples online. Put together a short list and then show it to the couple and ask them for the names of 3-5 people (besides themselves) for whom it's really important that you get a good photo - and also ask them if there is anything missing from the list that they'd like you to catch.

On your shot list, don't forget to include some of the key details from the event, e.g., the bouquet, beautiful shoes, cake, program, flowers, etc.

I'm not sure how experienced you are at photographing events or doing portraits, but in my (very limited) experience, I find it all too easy to forget some basic steps when there is a lot of activity (an event) or people focusing on me (in a portrait session). So I try to put together a "don't forget to" list on a card, and check it periodically - things like:

- White balance
- Grey card
- Exposure compensation (if you're using shutter, aperture or TaV mode)
- Metering mode
- Image stabilization on/off (for example, if you put your camera on a tripod to do some of the posed images, you might forget to turn IS off - and then when you take the camera off the tripod you might forget to put it back on)
- Check people for make-up smears (lipstick on teeth can come up during a shoot), sweat, necklines and jewelry (necklines and jewelry sometimes end up sitting askew, which can ruin otherwise good shots)
- No trees (growing out of heads)
- Change POV (a reminder to myself to change my point of view to make things more interesting)

You also might think about how you can use either the long end of your 18-135 or the 55-300 to get some shallow depth of field and flattering compression - by shooting from a fair distance away and zooming in.

[robthebloke]

Take the 50 macro as well, for the little details. If you know any other pentaxians, it might be worth borrowing a second body (or hiring if you have no other option)

[narual]

Just in case - bring an ND filter for your 50/1.8 and some kind of reflector panel -- a hunk of white foam board or an actual reflector; or a flash that supports high speed synch.

That way you're covered if the sunlight is too bright for the wide open aperture, you can bounce some extra light onto the faces if needed, and if you have to take it with the sun behind them, you can use fill flash without the shutter getting stuck at 1/180 and the whole image getting washed out in bright light.

May not have to use them, but just in case...

[ismaelg]

Hi,

You don't mention what body you have, but you already have the lenses you need.
In short: Take the 35 and the 50. Set them at f2.8, Av mode, set ISO as needed and shoot like a maniac........
Well, let me explain a bit......
Outdoors in a park, the 50mm is perfect. Find some shade to avoid harsh sunlight. If overcast, that's even better! Set aperture to f2.8 for individuals or the couple. This aperture will provide small but manageable depth of field with nice out of focus background. Always focus on the eyes of the subject and recompose if needed. Of course for group shots you need smaller apertures depending on the size of the group. f8 is a good starting point for group shots.
Use the lowest practical ISO but beware of shutter speed chosen by the camera.
You don't mention external flash but if using it, beware of sync shutter speed. An ND filter may also be helpful outdoors.

For the reception, the 35 may be more practical if indoors. Again, f2.8 to f8 work great. For indoors, depending on what body you have, the ISO can be bumped to keep shutter speeds relatively high and minimize motion blur.
But most importantly: Have fun!

Thanks,

[skyoftexas]

My in-laws got married overseas 5 years ago. They live there as well, but this spring they're coming to the states to do a renewal of vows/ ceremony for us Americans that weren't at the wedding. It's going to be a rather small, minimal budget affair, with no professional photographer. I've been given photo duties. They want to do a shoot at an outdoor park, and then the candids taken at the reception, which will be a combo of indoor/outdoor.

My pretty limited lens lineup is:
DA 35
DA 50 1.8
18-135
55-300
A100 f4 macro
M50 f4 macro

I can probably just do it all with the 18-135, but if it's cloudy at the park I was thinking I could do the group shots with the 35, and the happy couple with the 50 1.8

Take normhead's advice.

[Bunch]

Thanks for the tips, everyone.

[vagabond79]

Bunch, it would be great if you could update this thread after the event and let us know how it went and what you learned. Cheers and best of luck!

[Prakticant]

Get good SDHC proven memory cards with at least 32GB each and record both RAW (DNG) and JPG formats (Pentax calls it RAW+ ?).
JPGs shall be back-up for you, save them in different location (different disk or different computer) than DNGs.
If limited with memory, go only with DNG (RAW).

Three days after my own wedding, my friend who was an 'official' photographer had HDD crash with all of the RAW files (SD cards were very small those years, I believe 1GB was big size, so he needed to download files from camera to his laptop during the wedding). JPGs in different location saved his a.. .

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- White balance