Beach Wedding Advice Needed - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

02/03/2005 12:50:31 PM · #1

//www.dpchallenge.com/portfolio.php?USER_ID=9763&collection_id=6082

Here are some of my favorites from the wedding I photographed in FL last weekend. Let me know what you think! :) Enjoy!!!

Can you help the bride pick the best photo of her and her husband? She's not too happy with how she looks in them, but I think she's really pretty!! She's a good friend of mine from way back. Please help her pick!! I will share with her the consensus photo :)

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I am photographing a beach wedding Saturday in FL at 4pm on the East Coast. The groom is wearing black pants and a white shirt. The bride is wearing white. I will have zero time for set up as they are driving me there and the officiant has to leave pretty quick. I am going to go test things out on Friday though.

Groom is dark skinned latin, wearing white shirt and black pants.
Bride is pale white with red hair, wearing white dress.
The ocean will be behind them.

My equipment:
Canon 20D
580ex Flash
Canon 18-35mm kit lens
Canon 28-80mm lens
Westcott Gold/Silver reflector disk (no assistant, but i could balance it on my tripod)
Westcott Diffuser disk (no assistant, but i could balance it on my tripod)

My questions:
1. Do I meter off of the bride's dress, her face, his face, his shirt? I am only metering with my camera (no external metering).

2. Should I use a polarizer? The ocean is behind them, but i don't want to darken her dress.

3. Should I use any filters? I have a UV, an 82A and a Polarizer.

4. White balance: should i use auto? or set a temperature? I think the standard is 5200 in my camera, but i can change that with custom. I usually use auto, but occasionally use shade or cloud. Any thoughts on WB?

5. I am planning on using 200 ISO or 100 if I can, but do you suggest otherwise?

6. What is a good aperature range for this type of situation? I was thinking f5.6 or f8, but maybe i should get the ocean clearer by using f11 or so? I don't know. Any thoughts...?

Thanks a million!

Message edited by author 2005-02-11 11:29:24.

krazyivan

Canon EOS-5D Mark IV

Canon EF 50mm f1.2L

02/03/2005 01:01:41 PM · #2

I would definitely recommend to use a Circular Polarizer, especially on the beach. You are going to get alot of reflection off the water and sand. If you have a ND filter, bring that too.

I would set the white balance for daytime. The AWB does work well though.

As far as metering, that would depend on the kind of shot, whether it is a head shot, head and shoulders or full length. I would also check the histogram after the shots to see if they are exposed correctly and make adjustments.

Shooting at f/8 or f/11 should give you good portrait shots and won't blur the background as much.

I would probably shoot at ISO 100 or 200 anything higher than that may cause some over exposure.

Don't forget the dust blower for the camera when changing lenses and a TriPod for the camera too...:-)

Hope this Helps.

Good Luck!!

Message edited by author 2005-02-03 13:05:29.

jimmythefish

Canon EOS-10D

02/03/2005 01:03:27 PM · #3

It's hard to know exacly what to tell you without knowing exactly what the lighting conditions etc. will be. Shoot RAW if at all possible. RAW will eliminate your white balance issue, and allow for some minimal exposure correction.

Try to meter on the dress, but take a variety of shots and bracket exposure if you're in doubt. I seem to have the most success with center-weighted metering when shooting people. The flash will help balance the lighting if there's strong sunlight.

A polarizer is pretty necessary if you're outside in bright sunlight, so yes, use a polarizer for at least some of the shots if there's blue sky around. At the beach you should always have a filter of some sort on to protect the lens. Sand and salt spray are frequently an issue.

ISO 100 should be fine outdoors in good light.

Use a range of apertures. Take some with a large aperture and some with a small one so you get a range of shots to consider afterwards.

garlic

Canon EOS-10D

Sigma 15-30mm f/3.5-4.5 EX Aspherical DG DF for Canon

02/03/2005 01:03:52 PM · #4

Well I may not be the best one to answere your questions but here is what I would do:

1. I wouldnÂ´t meter of any of the things you mentioned. Maybe graycard would come in hand.

2. Use polarizer if there is a good lightning condition, expecially in sunshine.

3. UV without a doubt and polarizer as mention in 2.

4. Shoot RAW and then use the brides dress as a reference for setting WB in post processing. Could also set custom WB and using the brides dress as a reference.

5. Use as low ISO as possible.

6. Shoot with different F-values. If your lenses are of good quality you can shoot at low f-values when isolating subject for background and surounding. Use higher f-values when shooting groups of people or if you want to include background things.

Hope it helps and good luck.

Spork99

OM System OM-1

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro

02/03/2005 01:05:25 PM · #5

My answers, use at your own risk:

1. meter off her dress, but overexpose the indicated exposure to make her dress white but not blown out. Use the histogram.

2. I wouldn't use a polarizer for most shots, it will help the sky loo great, but not the people.

3. I'd use a UV filter, it will keep the whites neutral should any brighteners be in the fabrics. (These compounds will flouresce under UV light in sunlight and make white things have a bluish/purple glow. This is NOT from the lens like chromatic aberration. It's not visible to the eye, but can show up in photos.)

4. If the light is bright, use ISO 100.

5. Use the appropriate aperture to control the DOF for the intended look.

02/03/2005 01:35:19 PM · #6

Originally posted by krazyivan:

I don't have an ND yet, but I do have a circular polarizer I'll use.
I can check the histogram :)
As for a tripod, will I need one? I will be running around taking photos of them as they get married (ceremony). I will use it for posed shots, but not sure how it will do in the sand. I may just want to hand hold it. It's still light out at 4pm. Any thoughts?

02/03/2005 01:37:43 PM · #7

Originally posted by jimmythefish:

good call on the center weight metering. I totally didn't even think about that! I am glad you mentioned it. I will use the polarizer for sure!
How many shots can i get on a 1 gig card if i shoot raw? I don't want to run out of space and can't afford another card. I am doing this as a favor, but i can't afford to put more money into it. I was going to shoot jpg fine... but i see where Raw would be helpful.

GoldBerry

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

02/03/2005 01:39:45 PM · #8

On that Sports Illustrated swimsuit show last night they were shooting on the beach using just sunlight, or sunlight plus a large softbox (not sure what powered it..no cables to be seen). The photos, albeit shot with medium format, were spectacular. I'm dying to know what kind of softbox and power they were running.

02/03/2005 01:40:06 PM · #9

Should I use both the UV and polarizer on my lens at the same time?

I think I will shoot raw. I won't be carrying a grey card with me on the plane, nor do I have one right now.

My lenses are pretty weak, but they'll have to do. //mirdonamy.dpchallenge.com and //mirdonamy.dpcprints.com to see what my lenses can do. They are basic, cheap lenses, but they are not scratched. They work fine. :)

Originally posted by garlic:

02/03/2005 01:42:45 PM · #10

So, no polarizer? Hmmm... Ok, now I am hearing different remarks. Who here has done a beach wedding? Did you use a polarizer? Can I see a sample? I definetly don't want the bride's pale face to look blue. Maybe she got a tan, i haven't seen her a year, but i don't want her to be blue in any way.

I will use ISO 100 & I will use UV. :)

Thank you all sooooo much for your advice. I need to clear up this polarizer question now....

Originally posted by Spazmo99:

02/03/2005 01:43:19 PM · #11

Originally posted by GoldBerry:

I definitely don't have soft boxes :)

krazyivan

Canon EOS-5D Mark IV

Canon EF 50mm f1.2L

02/03/2005 02:11:06 PM · #12

If you don't want the bluish tint of a Polarizer, you can use a Warming Polarizer. This should give you the best of both worlds

HOYA - Warming Circular Polarizer

GoldBerry

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

02/03/2005 02:12:49 PM · #13

I've shot beach weddings and never used any filters other than a UV. Not to say that using them wouldn't produce better images, but I've never had issues with color..nothing that couldn't be tweaked a little in Photoshop anyway.

Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF

02/03/2005 02:39:14 PM · #14

Originally posted by krazyivan:

If you don't want the bluish tint of a Polarizer, you can use a Warming Polarizer. This should give you the best of both worlds

HOYA - Warming Circular Polarizer

That filter looks great! It's 3 weeks of skipping lunch though, not sure I can do that. I am going to try to save up for it for the end of the year though :)

faidoi

Pentax K10D

02/03/2005 05:24:53 PM · #15

Don't forget the ever popular lens hood. Remember that glare on their faces will make them squint their eyes.

Message edited by author 2005-02-03 17:26:17.

02/03/2005 05:26:36 PM · #16

4pm wedding. It shouldn't be too bright, but yeah, i'll use a lens hood if needbe. I hope they aren't squinting at me!!! :)

02/07/2005 03:44:59 PM · #17

I just got home from the wedding. Here are a few photos, totally unedited (other than resize for large web files).

Can you tell me if my labels match the photo for you? Such as, I labelled that based on MY monitor. I thought the lighting was either: perfect, tad dark, tad light, bright, very bright, etc. Do you agree with my labeling? If so, I can begin the editing process tonight. I don't want my monitor to cause me to brighten something that's perfect... know what I mean?

//www.mirdonamy.com/heather/wedding.html

Thanks a million. I may repost this for more people to read.

MikeO

Fujifilm x100

02/07/2005 03:53:59 PM · #18

I agree with your views, The 3rd one, the dark one, is my favourite, I might be inclined to crop out the jetty on the left but otherwise nothing else. Is that a mobile in the 2nd photo?!!

You did a great job

Mike

02/07/2005 05:27:39 PM · #19

Thank you! Yes, I will be doing some cropping!!! :) I like the darker one too!!!