Emily and Mondel Wedding
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Seletar Golf and Country Club |
It was my pleasure to shoot the wedding of Mondel and Emily last June 20, 2009. The wedding was held at Seletar Golf and Country Club. It was a really nice place. The function room was in the grounds of the golf course. Similar to a garden wedding where you can see all the greens around, but inside the convenience of an airconditioned room. Not just myself, but I see that most photographers give out a good sweat while on shoot so an airconditioned shoot is really convenient for photographers.
On this shoot, I had the chance to work with Eugene Ranada. He was my batchmate back in high school and after so many years, we forgot each other's faces. There was this time when we both attended a party of a photography group and we were speaking to each other, having drinks, sharing stories and puffed some cigarettes. Geez, we had no clue that time we were classmates back in high school. Anyhow, I was glad he was on this project as I learned quite a number of things from him.
2 BODIES IS ESSENTIAL
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Sony Alpha 700 Body |
First off, you got to have 2 bodies. Bringing just one is a problem because you would have to keep on changing lenses. You don't really have to buy a body because you could just rent one. For me, the spare body is not that important but the lens counts.
LIGHTS
I brought 2 strobes powered by a wall socket, 1 off camera flash triggered by radio, and a flash mounted on my camera. I use the Sony Alpha 700 and the HVL58 Sony flash on my body. I shot JPEG and my setting were all fully manual. For solo shots, I shot at 3.5 while I took group shots at 6.3 to 7.1.
The place had windows as panels and while light was abundant, there was too much background light and light that came in was color green as a reflection from the golf course around the function room. To resolve this, I was tinkering my manual setting all the time. I checked my camera LCD for images as composed but I relied on the histogram for the best exposure to get out of my shots.
KNOW THE ORDER OF CEREMONIES
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Function Room at Seletar Golf and Country Club |
Knowing the ceremonies is extremely important. The moments are in the ceromonies and the bride finds details during the ceremonies. Thus, a good coordination with the couple and the coordinator is a must. Don't rule out the coordinator as this fellow knows surprises if any.
LENS
I always use Tamron Lenses not for anything but because I have worked with this lens and so far has never failed me. The 70-200 is essential, if you do not have one, at least have the 180 Macro 2.8. You need a long reach during weddings. Otherwise, you become annoying when you are too close to your subject. While the couple would understand this, the guests will find you annoying when you pop up close to their faces.
You need a decent wide. A 10-24 will give you a nice artistic perspective. You also need the 17-50 and although there are redundancies between te 10-24, the 17-50 is a fast lens at 2.8.
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Tamron 17-50 Lens |
Tamron 28-75 Lens |
Tamron 90 Macro |
The Tamron 28-75 is also a must at weddings. Though there are minute redundancies with the 70 -200, you don't want to be far from your subject at all times. Besides being fast, the 28-75 gives you a good close distance with the subject whether solo or group.
WEDDING OPPORTUNITIES
I read that in order to get better at the field of shooting weddings, two things need to be done. Look at others' works to see their perpectives and just keep shooting weddings. As you do this, you will see that your style is either similar and contrasty to others and when you begin to "recognize" patterns either on your own or from others, your style evolves and develops together with your taste.
I have seen many works out their that fail on technical clarity but flies with colors on interpretation and rendition. The bottomline is to deliver a photo that is close to being called a "compelling image" at all times.
To see our work on video, click here which will lead you to another page on our website.
Happy shooting... Chris
June 28, 2009
SAMPLE WEDDING IMAGES |
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Mondel & Emily Wedding |
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Comments, Questions, Discussions |