Photography Info & Reviews.

Comment from OMG, I ? PONIES!!1
Time January 19, 2009 at 10:29 am

Wow, you’re really jumping in at the deep end!

Keep the 18-105mm for now.

The Nikon 18-200mm does not provide better image quality and the 106-200mm range won’t be missed. The Sigma version is inferior.

If this works out, the 17-55mm and 70-200mm are indeed the lenses you’ll want to end up with. Get them in that order - you’ll be using the 17-55mm for roughly 80% of your shots. And even then I’d keep the 18-105mm as a backup. If you plan on going pro, you’ll want a backup for everything, including the body and flash.

Use the time you have available to get familiar with wedding photography (look at tons of websites for inspiration and tips) and with your gear. Know how and when to use the spot meter. Know how to use your SB600 for fill flash. Know how to use the histogram to correct your exposure. Know how to adjust the white balance in post processing….

As for your budget, consider if you need more rechargeable batteries for your flash, a spare battery for your D90, and more memory cards.

Good luck!

Comment from LEM
Time January 20, 2009 at 12:57 am

Ouch, ouch, ouch!

This is probably not the answer you want to hear, but I’d appreciate that you read through it and consider it very seriously (it took me some time to type it after all)… Then you can thumb it down, ignore or follow, but please at least give it a serious thought!

If you want to have the lady friend to remain your friend after getting married, please do yourself, her and her husband to be a huge favor. Come to them, and politely decline to be the main photographer on their wedding! She may be mad at you for a week, or a month, but she’ll remain your friend. If you spoil their Wedding memories (and you are very likely to), she will not forget it for a long long time. Every time her wedding is mentioned, and albums pulled out, she’ll remember, that she has no good cake cutting photo, and she’ll remember who to blame….

Wedding photography is one of the hardest jobs a photographer can undertake. There is a reason why pro photographers charge $2000-$10000 for doing a wedding, it is usually worth it!

And it isn’t your equipment, it is your skill as a photographer that is lacking. But equipment too! Every wedding photographer carries at least two of everything! Two bodies, two of each lens, flashes, filters, etc. Because if a piece of your equipment fails (or been stepped on by a drunk uncle), you really can’t tell them “please hold the vows, I have to run to a nearby camera store to grab a new lens, mine just cracked”.

Keep in mind, wedding is a one time event, every picture opportunity, save for some formal posed shots, comes exactly once, and passes quickly. If you are not there at the right moment, from the right angle and with camera set just right, you are going to miss it. And there are so many of them, that it’ll really take experience to appear in every right place at every right time. There will not be a second first kiss, there will not be a second putting on the rings, there will not be a second first dance, there will not be a second throwing of a bouquet, and so much more.

Also keep in mind, there’s so much more to photographing it than you see on a surface, it’s just impossible to learn it all on your own in two weeks. Not even in two months! Two years - maybe, if you dedicate them to learning, and become a helper to a pro wedding photographer!

I don’t even know where to start telling you about all things that can happen and to which you need to be prepared… What if it rains? What if there’s high wind? Bright sunlight - did you know it’s one of the worst lightning conditions, and you really need to know how to do well in it? Would you be able to quickly re-adjust from taking photos outside on a sunny day to a dim church? And all of that is just a tip of an iceberg! There’s so much more, that it will take a book to write about.

So if your friend has a desire to have wedding memories for life, for their kids, and for themselves - it is the best if she hires a professional photographer! It really pays!

Let me tell you about my wedding. We had a really good pro working with us, and since I know a lot about photography (I wouldn’t personally take a wedding assignment), I understood a lot of what he was doing, and I was amazed! The guy with his huge (medium format) camera and often other stuff (different every time) appeared out of nowhere at the most important moments, he quickly directed: “stop right here, hand there, foot like that, tilt you head like so, look at this”, *click*, and he disappeared with all of his equipment until the next time. Took 5 seconds for him to set up, pose and shoot! After wedding he gave us 300 proofs, of which, I was ready to blow up and put on a wall about 295 of them! Each one was a masterpiece! We had really hard time selecting for an album, because there were simply no throwaways. Are you ready to do a similar job? I’ve been photographing for years, and I am not!

Needles to say, photographing a wedding is a full time job. No time for you to enjoy the bar, to taste the main course or to read a prayer or two or dance. You are really not going to be attending the wedding, you’ll be working there. Full time and overtime.

LEM.