Sony Wedding: first wedding with Sony A7riii

Bridal portrait with Nikon D750 and Tamron 85mm

Progression into Wedding Photography with Sony A7riii

Let me start with some background.  If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I am primarily an enthusiast.  Strictly part-time, I do just a bit of professional work.  I have generally declined requests to shoot weddings because of the required time commitment and because I didn’t necessarily feel confident enough to deliver a product clients may be happy with.

Over the last couple of years, before I owned the Sony A7riii, I did shoot bits and pieces of weddings.  For example, I did some bridal portraits, such as the one above, and some wedding party portraits.   And while I have shot some events, I had never been the sole photographer at a wedding. Below you can see some of my past work, taken with the Nikon D750, and mostly the Tamron 85mm F/1.8.  (Review here)

So when a couple needed a photographer on a tight budget, realizing they probably weren’t going to get an experienced professional for the money, I decided to jump in and offer my services.

The purpose of this blog post is to share my learning experience with you.  What I learned about the strengths and weakness of the Sony A7riii for wedding photography, my experience with the lenses I chose.   The challenges I faced, both expected and unexpected.  I won’t be sharing award-winning wedding photography, but I hope to continue to improve.  I’ll share some advice for those just starting to shoot events and weddings with the Sony system.

The Wedding and the Plan

The couple was on a tight budget and they were not planning a lavish affair.   The ceremony and reception were both planned for a restaurant.  There would be no dancing, no DJ or band, few of the trappings of a big wedding.  At first discussion, they just wanted some images of the ceremony and candids at the reception.  After further discussion, they decided they wanted a few posed portraits of the couple and immediate family, done just immediately before the ceremony.  They opted for just four hours of coverage.  I was told they did not want any bridal preparation photographs.

Ceremony was scheduled for 4pm, with a dinner reception immediately following.   I agreed to work from 3pm to 7pm, giving me about an hour to do whatever portraits they wanted.
I found someone who would be my assistant.  I find an assistant really adds tremendous value in flexible use of off-camera flash/light.   Working solo, you either need to keep your flash on the camera or keep an off-camera light mostly stationary in one place.  An assistant gives you the flexibility to move light with you.

Though I had a plan in my mind, I wanted flexibility to adjust the plan on the fly.  So I packed quite a bit.  My packing list:

Cameras:  Sony A7riii and for backup, Sony A6300.  With plenty of charged batteries.

Lenses:

• Sony 90mm F/2.8 Macro for detail shots
• Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2
• Sony Zeiss 35mm F/2.8
• Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8  (My review)
• Sony 85mm F/1.8 (my review)
• Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 (my review here)

Lighting and accessories:

• Godox AD200 portable wireless strobe
• Godox V860ii speedlight for Sony
• Godox XPro-S wireless trigger
• MagMod light modifiers
• Godox softboxes, 24″ and 32″
• Godox portable boom
• Light stand

I packed quite a bit but the next time, I’d pack far less.  Below you’ll find what I really ended up using.

Mistakes, Lessons and Learning

The Arrival

I arrived shortly before 3:00 p.m.  The bride, who hired me, indicated they did not want to do very many formal portraits at all and did not want bridal prep shots.   I asked her several times to do a “shot list” of individuals for the formal portraits but I didn’t ask her to give it to me before arrival.   (First mistake)

I thought I’d have an hour to do some set-up shots and a few portraits.   I was unfamiliar with the venue and did not know the types of backgrounds I would be working with.  (Second mistake)

So upon arrival, nobody was ready to shoot although there were already friends and some guests around.  The bride asked me to come upstairs to do some bridal prep shots.

With Batis 25mm and backlit by OCF

Though I was under the impression they did not want any bridal prep shots, I was still unfazed at this point.  Unfortunately, I was led to a cramped dressing room with horrible light.   The maid of honor had already set up the dress for the traditional shot.  Seeing how cramped the quarters were, I used the Zeiss Batis 25mm lens.  Unfortunately, (third mistake)I really should have known better.   Shooting so close and wide only led to distortion of any slightly off axis line.  I should have taken my time, re-positioned the wedding gown someplace where I could have backed up a bit.   But I felt hurried as I was told to take the shots quick and get out so that the bride could finish getting ready.

As the bride got ready, I was able to inspect the room where the ceremony would be held, but the room was still being cleaned and prepared.  I managed to get a few establishing shots of the reception room before the bride was ready to come down for her “grand entrance.”

Then it was time for..

Portraits

By the time the bride was ready, we had only about 30 minutes for portraits.   As shown in my former portraits above, I’m using to being able to select good lighting and good location for portraits.  Here, looking at my mistakes:  I was unfamiliar with the venue and could not find anyplace decent for portraits.  Outdoors was mostly a parking lot, a small grassy area was overwhelmed by mid-day sun and glare.   And as I hadn’t insisted on being given the shot list before my arrival, I suddenly found they actually wanted a pretty long list of formal portraits.  But I only had a few seconds to spend with each set.

So essentially, I could either shoot somewhere in a crowded bar or find a spot in the dining room which was covered by tables and chairs.   I finally selected the only area that actually had a few square feet of open floor space, but it was by the windows.  Not the worse background in the location but not the best.

Being crunched for time in a cramped space, I only managed rather generic unimaginative portraits.   My go-to lens for portraits is typically an 85mm prime.  My plan was certainly to use the Sony 85mm F/1.8 but there just was not enough space.  My favorite lens therefore did not leave my bag once.   Instead, I used the Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 which did give me the flexibility to go wide for group shots and full body shots, and zoom in for tighter shots.  While I prefer to use an 85mm and simply zoom in and out with my feet, there just was not enough room for my preferred method.

For the most part, I was not unhappy with how I illuminated the shots.   My assistant maneuvered the Godox AD200 with 32″ softbox on a boom.  On the camera, I used the Godox V860ii speedlight  as a controller and for additional light.   I absolutely do love the versatility of the Magmod system of light modifiers, which I used with the on-camera speedlight.

I was reminded by how much I dislike shooting portraits at wide angle (and close up), as I had quite a bit of distortion to correct in post-processing.

If I had it to do over again, I would have made sure I had enough time to spend doing portraits the right away, and would have somewhere found a better spot.   I also would have kept the AD200 strobe on a stand with the lightbox, and would have  had my assistant take the second flash off camera.

After rushing through portraits, it was downstairs for the….

Ceremony

The wedding ceremony presents its own challenges.  Often, the photographer is very restricted in their movement.  Here, as it was not a church wedding, I was pretty free to move about and get fairly close to the ceremony.   I still didn’t want to disrupt the ceremony, meaning no flash.

Fortunately, the high ISO capability of the Sony A7riii is excellent:

Sony 55mm f/1.8 at f2.5, silent shutter, high ISO (ISO 4000)

Of course, the Sony A7riii (and A7iiii and A9) have a very powerful feature to avoid disrupting a wedding ceremony:   The silent shutter.

I debated whether to use the silent shutter at all.   In my experience, when combined with artificial light, there is risk of serious banding.  But the ceremony room was mostly illuminated by natural light coming from directly  behind the “alter.”   While that still left the light in the back of the room very poor (requiring ISO 4000 in the above image), the bride and groom would be covered in natural light for the ceremony.  I decided to try the silent shutter, with a quick inspection to make sure there was no banding.

After a quick successful test, I went with silent shutter set at 8 frames per second.  I used the Sony Zeiss 55mm F/1.8 so I could get fast aperture (I mostly used F2.5), just a slight bit of telephoto reach, and high image quality.   Perhaps I should have used the Tamron 28-75 to get a few wider images, but my decision worked fairly well.

The 8 frames per second shot silently gave me the opportunity to capture hundreds of images during the 20-30 minute ceremony, giving me the choice of micro-expressions to deliver to the client ultimately:

Overall, I’m pleased with the ceremony results.   Though I would always recommend becoming familiar with the ceremony venue prior to the event:  Determine the focal length you will need.  If you are resigned to shooting from the rear of the church, you may need a telephoto 2.8 lens.  Determine whether the lighting makes silent shooting feasible.    Had I been using the mechanical shutter, I would have been far more judicious in terms of the amount of shooter, so as not to have the sound of the shutter going continuously.

After the ceremony, it was time for…

The Reception

This couple did not have a dance floor.  They did not have a separate cocktail area in a different area.   One thing I already knew but that was emphasized, I hate shooting people sitting at dining tables.

Seating behind a large table is not the most interesting photograph.  Further, it’s difficult to avoid the photograph being cluttered with glasses, dishes, wine bottles, etc.  So I was disappointed there wasn’t a regular cocktail hour, people walking around and interacting with each other make for better photographs than people sitting around a large circle table.

Anyway, moving to my choice of lenses and lighting.  I had my assistant carry around the Godox Light boom, with the Godox V860ii speedlight and MagMod sphere light modifier  for good diffuse light.   I controlled the light with the Godox XPro-S wireless trigger.  The results were mostly decent with a couple more mistakes.

Fourth Mistake:   I kept the flash on TTL, which caused some lag as the system measured the light before each shot.   I often missed key expressions and moments.   I supposed the system would have responded quicker if I had set the light manually, but obviously shooting completely totally manually including manual flash is more challenging.  But probably would have been worth it.

Fifth Mistake:   The room had terrible mixed lighting.  There was natural light pouring in from the windows, the light from my flash, and the restaurant had horrible florescent lighting.   MagMod has a terrific Gel set, which I should have used.  Instead, I had to do an awful lot of white balance correct in post processing, and occasionally resorting to black and white conversion.  (Sometimes I converted to B&W out of aesthetic choice but sometimes just as a way of dealing with poor white balance).  (Article explaining how to gel flash).

Moving on to my lens choices for the ceremony, I started with the Sony Zeiss 35mm F/2.8.   This is just a great focal length for shooting candids of people.  Additionally, this lens is extremely compact and weighs almost nothing, making it easy to carry for hours:

I ultimately decided I wanted more flexibility to also capture a bit more telephoto so I switched to the Tamron 28-75mm.  In retrospect, most of my shots were still shot around 35mm, so I could have stuck to the former lens:

The Winning Gear

After this experience, some of my gear proved especially valuable and will be used any time I’m shooting a wedding or similar event.

The Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 (Amazon link here) proved to be a real winner.    I have debated the advantages of primes versus zooms (my article here).    While I’m partial to prime lenses for many uses, there is no questioning the value of a 2.8 zoom lens in an environment like a wedding reception.   One of the big downsides of the Tamron 28-75mm lens is that it starts at 28mm instead of 24mm.   While for many other uses, I would miss the extra 4mm, I typically wouldn’t want to go that wide for “people” shots.  Thus, the range of the 28mm to 75mm works very well for wedding receptions, as in these photos taken at the wide end of the 28-75:

What about the Sony 24-70 f/2.8 GM lens?    Even putting aside the $1400 price difference, the Tamron 28-75mm weighs 336 grams less!   Shooting a wedding, you’re on your feet for hours at a time.  Yes, lots of professionals shoot with big heavy cameras like a Nikon D5 and massive lenses.  Personally, my feet were already killing me after about 5 hours on them and carrying camera gear.  Many weddings require you to be your feet much longer.   So saving 3/4ths of pound in lens choice makes my work much easier.   Similarly, I’ll take 1.8 primes over 1.4 primes for most uses.  I have tested and reviewed a couple of the Sony 1.4 primes and they are spectacular lenses but I can produce great images with 1.8 and 2.8 primes, while saving my back some pain by the end of a long day.

For lighting, I’m a huge proponent of the Godox system.  (My article on using Godox system for outdoor portraits).   The system is damn cheap compared to buying Sony branded flashes, and the system is better than native Sony, with great wireless capabilities in their products.  Even the Godox softboxes and other accessories are quite affordable and give great results.  Check out the entire line of Godox lighting products on Amazon.

I’ll leave with a different type of event that I did, as I was writing this blog.  For a friend, I did their Bat Mitzvah pictures, where I had a bit more opportunity to stage and plan some religious ceremony pictures.  As it was in a cramped sanctuary, the Tamron 28-75mm was again valuable, along with my Godox lighting set up:

My Future

I have a much bigger and more traditional wedding I’ll be shooting in September.  My plan will include setting up a stationary light stand by the dance floor.  I plan on using both the Sony A9 and A7riii so I can change purposes and lenses quickly.   (A9 with for electronic shutter burst shooting, 70-200/2.8 during the ceremony and a fast prime during the reception, using the A7riii with OCF trigger and Tamron 28-75mm primarily).

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