Comments on: The One Lens Wedding Results!

By: Adrian Lambert

Adrian Lambert — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 07:43:57 +0000

Nice work and an inspirational article. I use a 24-70 f2.8 and my beloved 85 f1.2 but your article has encouraged me to try and favour a 35 instead of the zoom. I feel my neck breathing a sigh of relief !

By: mike

mike — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 23:52:25 +0000

Lovely work. We’re fans of doing more with less, and this is inspiration of what’s possible in wedding photography. Thanks Travis : D

By: Travis Hill

Travis Hill — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:02:53 +0000

$1000 is a starting price, our wedding sales with albums and e-sessions average around $7,000. It’s all about up-sale, and making your clients happy.

Travis

By: Travis Hill

Travis Hill — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:59:57 +0000

Thanks for the Kind words Tomas. The canon 35 is a super sharp lens, especially when it’s set to about 4.5 or so aperture. The best way to learn is to get out of your comfort zone.

Travis

By: myd7000

myd7000 — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:44:41 +0000

Sarah.
I just looked at your website and you do good work. I noticed that you start your wedding packages at $1,000 including an engagment session. I see that you do this on the side, but I think with your experience you are undercharging. Nice site though!

By: tomas haran

tomas haran — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:29:41 +0000

this is amazing and exactly what i was looking for. I still cant believe you were able to pull it off with one lens. Ive done about 7 weddings, still learning, but i find that i use the zoom as a crutch. I love macro photography and with the zoom i have a tendancy of taking lots of close up or tight shots.
I may try to pick up a very fast prime lens or two and see how i like it. Maybe it will get me to shoot a little wider and like you wrote, get me to walk around and find more interesting shots.
I use a d7000 and have a 35mm 1.8, but might look into something wider. Im also amazed at how sharp your images are.
Just awesome.

By: Sarah Rose

Sarah Rose — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 05:54:11 +0000

Hi Travis,

Thank you for being awesome! I have shot weddings for over 3 years now & use this concept of the one lens. It does allow you to be a true artist & make sure that every client has unique images. I do the photography on the side so the husband hates when I get a new lens. But this one is a must! I hate going to a wedding & seeing it look like a photoshoot! Glad to know someone out there believes that less can mean more!

By: Matt Osborne

Matt Osborne — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 22:53:12 +0000

Travis, a rgeat piece and a very enjoyable read. I’m just getting into weddings and did my first shoot for a friend last weekend. Being a typical newbie I took far to much gear but funnily enough due to the low light and not wanting to dazzle everyone with flash i opted for my Samynag 35/1.4 MF on the D700 and 14/2.8 Samyang MF on the D90. The 35mm is indeed a great length though i did swap to my Samyang 85/1.4 MF for speeches. i did find it tough with MF to get lots of crisp shots at high ISO but my main school boy error was being too used to stills so using 1/30 s/s only to forget the people are all moving. I really want another wedding asap to give in another go. I still got some nice shots and only covered the 2nd half of the day so the couple will not be without photos.

Thanks again for sharing
Matt

By: eally

eally — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 13:21:46 +0000

Hi there Travis..i really enjoyed and love your photography..this one is really good and the explanation is detail..for me in wedding events i would used two lens..and man it is heavy…i just used the standard lens and planning to get a faster lens by next year..for me, distortion doesnt really matter, how distort it is it art..photogrphy is all about art..and your photography is great..:)..im not a professional like you, but i usually do wedding photos for my closes frens as they request ..still got many to learn,but im loving my part time job..:)

By: ebphoto

ebphoto — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 18:20:56 +0000

So, what will be your next challenge?

By: ebphoto

ebphoto — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 18:20:26 +0000

great to see the results of this challenge. Currently, I would not dare to do it, so you have my utmost respect for this. Great lighting too, as you said, I did not notice distortion with the closer portraits. Love the vignette. I’m sure your clients will be delighted!

By: Carmen I

Carmen I — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:57:19 +0000

I am just getting into portraits and need to start with some off-camera lighting. What type of equipment would you suggest for someone with a Canon Rebel T2i?

By the way–I loved this post. Shows that the artist trumps the big equipment!

By: John S

John S — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 08:07:07 +0000

Excellent shots! I sent you a reply in Twitter, however I think I answered my own question. Working with one lens, especially a Prime, will definitely make you move around more. However, for the first few weddings would you suggest using at least one zoom? For instance, your shot of the first kiss, I would die if that was the only one I got. I would definitely want something close up for that shot, and that either takes planning or a good telephoto, or both.

@Motti, the Nikon 35mm f/1.4 is a manual lens, true, why not use the 50mm f/1.4 instead which is a manual/auto lens and which one a medium frame camera gives you the 35mm equivalent?

By: Fenriq

Fenriq — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 16:15:03 +0000

I really like many of these photos you’ve taken, very creative and beautifully done. As a recent Twitter link noted, it isn’t the equipment so much as it is the operator (I saw a great photo shoot done with an iPhone, yeah!). I will probably try to incorporate some of these shots into the next wedding I shoot (though I do carry more than one lens).

Very inspiring post and photos (and it doesn’t hurt that the bride is rather attractive, does it?).

By: Philip W.

Philip W. — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:24:28 +0000

The images look great but why did you add a vignette to nearly every picture?
I personally think that the vignette is too much on many pictures and it looks like your lens or camera somehow isn’t working right.

By: Luciano Meirelles

Luciano Meirelles — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 06:08:22 +0000

Wow!
I’m so impressed, you did an amazing jog in a single wedding with one and only lens.

I also love fast lens like that, you just can’t go wrong.

Awesome jog, keep up.

By: Travis Hill

Travis Hill — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:38:53 +0000

Hi Mireille, I actually did most of the vignetting in lightroom. I do most of my editing in LR and rarely use photoshop anymore. Although I do use ps when a print order is placed, and for the album.

By: Travis Hill

Travis Hill — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:36:24 +0000

Hey Phat, thanks for the comment. I think it’s absolutely crucial to have plenty of back-ups. I had several at my disposal just in case something went wrong. Remember two is one and one is none!

Travis

By: Phat Photographer

Phat Photographer — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:09:43 +0000

I disagree with just using one lens for a (paid) wedding, but agree with the principle, the lens choice and love the photos you posted. Doubly “gutsy” if you didn’t have a backup body or at least had some duct tape if it malfunctioned

By: Mireille

Mireille — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 11:10:07 +0000

Great post. Lovely results. Were the vignetting done in post or out of the camera?
I shot my first digital wedding with one lens the canon 50mm 1.4 and it turned out great. I did not use any flash or other means main reason because I do not own a lot of lenses and as you said in the post it is about walking around a lot looking for situations that with a zoom you might have missed. I loved shooting with one lens no stress when to switch and with 1.4 you have enough light (sometimes even to much) to get great shows.