Shooting another wedding this weekend

[Archiver]

Weddings aren't really my thing. I only do them for family, friends, and for existing clients who recommend me for a wedding. Haven't shot one since the end of 2021, or thereabouts. I've shot a few night events since then, but almost all of my work is sport documentary and action. Fortunately, this is my cousin's wedding, and I shot her brother's wedding about ten years ago, so the parties already know me and my work.

My gear will be what I've curated over the years for events like this:

Leica M9 with Zeiss Distagon 35 - covers most photographic needs
Panasonic S5 with Panasonic 50mm f1.8 - covers the 50mm focal length and video
Panasonic G9 with Panasonic Leica 9mm f1.7 and Olympus 45mm f1.2 Pro - wide angle capture, portraits and video

While most wedding shooters are likely to use a couple of full frame Canon, Nikon or Sony bodies with the usual 16-35, 24-70 and 70-200 with speedlites, I prefer to keep things relatively light and agile, and shoot in an embedded documentary style. No trendy flash techniques, utilize natural/existing light where possible, lots of candid moments. I try to channel my inner Mary Ellen Mark for these things; some years ago, I bought her book of unit stills photography, and the beauty of her documentary style really captivated me.

In past event shoots, I found that most images can be covered with 35, 50 and 90 equivalent, but the occasional wide is necessary, which is why I'm adding the Pana Leica 9mm to this kit. When things get dark as the event moves into the night, the fast lenses will really shine.

I'm writing this post more as a way of talking to myself, because I love this stuff, hahaha.

 

[Freakscene]

Good luck; I find them pretty stressful and often challenging, although the photos from the last one we did was among the work I’ve done that I was happiest with.

 

[Archiver]

Good luck; I find them pretty stressful and often challenging, although the photos from the last one we did was among the work I’ve done that I was happiest with.

Yeah, the stressful and challenging part is why I tend to only do weddings for people I already know. Even when clients ask if I can do their weddings, I go through an abrupt learning process because I do so few of them, and therefore lack experience in wedding photography nuances. It's less about the technical aspects and more the social aspects like 'ohh did you get a photo of Uncle Harold?' when I had no idea who Uncle Harold was, and no one pointed him out as someone important.

The second last wedding I shot, I used:

• M9 with Summicron 50
• Canon 5D Mark II with 35L
• Panasonic G9 with Olympus 45mm f1.2 Pro

This was pretty good, but with a few caveats:

• There were times when I needed a fast wide, and I haven't owned one until now.
• The 5D II's high ISO performance was good for its time, but at 6400 it loses colour fidelity, and has awful crosshatching and banding in the shadows. Also, the 35L is a bit soft when wide open.

The last wedding I shot, I used:

Leica M9 with Distagon 35
Panasonic G9 with 17 Pro and 45 Pro

In good to moderate light this combination was superb, but when light became very dim like on the dance floor, I struggled with focus. Again, a fast wide would have come in handy a few times. There were a few times when I missed focus with the Distagon 35 wide open, mainly in dark situations. And the G9 was okay but not great in very low light - I've since tidied up my exposure protocols and posprocessing to compensate. The addition of the Panasonic S5 with 50 is going to remove the need for the Summicron 50, and give me a better chance of hitting focus in problematic situations. And high ISO performance of the S5 is awesome.

 

[lynnb]

Good luck. Are you using a second shooter/family member to take social snaps? I once used my younger daughter as a second shooter at a friend's wedding when she was about 11yrs old. She was a capable photographer by then and got great reactions from guests, and pictures of children I couldn't have captured.

 

[Richard G]

What time of day? What season? Have a spare card for that M9 - and not a Sandisk Extrme 8 G. Mine has not locked up in years but when that happens you need another card to get started as I recall. I used to read the wedding forum on photo.net. Just to scare myself. One seasoned pro there reckoned he could do a whole wedding with a 35mm 1.4. Good luck.

 

[DownUnder]

You have my utmost sympathy.

My second thought - better you than me. Ha!!

On the now rare occasion that I can even be coaxed out of my comfortable cocoon of home life to attend such an event, and invariably I will get asked to "why don't you bring your camera along and take some snaps?" I find my best defense/protection at such stressful times is to take a full frame Nikon, a heavy tripod (useful as a defensive weapon as well as a photographic tool), and two longerlenses, usually my 85/1.8 or 180/2.8. I recently acquired a 300/4.0 but haven't yet done any of my usual tests, so I prefer to leave it at home for social event shoots, tho' so far my good luck has held and I haven't been asked to attend any crowd events, so both the '300 and I are off the hook.

The camera/long lens/tripod combo keeps me at a safe distance from the hurdy-gurdy three-ring circus atmosphere of the main wedding table and the family tables, and lets me amuse myself at my leisure at snapping from a respectable distance, while consuming as much good dry champagne as I can persuade the servers to let me have. Eventually by prior arrangement my partner comes with our car to collect me and take me home, so I stumble and totter out with my gear, generally unmissed by everyone as by then enough alcohol has been consumed to suitably anesthetize all the guests. I try to time my exit at just before the usual group of family alcoholics are sufficiently loaded and turn stroppy and aggro and all the usual old conflicts between old friends rise to the fore.

Cynical, well, maybe, but do bear in mind that I am still here to relate all this.

My advice may not suit but it works well for me. As the old sooth goes - just sayin'...

 

[Ororaro]

I have shot north of 350 of those things… the secret is in how you stsrt the day. If you start off by machine gunning their every move, they will get mad at you once you slow down.

Start slow and keep that slow pace all the way ‘til the end.

 

[Archiver]

What time of day? What season? Have a spare card for that M9 - and not a Sandisk Extrme 8 G. Mine has not locked up in years but when that happens you need another card to get started as I recall. I used to read the wedding forum on photo.net. Just to scare myself. One seasoned pro there reckoned he could do a whole wedding with a 35mm 1.4. Good luck.

I'd like to shoot the entire thing with a 35/1.4, but there are images and looks that I would miss if that were the case. I love 35mm f1.4, especially with the Zeiss Distagon, but I've noticed that I make good use of 50 and 90 in events like this. I'm also bringing a L-M mount adapter so I can put the Distagon on my S5 for when the dance floor gets really dark, just in case it's too dark for the S5 to autofocus reliably. It is much easier to manually focus with live view than the RF patch in situations like that.

In the past few years, my M9 has frozen a few times, increasingly so in the last year. Fortunately, it only needs the battery to pop out and back in to be running again.

Thursday and Friday, I'll spend some time looking over Mary Ellen Mark, HCB and Elliott Erwitt to prime myself visually.

 

[giganova]

I’ve been to two weddings recently, using my SL2-S and 35/2. Since I hate taking wedding photos, I had fun with my own technique that gives pictures a different look & feel: I set the camera in P mode for 1/5 sec fixed exposure time and let the camera decide which ISO and aperture. Then I adjust the exposure to -1 1/3 EV, so I underexpose the images. Next I set the flash to Auto, have the flash fire on the second curtain, and also underexpose the flash by -1 1/3. Blended together, it gives a correctly exposed image. The long 1/5 sec gives blurry images that capture the dynamic on the event, and the flash gives sharp faces. Try it out, it can look amazing!

 

[giganova]

 

[giganova]

 

[giganova]

 

[DownUnder]

Two weddings now?

Masochist, you!!

I hope the champagne was/will be worth drinking. French, of course. Not the el cheapo Australian spaklin'. The $8 Aldi Veuve Olivier (well named as if it's served warm it has an aftertaste of the olive grove in it) is bearable after an hour in the freezer. Also in my time of attending such social ordeals I recall the extra dry from Great Western was entirely quaffable on a hot summer day, take this as a qualified opinion as I drank enough of it to know...

Anecdote here. The last wedding reception I attended (longer ago than I care to count the years) was a home-catered affair. The hosts had made a lethal punch from leftover white wine, a few fortifieds, dregs of this and that from the liqueur cabinet and at the very end when the well was running dry, most of a bottle of Israeli Sabra liqueur and a bottle of chartreuse.

The end result gave off a technicolor glow. The guests drank like sailors in a shipwreck and three people had car accidents (fortunately minor) on the way home. I don't recall anyone took photos. I had my Nikkormat EL and two lenses but I certainly didn't, especially after I went into the bedroom where guests' coats etc were and sprung someone fossicking in my camera bag. Bride and groom lasted about a year before parting, fortunately no sprogs but a nasty quarrel over who got the designer dog and the two cats. Long live weddings...!

All this written and joking put aside, enjoy your wedding time, OP. Ideally some good photos and a few memorable drinks. As the great Norman Gunston said, drive home with the handbrake on for extra safety on the road...

 

[Ororaro]

I’ve been to two weddings recently, using my SL2-S and 35/2. Since I hate taking wedding photos, I had fun with my own technique that gives pictures a different look & feel: I set the camera in P mode for 1/5 sec fixed exposure time and let the camera decide which ISO and aperture. Then I adjust the exposure to -1 1/3 EV, so I underexpose the images. Next I set the flash to Auto, have the flash fire on the second curtain, and also underexpose the flash by -1 1/3. Blended together, it gives a correctly exposed image. The long 1/5 sec gives blurry images that capture the dynamic on the event, and the flash gives sharp faces. Try it out, it can look amazing!

Oh, shutter dragging. That’s so 2005 😅

 

[Archiver]

So the wedding shoot was a the usual fun and learning experience, as they always are. The usual documentary images captured with the M9 with Distagon 35, S5 with Panasonic 50/1.8, and Panasonic G9 with Olympus 45/1.2 Pro.

Most of the images were taken with the M9 and S5, with the G9 grabbing further and portrait images. As I was a guest as well as photographer, I didn't want to go full Hopper Apocalypse so I kept the G9 in a small shoulder bag.

Notes from the day:

• 35 and 50 are my favourite focal lengths for documentary work, capturing context and details depending on distance from subject. The 50mm has quite short minimum focus distance, which helps with picking out details in close ups.
• The G9 with 45/1.2 took about 25-30% of the images, which is significant.
• The Panasonic 9mm took less than 10 images, but they were helpful to show the reception area and group photos.
• A 24-105mm would have been helpful when shooting video of the vows, but video was a secondary concern in this shoot.
• The Olympus 17/1.2 would have been helpful for closer group shots in the reception, but not necessary.
• I didn't use flash at all, but on rare occasions I used a small LED light panel to provide fill light in very dark reception areas. This was problematic with the M9 as I held the LED panel outstretched with my left hand as a kind of off camera flash and had to prefocus, but with an AF camera, this is fine. I don't use this technique very often, so it's important for me to keep the AF factor in mind.
• I prefer to shoot backlit images, exposing to just clip the highlights, then recover shadows and highlights in post. The S5 is particularly good with this, with almost infinitely malleable files. The M9 requires more careful exposure.

Overall, I'm happy with the results, and the bride/groom/family are very happy. This was my sixth or seventh wedding, and I don't chase these, but I'll do them if asked.

 

[Retro-Grouch]

So the wedding shoot was a the usual fun and learning experience, as they always are. The usual documentary images captured with the M9 with Distagon 35, S5 with Panasonic 50/1.8, and Panasonic G9 with Olympus 45/1.2 Pro.

Most of the images were taken with the M9 and S5, with the G9 grabbing further and portrait images. As I was a guest as well as photographer, I didn't want to go full Hopper Apocalypse so I kept the G9 in a small shoulder bag.

Notes from the day:

• 35 and 50 are my favourite focal lengths for documentary work, capturing context and details depending on distance from subject. The 50mm has quite short minimum focus distance, which helps with picking out details in close ups.
• The G9 with 45/1.2 took about 25-30% of the images, which is significant.
• The Panasonic 9mm took less than 10 images, but they were helpful to show the reception area and group photos.
• A 24-105mm would have been helpful when shooting video of the vows, but video was a secondary concern in this shoot.
• The Olympus 17/1.2 would have been helpful for closer group shots in the reception, but not necessary.
• I didn't use flash at all, but on rare occasions I used a small LED light panel to provide fill light in very dark reception areas. This was problematic with the M9 as I held the LED panel outstretched with my left hand as a kind of off camera flash and had to prefocus, but with an AF camera, this is fine. I don't use this technique very often, so it's important for me to keep the AF factor in mind.
• I prefer to shoot backlit images, exposing to just clip the highlights, then recover shadows and highlights in post. The S5 is particularly good with this, with almost infinitely malleable files. The M9 requires more careful exposure.

Overall, I'm happy with the results, and the bride/groom/family are very happy. This was my sixth or seventh wedding, and I don't chase these, but I'll do them if asked.

You are a very brave man.

 

[Darthfeeble]

The two older Granddaughters got married, one ten and one a year ago. I made it clear that I wasn't to be their photographer, I don't do it and they need it done well. Seemed to satisfy them. I did take some snaps just to show them how bad I would've been had they used me.

 

[sojournerphoto]

My niece is getting married next year and I asked her to get someone to do, at least, the formal stuff. While she likes my stuff, it not obvious that she wants that for her wedding pics and then there’s her Mum!

I will do documentary work during the day and make them an album as a gift - like many modern couples they’ve already got everything else - and probably a few zines for the rest of the family

 

[Benjamin Marks]

I shot a friend's wedding on the 8th. Nikon Z8 and primes, mostly. Noctilux and Nockton for the low light stuff. No flash. Bride and groom very happy with the first cut of photos. They will get a book out of it eventually -- same basic idea as soujournerphoto. I would find it stressful to do professionally, but a enjoy filling this role for friends. I have done three or four. In this case, the wedding was a modest size - 60 or so, and the bride and groom's friends hadn't seen each other since they were whisked off their college campuses by the COVID shut down. No graduation, no nothing. Just: leave, and you're done. So they were delerious to see one another, and my job was just to capture photons bouncing off young, beautiful, happy people. Hardly a challenge for an old documentarian. They specifically wanted a "fly on the wall" approach, and looking at the books I'd made for friends previously said that it was just what they wanted. So: a fun day.

Let's face it, there are few social occasions where my eagerness to photograph is matched by subjects' excitement to be photographed,

At my own wedding, a cousin of my MIL showed up with his Lecia M6 and a 35 Summicron. Took 36 exposures. Printed the negatives together in an 8x10 enlarger as a single enlarged contact sheet at 11x14 and presented it as his wedding gift with no editing that told the story of the day. What elan! What brio! What balls.

Me? I took over 8,000 images over the course of two days/36 hours and have edited out all the chewing and blinking and partially formed facial expressions. First cut of "best-of's" is about 600 images, which I need to get down to 125 or so for the book. That process is considerably more daunting than pressing the shutter.

 

[sojournerphoto]

I shot a friend's wedding on the 8th. Nikon Z8 and primes, mostly. Noctilux and Nockton for the low light stuff. No flash. Bride and groom very happy with the first cut of photos. They will get a book out of it eventually -- same basic idea as soujournerphoto. I would find it stressful to do professionally, but a enjoy filling this role for friends. I have done three or four. In this case, the wedding was a modest size - 60 or so, and the bride and groom's friends hadn't seen each other since they were whisked off their college campuses by the COVID shut down. No graduation, no nothing. Just: leave, and you're done. So they were delerious to see one another, and my job was just to capture photons bouncing off young, beautiful, happy people. Hardly a challenge for an old documentarian. They specifically wanted a "fly on the wall" approach, and looking at the books I'd made for friends previously said that it was just what they wanted. So: a fun day.

Let's face it, there are few social occasions where my eagerness to photograph is matched by subjects' excitement to be photographed,

At my own wedding, a cousin of my MIL showed up with his Lecia M6 and a 35 Summicron. Took 36 exposures. Printed the negatives together in an 8x10 enlarger as a single enlarged contact sheet at 11x14 and presented it as his wedding gift with no editing that told the story of the day. What elan! What brio! What balls.

Me? I took over 8,000 images over the course of two days/36 hours and have edited out all the chewing and blinking and partially formed facial expressions. First cut of "best-of's" is about 600 images, which I need to get down to 125 or so for the book. That process is considerably more daunting than pressing the shutter.

I share this feeling.

At our wedding the photographer did formals only on medium format, so we have a few pictures- that are actually sufficient. I also have 6 6x6 black and white negs from my mum and dad’s wedding that I’ve made prints from for her to remember him.

My preference for my nieces wedding would be my M-A and 35 Distagon, with a couple of roll of film. I may get drawn into something digital- but I hate sitting down in front of x,000 pictures to sort.