| Author | Thread |
|
|
05/20/2009 10:22:14 AM · #1 |
Hi all,
I shot my first wedding this last saturday for a friend, which was an excellent intro into wedding photography. To say that it was tough is an understatement - we had rainy skies for the better part of the day which pretty much flooded the hot spots that myself and my team-mate had picked out and the actual ceremony was under an outdoor roofed structure. To add to the difficulty, the 'audience' was for the most part standing (there were only 20 chairs for 150 people), so you could imagine the amount of aunts, uncles and grandparents who were pretty much swarming the bride and groom during the ceremony trying to get some pics with their point and shoots..
Fortunately, for the actual cemerony the rain let off and thing were alright when a fill flash was used... and it's all good - the 17-55 f2.8 really is a brilliant lens..
When shooting with only natural light (which was the case for several shots), I had no other option but to boost up to iso 800 (even 1600 in some cases, but those will be turned b&w). For the better part of the ceremony, I was shooting at around iso 520. Now the D200 isn't the greatest of cameras out there when it comes to noise - but there is no doubt that I have some 'keepers' at these setting which I would like to save.
The big question: what kind of noise reduction could/should be applied to these photos?
I've got lightroom and it seems that, at its default settings, it does an excellent job at reducing the ugly colour noise that is associated with crop-sensor high iso shots. These default settings seem to be 25 on the colour noise reduction slider. So far I'm happy with the results directly out of lightroom, and would like to know if it's worth using a stand-alone noise reduction software (neat-image for example) to further reduce the noise?
Another question - there are several shots which I would like to give that classic 'wedding photography' look by softening parts of the image, etc.
I have very little experience with things like 'gaussian blur' and the likes, and these are what I expect are the filters that I should be looking at. So for those of you who have done some wedding photography processing, any processing tips and tricks are graetly appreciated!!
And two final questions:
1) is there a processing that should be done for the highlights that are caused by the flash hitting oily skin?
2) I wasn't impressed with my 'high speed sync' mode on my d200... I found that faster than 1/250 (the camera's flash sync speed), using a flash really didn't work well at all. At 1/1000, it seemed as if the flash wasn't synching with the shutter at all. So what's the deal with this 'forced high speed sync mode' if it doesn't work????
Once all is done, I will be posting up the shots on my pbase account for those who are interested (should be tomorrow evening).
Thanks!!!!
|
|
|
|
05/20/2009 11:16:07 AM · #2 |
Fast sync'ing flash cuts down the power of the flash significantly. Add into that the distance and your flash effect is limited.
As regards the processing, I tend to do it on an image by image basis rather than apply an over all one-for-all effect. My processing is via an earlier edition of Photoshop. I often get asked to shoot in low light situation - much lower than you describe. The main noise problem comes with skin tones, IMO. Noise in backgrounds is not usually a problem. Love it or hate it - it's simply electronic film grain. But noisy skin is plain ugly.
My solution is to use Noise Ninja on a selected channel - sometimes a blue channel or sometimes a green channel - and more often than not to a small area of the image - not the whole image. I apply to skin. If that does not work, I use a small amount of Gaussian blur and mask out the parts I do not want effected. It can be tedious doing this for 200 shots. I know, I have done it. But it usually works out fine for large sized prints.
I guess you shot in Nikon's version of RAW. If you shot JPEG, you deserve what you get. ;-) |
|
|
|
05/20/2009 11:29:24 AM · #3 |
| Trying printing out some of the noises pictures and see what they look like. I've printed some pretty noisy pictures and people don't even seem to notice. hahaa |
|
|
|
05/20/2009 12:05:19 PM · #4 |
Try Noiseware Professional - I use the stand alone version (they also have a plug-in) and LOVE it.. it has saved my arse many times! : ))
Roseann |
|
|
|
05/20/2009 03:17:33 PM · #5 |
thanks to those who responded.
now let's hear from the rest of you guys who shoot weddings!!
Additional Q: Gaussian blur vs. lens blur vs. reducing the clarity slider in lightroom?
Thanks! |
|
|
|
05/20/2009 03:42:49 PM · #6 |
What noise? I shoot at 800-1600 all the time (40D) and not that I've gone to a 5D/5D2 combo 3200 is a nobrainer and 6400 can be used in a pinch - but perhaps thats why most wedding photogs shoot canon? The newer nikons are as good, noise wise, but teh older ones sucked.
Basically, I do nothing. The noise is not noticeable in a print. Now if you underexposed and have pushed the images, well, you get noise at any ISO.
I spend a fortune to get sharp lenses and good bodies - i'm not going to soften the images. But that's me. I do a reduction in clarity every once in a while, but it's rare. I shoot wide open so things are a tad softer than you'd get at F8 anyway.
highlights of oily skin - PS, clone 10% darken mode with a soft brush and make several passes
HSS flash is a sales feature IMO, not one that acutally works.
|
|
|
|
05/20/2009 06:15:52 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
highlights of oily skin - PS, clone 10% darken mode with a soft brush and make several passes
HSS flash is a sales feature IMO, not one that acutally works. |
excellent.. thanks! |
|
|
|
05/20/2009 07:59:05 PM · #8 |
| Noise Ninja works wonders. |
|
|
|
05/22/2009 10:47:37 AM · #9 |
| I second the noiseware professional. I also use the stand alone version and am amazed at the results. |
|
|
|
05/22/2009 10:51:13 AM · #10 |
| How big are you printing? Chances are you won't notice the noise in a print. 100% on screen translates to a very big print. |
|
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 08/11/2025 08:10:25 AM EDT.
