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Registry Office Wedding Photography Advice
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Hi All,
I would be very grateful to anyone who can offer me advice on doing wedding photography at a registry office. I have spent most of my life avoiding wedding photography but my brother has somehow twisted my arm into doing his :? My problem is I know how a church wedding goes….groom waiting in the church….up the aisle….lighting candles etc etc etc but I have never attended a registry office wedding no mind being the person taking the pictures.
Is it ok to take photos during the ceremony…..will I blink and miss the entire event :) It is in oranmore, galway if that helps anyone with previous experience.
All help on all aspects would be wonderful and ease the stress I am feeling…..
MarieIt’s perfectly fine to take photographs in the Registry Office, though don’t blink or you
will miss it all. The ceremony is terribly short (though it can be dragged out on occasion
to as much as twenty minutes…. ;) ), so get as many shots in as you possibly can in
the time available and worry about filtering through them later.Get into the office before all the other guests (these offices are usually pretty tight for
space and get yourself to the top of the room so you can photograph the happy couple
coming in. If you can use an off camera flash all the better – everything’s going to be
fairly close in the room and keeping your flash on camera is bound to result in ugly
central catchlights and even some red eye on occasion. Make sure you have a fairly
wide lens on (you won’t get much opportunity to use over 35-50mm in a such a small
space…Get some shots from the side, including the Registrar and the couple, some from behind
the Registrar if you can wriggle in that way, exchanging of rings if the couple are opting
for that, and the signing of the Registry.As I said, the ceremony is pretty short and space is tight, so just get as much as you
can while you can, and of course check with the couple to see what shots are going to
be most important to them…Best of luck with it…
Rob.
Have been asked to do one myself in August for a friend.
Been to a Registry Office wedding before and Rob’s advice is spot on.
I would suggest to the couple is there anywhere they would like to do some shots with a scenic background after the ceremony, who would they like to have with them in the wedding photos relatives, friends etc.Have a plan, spare batteries and spare memory cards. :)
Good luck with it.Thank you both for your feedback and advice :)
It is this Friday so will keep my fingers crossed and see how it goes….they are very casual about the whole event anyway so should be fine (been together for 16 years or so with 2 kids). They have suggested a location for the external photos which should be fine. Have a reasonable amount of memory but no spare battery but will bring my old film slr and film just in case anything goes to pot!
I have asked what kinda shots they are looking for but they are again very casual about it all so I plan on making up a list myself….as its a family wedding I know most of the people who need to be in shots :) That could work to my advantage or disadvantage :roll:
I was planning on shooting in raw but I have read an article and that wedding photog shoots in jpeg…..any advice on which was best….I know jpeg will give me more shots but raw seems like a more sensible option to me.
Thanks Again,
MarieMarieC wrote:
I was planning on shooting in raw but I have read an article and that wedding photog shoots in jpeg…..any advice on which was best….I know jpeg will give me more shots but raw seems like a more sensible option to me.
I’ve read articles that wedding photographers shoot RAW :wink: Of course, I’ve also read articles that they shoot JPEG. It depends on the individual photographer. I personally find RAW a quicker way to work and with about 20GB worth of CF cards, I’m not likely to run out of memory (I don’t “machine-gun” shoot either!).
I was talking to a wedding photographer at Focus on Imaging who shoots weddings in JPEG mode and he told me that he usually captures between 3000 and 4000 images at a typical wedding. For every image he takes three shots, using auto-bracketing, to ensure he’s got the correct exposure. He said it’s faster this way than shooting RAW. I remain unconvinced that sifting through 4000 to select a couple of hundred good ones is the way to go!
Hi All,
Well it is all over :) and I think it went ok for what they are looking for anyway!
Once I get some time with the images I will post a couple up here for you all to see :)
The registry office space (a conference room in a hotel) was not nearly as small as I was expecting and the registrar was lovely….she didn’t have another wedding for awhile afterwards so didn’t have to zoom through everything which was nice for my brother and his now wife.Thorsten…indeed I guess it is a matter of choice re RAW vs JPEG….opting for RAW myself and well although I have nowhere near 4000 images to sift through that would be a huge amount of work before you get to editing images!
Thanks Again All
MarieThorsten wrote:
MarieC wrote:
I was planning on shooting in raw but I have read an article and that wedding photog shoots in jpeg…..any advice on which was best….I know jpeg will give me more shots but raw seems like a more sensible option to me.
I’ve read articles that wedding photographers shoot RAW :wink: Of course, I’ve also read articles that they shoot JPEG. It depends on the individual photographer. I personally find RAW a quicker way to work and with about 20GB worth of CF cards, I’m not likely to run out of memory (I don’t “machine-gun” shoot either!).
I was talking to a wedding photographer at Focus on Imaging who shoots weddings in JPEG mode and he told me that he usually captures between 3000 and 4000 images at a typical wedding. For every image he takes three shots, using auto-bracketing, to ensure he’s got the correct exposure. He said it’s faster this way than shooting RAW. I remain unconvinced that sifting through 4000 to select a couple of hundred good ones is the way to go!
If you dont shoot raw i think your only asking for trouble down the road if anything goes wrong.. i just cant imagine sitting down to go image by image 3000/4000 of them . just on another issue regarding photos and shots taken the word of the day should be BACK UP YOUR FILES learned this the very hard way… my work flow now is .
1 download raw images to computer.
2. download raw images to laptop or external hard dive.( then do not touch them.)
3 process raw images from computer to jpeg or another form , but in another album on computer for work in PS.
4 put onto CD
Then only then delete from camera. i know it seems simple and u all know it but if someone had told me a year ago it would have saved much embrassment to me when my computer crashed ….now i go on the side of caution so remember back up back up back up your files……..I agree and did shoot RAW on the day….the reason I mentioned it was because I was surprised to read that a very popular wedding photography who charges a large some of money shot in JPEG as his norm.
Thanks for your feedback though!
MarieA lot of the top earning, best wedding photographers shoot jpg, myself include (although not on the top earning or best in the world…yet :lol: ) Goes back to same old discussion again jpg vs raw. I shoot it because it works for me, I’ve not yet messed up a shot because it was over/under exposed…as long as you know what your doing & careful it’s fine, quicker for me. But at the end of the day my clients dont care what I shoot as long as they get the finished product at the end.
Pixelmadness – for extra comfort, add an extra step to backing up, after you have saved to external HD, burn to DVD. Right then you essentially have 4 copies of the wedding – main computer, ex-HD, DVD, and its still on the CF cards.
Mark don’t get me wrong I have nothing against those who shoot jpg….I am very much an each to their own kinda person and as my original post re jpg shooting stated you are not alone in shooting jpg as I know you are aware :)
I am not in the wedding business and have no desire to join it anytime soon :) I simply got dragged into it by my brother. I shot in RAW as for me it had the safety belt my very stressed out self needed and I didn’t need 100s/1000s of shots that a full on wedding would easily create.
I find it interesting that the shooting RAW vs JPG has grabbed many peoples interests…..I guess its like the ole Canon vs Nikon debate which I also don’t subscribe to :) Use the gear that suits you and the file format that you are happiest using :)
For me….the wedding is done….it was shot in RAW simply for the security (for me personally) and hopefully I will have some nice shots out of it for my brother and his family :)
MarieMarieC wrote:
I find it interesting that the shooting RAW vs JPG has grabbed many peoples interests…..
Well, you did ask the specific question “I was planning on shooting in raw but I have read an article and that wedding photog shoots in jpeg…..any advice on which was best….I know jpeg will give me more shots but raw seems like a more sensible option to me.” :wink:
I’m with you though – it boils down to personal preference. Some find JPEG faster, I find RAW faster. As well as being faster for me, RAW carries some additional benefits which I find useful, principally the ability to fine tune white balance and a greater bit depth. However, I personally would never shoot RAW on the basis that it provides more latitude in the event of exposure errors. If you get the exposure wrong, then it doesn’t matter if you shoot RAW or JPEG, the quality of the image WILL suffer when you try and correct it. But believe me, if I could work quicker with JPEG files, then I’d be shooting JPEG too!
For what it’s worth, the argument that some of the top wedding professionals only shoot JPEG is a pointless one as it can just as easily be argued that some of the other top wedding professionals shoot RAW. As you say Marie, it’s like Canon -v- Nikon (or indeed Mac -v- PC, Coca Cola -v- Pepsi).
Hi Thorsten
I agree 100% with what you’ve said above, but I’m curious how RAW is faster then Jpeg for you?
eas wrote:
…but I’m curious how RAW is faster then Jpeg for you?
It’s just my particular way of working in DPP – I just spend less time editing and correcting than I would if I was shooting JPEG. I’ve also found that downloading RAW files from my cards is significantly faster than downloading JPEG’s (surprising as that may sound).
There’ll never be agreement of RAW vs. JPG – http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/635586/0
Interesting thread, Mark. I think this response by “buthcM” sums it up quite well for me though:
“Top quality work is produced using both formats on a regular basis. The implication that RAW is only used as a crutch by those who don’t understand proper exposure and WB is quite misplaced and inaccurate, however.”
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