little help and insight from experianced photographer's please

[Kryptic4L]

its a little off topic but it fits the theme and is very important things work out. And well I would rather talk to people i trust ( reefers) about this


I am getting married in january, and have a half bummed idea thats kinda a win win if it works out. We are going to jamaica and tieing the knot on the beach. So I am assuming its going to be day light to sunset pictures.

If i go buy a slr how hard is it to get these things to crank out good picture's, My fiancee's sister seems to have the ability to crank out some nice picture's with a point and shoot. But i doubt she has much of an idea of whats going on with the setting's.

will an slr on auto take good quality photo's in this type of setting. or will I have to crash coarse her in settings etc...

My theory is to buy a good entry level slr, but I have no idea of what lenses might be required and additional equipment we will need. That might throw this into the bad idea pile.

My main concern is getting the raw file's as down the road if it ever becomes a nessisity to get them edited Im sure i can find someone or some business.



Any idea's on this or should I just go with the resort photograper.

[TheMikey]

Go with the resort photographer.

There's a difference between a photograph and a picture. And usually the former is only achieved from hiring a professional or someone very good at what they do. You guys will only be getting married once, might as well make sure your photos are the best they can be for your day.

[robert]

+1 Go with the resort photographer!!!

It's the guy behind the camera that matters.

[RuGlu6]

SLR means very little without a good lens at least 2.8, and stock lens usually is not as clear.

So for a wedding go with the pro, it will cost you les then a price of an SLR.

[sphelps]

Look into the resort photographer and see if you like the portfolio. I'm doing the same thing in May and I found that most of these resort "photographers" are just locals with SLR cameras and no special training. On top of that it often costs around $1200 for an hour. I've been to two destination weddings and both couples just had a friend or relative take pictures, and they both just used auto settings. In the end they weren't professional pics but pictures none the less which seemed good enough for them.

The real professionals don't live on the beach, you gotta fly them down which gets fairly expensive.

Personally I would go ahead with your plan, get yourself a decent camera and lens kit combo, practice, and shoot in raw. As long as the person can frame the picture and focus correctly you should be OK, later on you can add those typical wedding effects with photoshop. There's also lots of wedding photography tips online that would be worth checking out.

http://digital-photography-school.co...-photographers

http://digital-photography-school.co...tography-shots

http://digital-photography-school.co...-photographers

http://digital-photography-school.com/weddingbeginners

http://digital-photography-school.co...-wedding-shots

http://digital-photography-school.co...mposition-tips

and so on

Chances are if you're the destination wedding couple you're not as picky as the typical couple. Ask yourself what you want from your wedding pictures, chances are you don't need a professional, just a guy with a camera

Congrats BTW!

[kien]

If you google around you might be able to find a local photog that you can fly down to your wedding. Sometimes you can get great package deals with them.. like this guy (www.kientranphotography.com)

At any rate, as suggested above, it depends what types of pictures you want. If you just want "pictures" from your wedding, any camera will do (SLR or point and shoot). A camera is only as good as the person behind it. A crash course in Photography will definitely help you or anyone else for that matter, handle that SLR better. Putting an SLR on auto just turns it into a big, heavy, expensive point and shoot. The whole point of an SLR is so that you can change the lens and the settings. If you have no need to do this then get a really expensive point and shoot.

-- quote--
Chef: "Your photos are great, you must have an expensive and awesome camera"
Me: "Thanks, dinner was awesome, you must have nice and expensive pots and pans."