Awesome question, and it's fun to practice until you get really good.

• I prefer to shoot manual after blue hour. Everything slows down and it's mainly an informed trial and error process as a beginner anyhow on longer exposures like this

• A $20 intervalometer will help you keep a nice and steady shot in bulb mode, and for more precise and consistent shots over 30 seconds (i.e. dial in a 45 second shot every time so you don't have your head buried in your smart phone timer ruining your night vision)

• Check the histogram of the photos you're shooting. You should see some vertical lines that represent full stops, so you can use /u/DJ-EZCheese's doubling rules to work out a better exposure. As your foreground gets brighter across images, you'll see a peak moving higher and higher across the chart

• Consider light painting with a cheap strobe. The "test" button lets you pop off a flash on demand, and the variable power settings are quite useful. If you're out hiking, you can pack a sheet or something and use it to help diffuse your light so it's not so intense. Especially with longer shutter speeds, you can easily fire your flash a few times per shot if you have a little distance to your foreground or need to paint light across multiple areas of the frame (within reason)

• Camera bodies are for features: tilt screen, wifi connection, burst speed, buffer depth (how many burst shots it can take before it slows down to write more), auto focus points, ergonomics, etc.
• Lenses are where you'll see image quality. Zoom range, wide aperture, sharpness, color and tone response, etc.
• Don't forget to learn how to develop your images. Post production -- especially in portraiture -- is just as important a step as composition or exposure

My personal advice which may or may not be the best recommendation around:

If you're just starting out, begin by looking at an intro body like a Canon T6/T7 or a Nikon 3400D/3500D as a baseline. I started with a kit lens and a kit telephoto and absolutely loved having that variety but you'll be fine with just an 18-55. I made the very common upgrade to a 50mm f/1.8 prime after a year or so, and while it took some time to get used to not having zoom, I was really happy with how "good" the images looked while also seeing lots of areas I needed (and still need) to practice making shots actually good. Now I just bought a moderately expensive wide lens for light astro (and I really enjoy some super wide perspectives personally), and I'm thinking about going hard on a beefy zoom lens for rocket and wildlife photography.

So my advice that worked well for me is:

• Just save cash as a beginner and get a beginner body. They're so good these days that you're not going to notice any significant image quality improvement by buying a higher end pro-sumer rig
• Play with the kit lens(es), and if you want to do portraits, just go ahead and grab a $50 1.8 because it's so affordable
• Read and shoot and read and watch youtube videos and read and shoot and shoot. There's so freaking much to learn, so get a head start on tutorials tonight
• Get a cheap flash and check out http://strobist.com and work on that after some time shooting.
• Once you've done some work and shot some sessions, you'll have a really good perspective on which upgrades you need. Maybe it's a specific lighting kit. Maybe it's a wider prime. Maybe it's a higher quality zoom lens if you're shooting at conventions where you have less time and space to set up a shot. Maybe it is actually a body upgrade that has better auto focus support or whatever features you're missing

Put the rest of your budget aside for an upgrade that is better suited to the work you'll learn how to do. And make sure you also have a solid editing machine. There's nothing more frustrating than sorting and trying to edit a hundred+ photos on a slow, laggy computer.

if you don't know what you want to do specifically and just want a flash for the sake of experimentation, get a $28 amazonbasics one and call it a day.

TT560 vs TT600

There are a lot of reasons not to go cheap with the TT560. It's a usable combo, but the TT600 one is nicer for a lot of different reasons.

And, the Neewer TT560 is actually a rebranded Godox TT560 (it was also the Amazon Basics flash for a while). This is a much much older model, basically built to be a competitor to Yongnuo's YN-560 (Mark I) when it came out back in 2010.

Guide numbers and Zoom

The guide number difference, however, isn't a reason to choose one over the other. They're probably pretty close in light output (though the TT600 might be a little more powerful), despite the specs saying different. Because of zoom.

Zoom as a feature on a flash just means the flash tube inside the head can be moved back and forth to tighten or spread out the beam of light as it leaves the head. The farther back into the head, the tighter and more focused (and more powerful) the beam becomes. Zooming a flash to 200mm, just means the spread pattern more or less matches the field of view of a 200mm lens on full frame.

The TT600 can zoom between 14-200mm. The TT560 doesn't zoom at all and is probably fixed around 35mm.

Missing features on the TT560 vs. the TT600

• LCD display so you can actually see all your settings, rather than counting LEDs and doing power of two math (e.g., 5-of-7-LEDs-lit => 1/4 power. vs. an LCD display saying "1/4" on it).
• Control wheel vs. up/down buttons. Much much faster/easier way to adjust settings on the flash.
• Power increments in 0.3EV (TT560 only does full stops)
• Zoom
• MULTI mode (stroboscopic mode)
• Recycle beep (audible alert the flash is ready to fire)
• 360º head rotation vs. 270º rotation (useful for on-camera bounce flash and for optical slaving).
• Built-in radio remote control. Simpler, more robust setup, far more convenient, and doesn't require additional batteries like an add-on receiver. And you get more function (power, group, HSS remote control vs. just firing a flash).
• In Godox's 2.4 GHz radio system which has a lot more expansion options that are bigger than speedlights, like AC-powered studio monolights and the AD Witstro TTL/HSS li-ion battery powered strobes. Neewer packaged triggers, you're never quite sure what you're getting or what might be compatible.

Missing features from a TT600 vs. a TT685 II

• Firmware upgrade capability for new features/bug fixes
• TTL control, both remote and on-camera
• TTL/HSS capability as a radio master on the flash hotshoe
• Remote zoom control as a radio slave
• HSS on-camera
• 0.1EV power increments in M mode
• ID codes to stop someone else in the vicinity on your Godox channel from firing your lights.
• Ability to turn off that $#@^ing red blinking LED that indicates active radio slave mode.
• Slidelock on the foot rather than a screwlock (No chance of accidentally over tightening).
• TCM capability for on-camera use.
• SCAN function to find the least-crowded radio channels

So, like I said, I'd recommend having a TT685 II-O as your first speedlight. TT600s for later units if you want.

--edited to add a link, fix a typo.

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Electronic-Flash-Cameras-Canon/dp/B01I09WHLW - Speedlight - $29

https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Wireless-Speedlite-Receiver-Universal/dp/B00CO2WP0U/ - Wireless triger - $15

https://www.amazon.com/Lightdow-6-5ft-Adjustable-Tripod-Number/dp/B06ZY9D62X/ - Light stand - $13

https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Softbox-Bracket-600EX-RT-Speedlite/dp/B016MKKAX - Softbox and bracket - $35

https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Photographic-Sandbag-Studio-Stands/dp/B00JHCX6US/ - Sandbag - $7

That is a full 1 light off camera lighting kit including softbox and bracket.

Try a $30 $25 on sale strobe and http://strobist.com

It's almost as effective as a great lens upgrade in a lot of situations.

• Let them know first and foremost that a free friend is not going to be able to deliver what a pro will. You both need to have very low expectations so nobody is disappointed. It's a frigging TON of work and it's a very impotent day. It'd suck for anyone to walk away unhappy with this setup, even knowing the limitations.

• Try to shoot some events ASAP as practice sessions. Get your wedding couple to take you out to dinner with some other people (although pictures of purple eating is bad form); have them and some other friends over for game night; do a mini portrait session of them in a similar wedding environment; anything. Shoot the scene, then go edit the photos and see how that feels and learn from whatever obvious mistakes you find.

• Check out Taylor Jackson's YouTube channel. Look up some basic composition rules so you avoid simple mistakes

• Bring that 6D too! What lens are they offering with it, or are they only offering the body? Shoot an entire session with it so you can quickly use it on wedding day without stopping to figure out buttons and settings

• I'd personally put the 50 on which ever camera you feel most comfortable shooting, and probably your kit zoom on the other (but my 50 is my go-to portrait lens and I'm very comfortable with the limitations of a prime). I'd hate to shoot an event on only primes at a beginner-pro skill set, so keep your options open to what will nail A shot, maybe not the best shot. People are going to rip on the 75-300 but I've had some great success shooting at 75 mm for an entire session. It has some nice bokeh if you have the space to use it.

• Get there early. Shoot detail shots of the venues to warm up, and add in people when you start getting creative with seeing light and clean backgrounds.

• Look for window light and broad shade outside

• If you have time to practice using a cheap bounce flash, check out http://strobist.com and have fun learning with that. It's a blast to play with those and they're really helpful indoors or near a big white wall outside.

• A really popular editing style is to lift your blacks around 10-12% and add an S shape to your tone curve for some contrast. Expose to the right so your main subject is in the sweet spot of around 65-85% luminosity (from my experience), and don't worry to much about blowing out small patches of your image with incoming key light - as long as you're metering their face or the main subject, I personally can get some brighter, happier, softer feeling shots which is great for weddings. Google/YouTube any of these terms for stick tutorials of you're not yet familiar with anything.

Sorry if any of this is too basic. Sounds like a fun challenge. Good luck!

• Camera bodies are for features: tilt screen, wifi connection, burst speed, buffer depth (how many burst shots it can take before it slows down to write more), auto focus points, ergonomics, etc.
• Lenses are where you'll see image quality. Zoom range, wide aperture, sharpness, color and tone response, etc.
• Don't forget to learn how to develop your images. Post production -- especially in portraiture -- is just as important a step as composition or exposure

My personal advice which may or may not be the best recommendation around:

If you're just starting out, begin by looking at an intro body like a Canon T6/T7 or a Nikon 3400D/3500D as a baseline. I started with a kit lens and a kit telephoto and absolutely loved having that variety but you'll be fine with just an 18-55. I made the very common upgrade to a 50mm f/1.8 prime after a year or so, and while it took some time to get used to not having zoom, I was really happy with how "good" the images looked while also seeing lots of areas I needed (and still need) to practice making shots actually good. Now I just bought a moderately expensive wide lens for light astro (and I really enjoy some super wide perspectives personally), and I'm thinking about going hard on a beefy zoom lens for rocket and wildlife photography.

So my advice that worked well for me is:

• Just save cash as a beginner and get a beginner body. They're so good these days that you're not going to notice any significant image quality improvement by buying a higher end pro-sumer rig
• Play with the kit lens(es), and if you want to do portraits, just go ahead and grab a $50 1.8 because it's so affordable
• Read and shoot and read and watch youtube videos and read and shoot and shoot. There's so freaking much to learn, so get a head start on tutorials tonight
• Get a cheap flash and check out http://strobist.com and work on that after some time shooting.
• Once you've done some work and shot some sessions, you'll have a really good perspective on which upgrades you need. Maybe it's a specific lighting kit. Maybe it's a wider prime. Maybe it's a higher quality zoom lens if you're shooting at conventions where you have less time and space to set up a shot. Maybe it is actually a body upgrade that has better auto focus support or whatever features you're missing

Put the rest of your budget aside for an upgrade that is better suited to the work you'll learn how to do. And make sure you also have a solid editing machine. There's nothing more frustrating than sorting and trying to edit a hundred+ photos on a slow, laggy computer.