My Portfolio Series focusses on one image per feature. In these ‘behind the story’ features I focus on the how the shot came about, my approach, and often include some camera and exposure settings too.
For Photographers
Possibly the most frequently asked question about wedding photography is “What are the best lenses for wedding photography?”. With my dealings on various social networking sites, I often see comments like “I’m rocking the 35/85 combo today” and such like and it got me thinking…
Thank you for sharing this. It was a very good read. Very interesting and helpful as I put lots of thought into any new purchases and am currently thinking of my third prime. I got the 25/50 combo. What would you recommend the 85 or 135 as a third lense?
Hi Tina, personally I prefer the 135mm to the 85mm. It does take some getting used to though.
Hi Steven,
That’s a nice bit of research and thanks for sharing. I’ve recently become a 35/85 shooter but I can definitely see the 24/50 being considered in my lens arsenal.
has to be a 3 lens setup with 35/50/85. 50 is key imo
Very good article.
Thanks for sharing! I’m just about to buy another prime actually so this comes at a very good time. I love my 50 mm and recently borrowed the 24mm off a friend and loved it so this has reassured me I’m making the right decision.
Nice article, thanks for sharing the results.
Great post, really useful. As a relative beginner I’m only really starting to have the confidence to use my primes and not cop out by reaching for the zoom. But I definately think I shoot better with primes for the reasons you state. Now I just need to add a few more to my collection.
Good to see a different perspective to the reportage wedding lens debate. I have the 35 1.4, 85 1.2 and 135 2.0 lenses, just sold the 24 1.4 as it was too wide for me and ended up having to keep swapping back to a longer length for people and groups of people. 35mm was my people lens, the opposite of CH. I strongly suggest trying them out before you buy.
i don’t know how old is this article ( i found it thru Google),
but i started photographing weddings in 2012 using only primes lenses. i used 2 Nikons D200 (Dx) with 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm.
i have now upgraded to Fx format and also include a film camera (Nikon F5)..and i will stick to prime lenses too. i have added a 24mm f/2.8 and i am planning on getting a 180mm f/2.8 in the next couple of months.
Great informative post. I would agree with the 49% if it I was only going to use primes. I wouldn’t swap my 85mm 1.2 for anything tho! 
As a professional documentary wedding photographer, I deal with thousands of digital images. From the bridal preparations to the evening celebrations, a couple’s entire day is documented and stored on a few tiny memory cards. The storage and backup of these images is of vital importance to me and my clients. The simple fact is that hard drives fail. It would be unthinkable to tell a couple they couldn’t have their wedding album because the hard drive failed and I lost all their irreplaceable photos.
Hi Carter,
I really would like to know how long do you keep the raw files?
and also the processed ones? in JPEG?
thanks in advance for your answer.
Grtz
Peter
Hi Peter,
I keep all raw files that make it into the final selection (as well as all processed jpegs) indefinitely.
As an available light wedding photographer, I often find myself dealing with high contrast situations. Usually the Bride will be dressed in white and the Groom dressed in black, and I will often find that the top table has been conveniently positioned in front of a large Georgian window, throwing the couple into nothing more than silhouettes without correct exposure correction. So throughout the course of a wedding day, it can often be challenging for a camera to record both details in the highlights and in the shadow areas within the same scene, especially without resorting to flash photography.
I’ve never normally used anything other than the exposure value in an adjustment brush in LR, I’ll have to give these a go. Thanks for sharing.
Really handy tip! I am going to give this a go next week. Thanks
A tutorial for adding Realistic Film Grain in Photoshop. This method is non-destructive.