I did a few searches and I didn't find a post like this so I appologize in advance if I missed them. I usually learn the most about wedding photography from peoples stories of what has gone terribly wrong at weddings they have shot.
That said, I thought i would start a thread where we could share some of the hard lessons learned while shooting a wedding. Like I said, these stories are EXCELLENT learning for those of us who have not shot many weddings and I can only think of them as invaluable.
My worst (so far)...
I just told this story minutes ago but I will share here as well. It was my first wedding. I shot this wedding without enough gear in the first place but I did make sure the bride and groom were aware of it and that it was my first attempt. Everything was fine until my batteries were dying and they were the ONLY 2 I had. This is the biggest rookie mistake in the world, but I made it. The part that makes this SO bad is that they were almost dead at the beginning of the ceremony. Luckily (if you can call it luck) I was confined to the balcony in the back. This allowed me to keep switching the 2 batteries from charger to camera every 10-15 minutes and get through the ceremony. I was also lucky enough to have another photog friend that lived on the route to the reception and picked up 2 fresh batteries from him.
That was a bad experience that could have ben even worse. I have 12 extra batteries now and whenever I have spare cash, I usually pick up another.
I am interested to hear other stories!! Thanks for reading!
I don't have a story I want to tell because I do not recall all of the details from years ago, but I will share this from that experience. I did not have everything I was providing in writing as a newbie shooting his first wedding. It was discussed that I was an experience photographer trying to get into the wedding business. The part that I don't think was clear is that shooting a given event is not always the same as shooting everything. Weddings are much faster compared to shooting trees in a park or strangers a distance away.
I did not go horribly bad, but I still feel bad to this day because the client expected better (I did too). I should have stressed my lack of experience and the possible outcome to give them the chance to turn me down.
Part of my reason for doing such a bad job is that I did not have the proper glass. I had a backup film camera that I was hoping like crazy I would not have to use, which I did end up using. But I still didn't have the fast glass I needed. The place was darker than I thought it was when looking through the view finder. The formals were not good at all because I only used a hotshoe flash. I didn't have a complete understanding of posing and she was rather "large". I failed them and it was a poor way to learn a lesson.
Great idea for a thread. I almost had a CF card disaster when I didn't think to buy more cards because I'd gotten an assistant. I usually shot only 6 gigs so I figured it would be fine of he'd "try to stay under 2" but I guess that wasn't entirely clear; he was 4 gigs in when I realized I was on my last card. There was no time to pick through images and delete them, and I'd grabbed his camera at a few points and taken some group shots that I couldn't afford to lose. I ended up finding some time during the reception to go through the images, but man, I felt so dumb. It was fine but it could have been a disaster.
Another time -- my first wedding -- I forgot to change my ISO when we left the very dark church to go shoot formals outside. I did the first set of formals (outdoors on a bright day) at iso 1600. Again, it was absolutely fine (a little noise ninja and you'd never know) but now I check my settings obsessively whenever I change my surroundings and own a lot of extra CF cards.
Another fairly common one I have thankfully never done is leaving a lens at a ceremony, but it happens. A pro I worked with for a while ( a very good, very experienced photographer ) left his brand new 85L in the church. I ran back, but we never saw that lens again. :'(
All in all, I hope we learn from our mistakes -- and each others. I'll certainly never do any of the above again.
One of my awful mistake's was at my first wedding. I was shooting film and digital and the ski lift was bringing the bride's party up to the top of the hill. I'm shooting with my digital camera with a telephoto. As they get closer I switch to my film camera with a wide angle and shoot two frames and run out of film. So, they are right on top of me and I'm back peddling down the ramp to get far enough away to shoot and get the shots of the bride arriving with a 75-300 zoom (film lens, digital camera so it was worse than that). I was having a heart attack. So stupid of me not to keep track of my film. Luckily, everyone paused a while to chat before moving on to the ceremony and I was able to get re-loaded and switch lenses on my digital before anything else happened. I'm shooting two digital cameras now and make sure I have fresh batteries and CF cards VERY handy at all times.
Another time I was shooting needed to switch cards. I bent a pin as I replaced the card and the camera wouldn't work for the rest of the wedding (had to be sent away and repaired). I always still bring my 35mm backup just in case.
Back in the film days, I removed the dark slide from my Blad before I changed backs exposing the last 2 or 3 frames, while shooting formals. Thank goodness I had taken 5 frames of the last group and had a good one to share.
It was a sleepness 3 nights until I received the proofs back from the lab.
While shooting some bridals at the altar before the ceremony, I switched from a 70-200 f/2.8 to a wide angle lens. When we moved locales, I didn't pick up my telephoto lens. I realized this about 2 minutes before the ceremony started. I looked on the stage, but there was nothing there. So, I was out of luck. Afterwards, I found the lens lying on the front pew. Someone had moved it prior to the ceremony. It wasn't horrible, but I wasn't able to provide the normal closeups of the hands or the kiss. It was a pretty stupid thing to do on my part. Plus, I could have lost a $1600 lens. Since that time, I purchased a backup tele lens.
I hurried out of a church once just seconds after the ceremony ended and had the lens (on BOTH film cameras) fog up. There were several nice shots I missed but that is the problem with moving from a nice cool church to a hot muggy outdoors.
I've seen numerous relatives shooting at weddings and their batteries died (film and digital). I'd say that is the most common failure. One of my worst was a pain-in-the-neck person at a wedding who kept complaining about the speed the formals were getting done. I had streamlined everything possible and most of the wedding party was very helpful. I was shooting film, 36-exp rolls, in two cameras so I only had to stop every 72 shots. The complaining person was standing at my elbow giving me a royal dressing down during one film swap and I accidentally opened one film back prior to rewinding the film. In a fraction of a second the horrible realization set in and I quickly slammed the camera shut. One frame was ruined and two others were somewhat mangled. The complaining person brought it up several times after I delivered the prints.
Best,
Andy
P.S. I have become somewhat paranoid about checking and rechecking settings and making sure the camera bags are properly packed prior to leaving home. It may be a waste of time, but I don't worry as much.
Going way too long without eating or drinking near enough. I sort of just kept shooting thinking I'd be ok. Then on top of it all we didn't get offered food at the reception. I will never underestimate how physically tiring and draining shooting for 12 hours straight can be. Your body and mental alertness are just as important as making sure your gear is in order.
Just before the bouquet toss at a wedding, my camera began to flash "CF Card Full." I opened up the card case on my belt to discover that I had filled every card in the case, and that my empty cards were clear across the tent. I stood there with about 100 guests standing around me, waiting for me to do something...my mind went blank! The bride whispered, "why don't you delete a few pictures?" after I went through every card to see if I even had one shot left. I deleted some from one card and started shooting.
Luckily, the bride was a friend of mine and understood that this was a one-time mistake. Since then, I always keep at least two empty memory cards on me at any given time, AND I switch out cards during a break, before they're completely full!
The biggest 'Newbie' mistake is to not have sufficient backup gear. Every piece of equipment I ever had over the years failed eventually. Cameras, lenses, strobes, et.c
When I stopped shooting film, you would not believe how many cameras I carried to a wedding (seven, although most stayed in the van), or strobes (six), or rolls of film (200).
Now with digital I only bring four cameras, nine strobes (counting my off-camera gear) and sixteen 4GB CF cards. I am really antsy about the camera situation and will add another body when the 5D replacement comes out.
A well-known Florida shooter had three bodies go out at once at a destination wedding in Miami. She posted a plea for assistance on the DWF using her laptop and a local Miami photographer went to the wedding venue with more gear and she finished the job. How's that for scary?
When taking group photos, I forgot to up my f stop from 2.8 since the church was relatively dark.... So some of the family members standing in the back and the sides came out blurry.... luckily I took 4-5 extra shots in case.
*WHEW*
javamomd wrote:
Great idea, Zach, this should be fun.
One of my awful mistake's was at my first wedding. I was shooting film and digital and the ski lift was bringing the bride's party up to the top of the hill. I'm shooting with my digital camera with a telephoto. As they get closer I switch to my film camera with a wide angle and shoot two frames and run out of film. So, they are right on top of me and I'm back peddling down the ramp to get far enough away to shoot and get the shots of the bride arriving with a 75-300 zoom (film lens, digital camera so it was worse than that). I was having a heart attack. So stupid of me not to keep track of my film. Luckily, everyone paused a while to chat before moving on to the ceremony and I was able to get re-loaded and switch lenses on my digital before anything else happened. I'm shooting two digital cameras now and make sure I have fresh batteries and CF cards VERY handy at all times.
Another time I was shooting needed to switch cards. I bent a pin as I replaced the card and the camera wouldn't work for the rest of the wedding (had to be sent away and repaired). I always still bring my 35mm backup just in case. ...Show more →
This reminds me of a Cowboy show that left a deep impression
on me......the leader of the gang kept insisting on bullets count each and every
encounter....so much so that he shot dead on of the members for losing count...
it then occurred to me, that I should do the same kind of discipline
in my wedding photography...........After that, i never ran out of batteries not memories nor films.........
I forgot the name of that Cowboy movie,,,,;pity they dont have anymore cowboy
movies these days
My worst was one of my first weddings at a vineyard. We had a beautiful outdoor ceremony, great bridal portraiture in the vines, did a mock cake-cutting etc. and then my assistant and I said goodbye and walked out the door. I was 20 metres from the door when I realised that due to some quirk of how the day had gone I HADN"T DONE THE FORMAL PORTRAITS!
We rushed back inside and gathered the bridal party and family just before the reception was due to start. The photos came out a treat but I just couldn't believe something like that could happen to me. Now I carry a checklist that I always refer to before finishing the day.
In a recent ceremony I was unusually reliant on flash. I didnt appreciate the extended cycling time that can be associated with shooting lots on full power when using rechargables.
Result: underexposed kiss.
Workround: my wife conveniently got a ripper shot from a slightly different angle so all OK.
LONG TERM SOLUTION: Bought the Canon battery pack for 580 ex.
Mistakes I have thought of before they happend: Backup bodies: have them Batteries: enough for three changes Procedures: refresh all cells and cards prior to the ceremony make sure you will not run out Card backup: 1 series cameras have two slots. I leave an 8GB SD card in each camera as the backup. I then primarily use 8Gb worth of 2Gb CF cards during the day on each camera, knowing that if a CF blows I will still get a RAW copy on the SD Formals: Get B&G to prepare a list of shots prior to doing them as this saves MASSES of time and stress Lace up dresses: NEVER underestimate the amount of time these bastards can take to do up. If your day is time critical, encourage her to think about getting into it a little earlier
DMSsix wrote:
Going way too long without eating or drinking near enough. I sort of just kept shooting thinking I'd be ok. Then on top of it all we didn't get offered food at the reception. I will never underestimate how physically tiring and draining shooting for 12 hours straight can be. Your body and mental alertness are just as important as making sure your gear is in order.
I WILL SECOND THAT ONE !!! I just keep going and going and going like the Energizer bunny. By the end of the night, Im going, "MAN my head hurts!!" Lack of food will do that.
After pretty much a long day, I put my 20D on the floor and had forgot I had left the CPE-3 battery pack in my pocket. It was dark and I was on a set of cement stairs and was shooting with a second body using a wide angle. well, it apparently wasn't wide enough so I backed down a few more steps..then heard a clunk clunk. Apparently, the CPE-3 doesn't detach if yanked, and let me assure you, the cable is quite capable of pulling a body + a 70-200IS lens. So the body clunked down a few stairs, and the battery grip was busted. I think I just told myself to cry later, move on with the shoot. luckily my 2nd shooter and I had 4 bodies between us, and we had an extra in the car just in case, but it was still rather traumatic. Again...I stress the need for backups. [Update: the lens was fine. Lens hood absorbed some impact) I think I just replaced the front ring and was good to go after bringing it to Canon]
Last year I sold my S2pro and bought a brand new D200 and were using a D2H as a backup. My D200 was mounted with a Nikon 17-35 for the whole day. After the wedding, I found out all of my images made by the D200 were not in focus, but I didn't check what went wrong and somehow thought the problem was due to the old 17-35. So the next day I went out and bought a new 17-55 for my next wedding. But on the next wedding, all the images from the D200 were still out of focus. Finally I found out it was the stupid D200 that made the out of focus images, and my 17-35 was fine.
All of these events are familiar. If you've been in this business long enough you will experience all of them. The most amusing to me is the complaining person concerning changing your groups too fast. I take personal glee in doing that and of course commenting " Oh, you didn't get that?". bsvirginian
When I was still film, I forgot to put a new roll in before the ceremony (I had taken the old roll out already). By the time the attendants starting entering, I had just completely forgotten that it hadn't been done. I clicked and clicked and noticed that the sound was odd, then it hit me... RIGHT BEFORE THE BRIDE ENTERED. I had never loaded a camera so fast in my life.
This is where having a complete shot list of the day has really rescued me. I don't just put the poses and groupings on there. But also notes like "check card count" right before the ceremony section or "check ISO" right AFTER the ceremony section. My shot list coordinator's job is to read what's there to me at the appropriate time. In a fast-paced environment, where you're trying to think of a million different things at once, this is soooo handy.
