Photojournalizing Wedding

Wedding is a lot liked Action/Sport Photography. Everyone's moving and you just have to play it by ears. Switch your camera to continuous mode and go for either Av or Tv Priority. Select Av Priority when you want to control Depth Of Field like in this photo when the bride is still or go for Tv when you want to freeze those special moments. And please use the fastest lens you have in your gadget bag. If you don't have one, get one. You definitely need that wide aperture (F/2.8) to get the shutter speed to freeze those motions. Either from your fidgetty subjects or your own hands. Remember, the ambience inside wedding hall and churches are romantic. They are not brightly lit.

And as you don't have time to switch lens, get a zoom with a wide (18mm) to a medium zoom (125mm). I especially like the Canon EF 28-300mm F3.5-5.6 L IS lens but I probably have to trade one of my arms for it. Even though it is not a "Fast Lens" but the IS (Image Stabilizer) works wonders in dim lighting especially inside the wedding hall or inside churches.

And you also need a flash that can fire as fast as your camera. As you would be shooting continuous sometimes, you need a flash that can fire just as fast. And go easy on the exposure. It is always wise to underexpose your flash by 1/3. We all know, a little darkness helps in setting the appropriate mood don't we. Too bright and it wouldn't be as good.

If you are shooting Rebel, set it to Parameter 2. This has "more" colors but not as "bright" as Parameter 1, but suitable for print works. Most wedding couples would prefer to see your work in print. By the way, Parameter 2 in the Rebel is equivalent to Canon 10D's default Parameter.

And the last tip, have fun. Not everyone gets to move around as much as a wedding photographer. Even if you are pretending to be one :)