Called to take some photos at a wedding.

[patrickv]

General wedding photography tips:
- never be the main photographer for friends, whether it's paid or for free. Fill-in photographer is usually fine though.
- never be the main photographer for anyone before you have significant experience as a fill-in photographer + all the gear
- you need wide aperture lenses, for depth of field control and also just light gathering.
- shoot raw. get a big memory card if needed. Even if you use raw just to not have to worry about white balance while shooting, it's already worth it.
- have lots of batteries
- scout the location before and try some test pics. Very experienced photographers who are doing a not too high profile wedding can rely on their experience to adapt on the spot, but apart from this case, go for it.

The 1100D is a beautiful camera, particularly for its price tag. The only thing I don't like about it is the full plastic (they could have put a bit of rubber around the grip!). It can do decent pics up to 1600 ISO which is nice. I advise to lock auto-ISO to 1600 max on this camera, because its 3200 is really ugly.

The kit lens is total crap, hardly better than an iphone, but with any slightly decent lens you can make beautiful pictures. The 1.8 is a great value lens. On a Canon crop sensor you get equiv. perspective of 80mm. You'll be blown away by how it compares to the kit lens, it's another world. It does a bit of colour fringing full open, but it's nothing you can't correct in photoshop. Close it a bit to 2.2 - 2.5 and you'll get rid of it anyway.

Get a second battery and bring the charger with you. Charge both before you get there. This way when the first battery is out, you can put it to charge right away and start using the second one. Oh and deactivate the image display in options, and deactivate the lcd screen (press "disp" button).

Also a flash that can be shot from the side is pretty good (integrated flash is awful - and shooting from right next to the lens produces terrible results). You can pick this up used for less than $100. Any E-TTL capable flash with an extension cord is good for starters. A softbox for the flash is pretty nice too. You can make it yourself for $10, you just need to use your hands

So yeah, as a fill-in photographer here is your list:
- 50 1.8
- battery!!
- any E-TTL capable flash with extension cord (the wireless ones are expensive)
- home made flash softbox (or buy one if you have the cash, though it's not hard at all to make)

And action list:
- scout the location before
- charge your batteries
- learn the ins and outs of your camera if you don't already know it very well. 1100D is pretty simple which is awesome
- experiment a lot with the 50 1.8, its depth of field control and perspective
- do lots of testing with flash photo. it's not a basic skill at all.

Cheers