Famous Last Words: the Wedding Chronicles Begin

11/18/2005 05:23:28 PM · #1

Those of you who spend a lot of time in these forums may recall that I have mentioned on a couple occasions that I spent 25 years working as a professional photographer and managed in all that tiem to avoid shooting ANY weddings whatsoever, except for some candid work at my best friend's wedding when I was very young. I was actually proud of this. I HATE weddings.

Fast forward:

My neighbor, who eats here with me 3-4 times a week, manages a large motel here on the Cape. One of their housekeepers, a young Jamaican woman, is getting married on Sunday.

Yup, you guessed it: he volunteered me to shoot the wedding... It's "his" gift to her...

I demurred, he countered, we compromised. His gift just cost him 300 bucks, and I now own a Canon 430EX speedlight. And I have to shoot a wedding. Without me, there's no photographer; the happy couple is dirt-poor but rich in their joy. I'm assured expectations are low, that they are not expecting "professional" quality work, so I suppose I'll be OK, but still... sigh...

I'm looking through the speedlight manual now. A mounting bracket is not an option at this time, both because of cost and because my store doesn't have one in stock anyway, so I'm gonna be working with top-mounted flash, but at least I can bounce it.

I'd love to have a lumisphere, but that's not in stock either. I've hard of cutting out a milk carton; anyone have experience with that?

Pray for me and advise me, people; I'm out of comfort zone here, big-time.

Robt.

alanfreed

Nikon Z9

11/18/2005 05:26:12 PM · #2

Good luck -- I'm sure they'll be MORE than pleased to have YOU!

As for the lumisphere... I had very good success making my own from an empty bottle of rubbing alcohol. Chopped the top off, and it fit perfectly on the flash, and the results were super. I did eventually buy the real thing, but the bottle idea worked very well!

alanfreed

Nikon Z9

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS

11/18/2005 05:30:15 PM · #3

Here are the instructions I used, by the way:

Budget Lightsphere

Strikeslip

Canon EOS-5D

11/18/2005 05:36:00 PM · #4

Hehe!

You'll be great, quit yer cryin!

:-D

Try not to sweat the small stuff.

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

11/18/2005 05:39:52 PM · #5

I should add that these people are VERY black; like, ebony-skinned. This will be the first time I've ever photographed such dark-skinned people. I'm worried about unnatural-looking highlights bouncing off their skin,

Also, for the record, I don't have to print (nor do I wish to). I'll be shooting in jpg and delivering an unedited CD of all images shot; the printing is their problem. Therefore, if at all possible, I want adequate images right out of the camera; good color balance, saturation, sharpness etc.

R.

idnic

Canon EOS-60D

11/18/2005 05:45:21 PM · #6

You'll prolly find your self enjoying the day, Robert - but I bet you won't dare admit it!! :P

Neil

Fujifilm X-T30

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Nikon

11/18/2005 05:47:38 PM · #7

I am sure you will produce some wonderful shots. Just remember to include the people in the pics. ;)

I took unofficial bar mitzvah pics for someone a few weeks ago and I hadn't even bothered to bring my flash since I was just going to shoot a few pics of people. (Unnoficial as in they didn't ask, but I noticed they hadn't hired a photographer and settled for the disposable cameras on the table solution.) They came out really pretty good considering I had to use the built in flash!

Something you might try is to go for higher ISO (which is pretty clean on your camera) and let the flash serve as mainly fill. That will produce the most natural light, other than possible color balance issues. Otherwise if it's a big room or dark in there, you get people in front of pretty dark backgrounds (which works fine for some shots).

In fact, I just read an article about this, but I can't remember which rag I was reading it in! I should find it, because there advice was a bit more specific on settings.

Message edited by author 2005-11-18 17:49:17.

Apple iPhone

11/18/2005 05:48:58 PM · #8

make sure you set your white balance or shoot raw and let me find the site that talked about photographing darker skins
found it
//www.nyip.com/tips/topic_peopleofcolor0602.php

//www.shutterbug.net/searchresults/index.html?terms=dark+skin&stype=A&x=10&y=11

has two articles one a master class on photographing people of colour

Message edited by author 2005-11-18 17:59:24.

11/18/2005 05:50:59 PM · #9

Originally posted by nshapiro:

Seek thee the info and report back, pilgrim. Time is of the essence.

I just hooked up the flash and shot some test shots; so far so good. Excellent coverage, good color balance. I wonder how long it will run on the 4 AA batteries?

R.

Neil

Fujifilm X-T30

11/18/2005 05:57:56 PM · #10

My 420EX runs a long time, but you should definitely have at least 3 sets just in case!

Olympus 40-150mm f/3.5-4.5 Zuiko Digital

11/20/2005 01:12:23 PM · #11

Well, we did the rehearsal last night (pretty lame) and I got to fire some test shots for lighting. Entire group clad in the latest hip-hop fashion. The groom's party are VERY BIG BOYS I must say...

Flash works fine. I learned that I will need to set from Av mode to lock in a decent f/stop; full auto is showing me f/4.0 and that's shy on DOF. So now I'm worried about slow shutter speeds at f/8.0 causing residual blur on BG. Will probably amp up to ISO 400 or even 800, these won't get blown up big. I don't want to use full manual and, say, 1/125 at f/11 because I'm afraid the BG will go very dark.

I am just feeling my way around. The 430EX flash unit is very impressive I must say; worlds better than any flash I ever used before, back int he day.

Anyone got any advice re: the above issue? How to get decent DOF with the auto-flash?

We leave in an hour...

R.

joynim

Olympus E-500 EVOLT

11/20/2005 01:22:11 PM · #12

Would be very interested to see how the photos turned out!!!

wewillexplore

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM

11/20/2005 01:24:12 PM · #13

Originally posted by bear_music:

Anyone got any advice re: the above issue? How to get decent DOF with the auto-flash?

Boost ISO to at least 800 - the 20D is a big boy and can handle that, especially with a tad of noise reduction after. Anything under 11x14, 800 is fine and even better than people expect. I'd run with f4 and 5.6 though. I never shoot f8 unless I've got people going two feet deep or so. How far away are you going - I mean how much depth is f4 gonna give you?

Gordon

RIM BlackBerry Curve

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

11/20/2005 04:00:17 PM · #14

I emailed you, but I'd very strongly reconsider shooting in Av or Tv mode with a flash on a canon body.

Those modes meter for the ambient light only - the flash is considered fill, and the exposure will always be long in a dark situation. The flash will handle its own short exposure for the foreground fill, but the shutter will be open, giving you motion trails around a sharp foreground subject.

Best approach is to dial in a decent aperture/ shutter for the ambient conditions that will give you the DoF and shutter speed you need - and let the flash do it's thing for the foreground - using FEC to adjust to taste (outdoors I dial my flash back about -1.7EV, but indoors you'll need something more towards the -0.5EV or just no FEC

oOWonderBreadOo

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L USM

11/20/2005 05:41:57 PM · #15

hmmm- you might want to think about shooting in raw anyways... It's pretty easy to to a batch transfer to jpeg from the EOS viewer

pawdrix

Nikon D700

Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF

11/20/2005 06:31:17 PM · #16

I'm guessing this event is in progress as we speak...?

Message edited by author 2005-11-20 18:33:07.

Prof_Fate

11/20/2005 07:05:21 PM · #17

Too late now for my advice...hope it turns out well. I second Gordon and Wonderbreads suggestions.

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0 L USM

11/20/2005 09:44:40 PM · #18

Yes, in progress and finished. 400-odd images shot. JPG, bounced flash, manual mode, f/8. As far as LED review screen/histograms go, looks fine. More later. VERY odd shooting a room full of black people, I must say. Worst food I've ever had, too, at the recption. Really, really bad... I was surprised by that.

Robt.

Rikki

Canon EOS-20D

11/20/2005 10:32:06 PM · #19

Hey Robert. I have a Lumiquest that you're more than welcome to borrow. Let me know. I have your address in file. One condition: I just need it before my trip to Japan.

Rikki