Hello, and welcome to Out of the Darkroom on AdoramaTV. I’m Ruth Medjber and today
I’m going to be taking you through my kit bag and showing you exactly what it
is I pack when I’m off to shoot a wedding.
AdoramaTV presents ‘Out of the Darkroom’ with Ruth Medjber.
So when I’m off to shoot a wedding, I have to pack for every eventuality. No longer do couples
just want you to shoot the ceremony, they want you to shoot candid shots outside.
They want you to shoot candid shots inside. They want posed shots. They want everything.
So you really have to pack everything. So let’s just have a little look.
This is my D4S, which is my trusty camera, and on it I’ve got my 24-70mm. This would
probably be on my camera for about 80% of the day. It’s what I use the most and
I absolutely adore it.
2.8, so it’s super fast and then the 24-70mm is a great, really flexible width. When you’re
also shooting a wedding I would definitely, always have a second body as
a back up just on the very odd chance that something happens to your main body,
you’re not going to be stuck two hours from home with no
other camera, so my old D700 which still works perfectly,
comes with me as a back up camera. Now there are times where I might actually
use both of them at the same time and it can get a little bit difficult, especially if
you’re using single straps. So what I like to do is use my BlackRapid straps which is quite handy.
It goes over both shoulders and then each camera attaches just at the bottom
like that. It’s like a quick fire strap. So I can have both cameras and the weight is
going to be evenly distributed across my shoulders. There’s nothing worse than
shooting a wedding for twelve hours and getting home and just being hunched over
with the weight, so the BlackRapid just gives me just a little bit more freedom.
I’d have, then, a really long lens and then the 24-70mm on both cameras.
A long lens that I use is this 80-200mm Nikon, also an f/2. Now this is
handy. This is old. This was my very first long lens and it's absolutely super. This lens is
absolutely perfect for what I need. So this will be...I'd use this maybe in the
ceremony, where I don't want to get too close to the priest or the vicar or the
celebrant and I don't want to disturb the ceremony, so I'll shoot from
the back of the venue with this. The great thing about doing weddings is it
is kind of similar to working on stage with bands. You should always dress in your
stage blacks so that no one really notices you and you have to kind of
creep around like a little ninja. At the end of the day, it's not your big day,
it's theirs, so you shouldn't be the focus of attention. So always try and be
really, really sly when you're shooting weddings. Another thing that I
bring with me is my 50mm 1.4 . Now, the reason I favor this
and what I use it for is shooting stuff like the bouquets and the rings, the
little still life objects that people love to have in their albums. Now, it's
not a macro lens because I don't really need a macro lens in the rest of my life so I
wouldn't really... I couldn't justify the expense of another lens. I like to keep
my lenses across the board and shoot in everything that I can, so what I do with this
is I might not be able to get as close as I like to the subject so I'll
just shoot and then crop afterwards. The quality you get from the D4S
really is great so it doesn't matter that you're going to lose a bit of the frame around so
when I'm doing the rings and that kind of thing, I shoot at f1.4,
shoot it nice and wide and then crop in after. It's just as good and it's quite handy as well.
The greatest thing that you should always pack in every Kit Bag, especially
on a wedding, you only get one shot at weddings so you want to make sure that you're
prepared. Extra batteries, extra memory cards and don't scrimp on the memory cards. I
know it's really easy to go to anywhere and buy really, really cheap
memory cards but it's
the last thing you want, is for them to become corrupt when you're shooting a
wedding and erasing everything. There's nothing more heartbreaking. You've got these
people'ss best day of their lives on one file. Just spend that extra few quid and
get really, really decent memory cards. You'll thank me for it . How I'd shoot, then. Say something
like the first dance and you know you're going to be in, you know, a pub or a dark
type venue when they're doing this on the dance floor and you're going to be
dealing with disco lights and that kind of thing. I always bring a flash with me
and what I do is, if you can see it here, I've got the flash mounted on a stand
with a diffuser. So you can either go with the diffuser or not, but I could have one
flash mounted onto the camera, another flash mounted on a stand and
then just shoot across the dance floor so I'm standing here, the couple's in
the middle.
The flash might be across the room and I'm controlling it using a set of pocket
wizards and they'll help me control the off-camera flash and it gives us great
shot where the light just bounces through the couple as they're dancing. It's
really handy as well to have that with you because, well, I'm based in Ireland
and I do weddings in the UK and Ireland. our weather is so undependable and just
really atrocious so it could be raining all day for the entire day and you won't
be able to make it outside, so I mean that's really disappointing for a bride
and groom not to have your photographs outside, so I always try and tell them
"Don't worry. I'm going to bring some extra lights and we're going to find some
really nice places to do your shots inside," but I will definitely be
depending on an off-camera flash for that. There's nothing worse when you're doing
a couple's portraits indoors and you flash straight at them or you bounce it
off the ceiling and you get really heavy shadows, it just looks a bit cheap and a bit nasty so
flashes are so important when you're shooting weddings, especially an off-camera
flash. So I tell everybody to really get to know your flash. Get to know how to
use it so it doesn't look like you're using flash and that will get you out of so much
trouble when those clouds come over and then, where they all go. Everything goes
into... I have two bags that I use and I have used this Lowepro bag for
about 10 years and I use that, not just at weddings, I use it at festivals. It's
got a rain jacket which is a godsend and it's the most durable and just hardy bag I've
ever bought my life so that's a fantastic Lowepro. Again, I'm a bit addicted
to camera bags. I buy them kind of more than I buy handbags and I always
seem to come back to the Lowepro bag when I need something on both shoulders
that can hold a lot of weight and it's just so reliable and then there's my
Billingham, which is my day to day camera bag and I love this bag I love
the whole Billingham range because if...you wouldn't really know that
it's a camera bag, unless you know what Billingham is so I always think it's
just a little bit safer than walking around with a great big logo bag because
no one's really going to rob you if they don't know
it's a camera bag. As well, it's so neat and it's so tidy and it's so formal and
professional and it's such good quality as well. Every single day I've used this for the
last four years and it's still in top shape, so that's definitely something I
would consider investing in if you're just starting out in photography. Get yourself a really
good, decent, hard wearing bag that you can absolutely rely on and then that's
about it then. I'm really good to go and shoot weddings. I think I've got
everything covered here, every eventuality. We've got the lights for indoors if it
rains. You've got all different lenses to shoot all different situations but don't
be worried if you don't have that much gear yet if you're just starting out, I
mean I've been doing this for over a decade now but I can easily just go and
shoot a wedding quite happily on the 24-70mm and my camera. You don't
have to have all the little bits and pieces. If you do, well and good, if not
just go with what you have.
Make sure you know how to use the equipment. Be a little bit, like, a little
clever in the shops that you're shooting for. Research everybody else's work
online, see what you should be doing and go and give it your best shot and enjoy
the day. That's what's most important about weddings is that you enjoy it as well. If
you're enjoying it then the couple is more likely to enjoy it as well.
Thanks very much for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed having a look through
my wedding photography Kit Bag. If you'd like to see more videos, subscribe to the
Adorama YouTube channel. If you'd like to brush up on your own photography skills
have a look at the Adorama Learning Center, and as always if you have any
feedback for me to feel free to post them in the comments section below
thanks so much and I'll see you again soon.
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