Need advice.
- Thread starter fiir14
- Start date
between a faster lens (pro lens or prime lens) and a flash to choose, if can only afford one thing now, a flash is an option of the least spending with better results.
If can afford, get a flash and lens. If not enough budget, maybe can get a flash and use ur current lens. Or rent a lens.
Use the equipment u are more familiar with.
Use the equipment u are more familiar with.
Wedding pictures with f/1.8? Families usually don't appreciate paper-thin depth of field, they want to see the entire group being in focus. This calls for f/5.6 or more - and a flash.
Sounds a bit extreme. Even in very dimly lit wedding ballrooms shooting ambient with F2.8 I very seldom hit ISO 6400. TS mentioned void deck Malay weddings. Usually malay weddings are held in the day more. And with a flash, the problem is even less, since your flash will freeze motion.
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I did mention candids specifically, group shots are still done with f5.6 or f8 with a flash.
Candids, people do appreciate some subject isolation. The DOF isn't that thin actually, it's only 35mm on a crop with f1.8. That's about f2.8 or f3.2 on a full frame.
Yah. And covering company events mostly.
But never shoot malay weddings before :/
I'm not sure how bright malay weddings are. The couple few I ran into during walking Labrador park are pretty dark, looked like a normal ballroom lighting. I can't remember the last time I shot less than ISO 10000 (on average) in ballrooms.
I'm not a fan of shooting candids with flash if I can help it. Everyone will know you are there and behaves differently :/
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When I was doing weddings, we only use flash for table shots and large group photos. Even when we are on 70-200 or 24-70 we never had to hit ISO 10000. In the darkest conditions we hit ISO 8000 a couple of times for a few shots. Most of the time for moments we are only doing around ISO 3200-6400 in dimly lit conditions when the spot lights are not shinning and when we are capturing moments in the ballroom. For walk ins, yum seng, champagne pouring we are usually shooting at ISO 2000 or less, because ballroom have spot lights too. For cocktail in the corridor outside the ballroom we are usually doing around ISO 2000 to 3200 (a lot less when we use primes).
Question, why do you need to sustain a 1/250 shutter speed all the time?
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I have never used F8 for group shots. DoF required depends on many things, focal length, distance to subjects, and aperture. how you position the group and where to focus also really helps on your ability to get every face in focus. I have shot wedding table shots at F5.6 and even F4 at times. I have also shot 3 to 4 people group at F1.4. You have to use your knowledge of DoF and get so used to it for certain focal lengths to get every face in.
if don't know how to arrange a group, shooting in very small aperture is also useless.
so end of the day, knowledge, skills and experience is more important than getting a better gears.
What do you want to tell us with this 'conversion'?
Many Malay weddings happen on void decks during day time. By nightfall everything is done. During daytime, ISO is not a concern at all, rather the harsh shadows coming from the bright sun or the dull colours in case of an overcast sky plus the color temperature (depending on what lights are being used).
I did some ballroom shots with my old 350D where 1600 is the hard stop. It simply worked with sufficient flash and observing the reach of the flash. A few tests shows and your are there. I saw the official pictures later and none of them reached 6400 with flash.
Even for candid shots: people forget your presence (unless you run over their feet every minute). Make yourself invisible and you will get the shots, even with flash.
in situation of mixed lighting, flash is your good friend.
of course you can shooting without flash in low lighting condition, but be prepare to spend more time on correcting the white balance in the post, and if you shoot many scenes in different kind of mixed lighting situations, you have to match the white balance to give a consistent look.
of course you can shooting without flash in low lighting condition, but be prepare to spend more time on correcting the white balance in the post, and if you shoot many scenes in different kind of mixed lighting situations, you have to match the white balance to give a consistent look.
I think the last time I saw one held in a void deck was about 10 years ago.
Ah, then your shutter must be pretty low?
I first tried 1/125 and there was motion blur. I was capturing the moments when the subject was laughing and therefore hand movement was unpredictable and rocky (esp if it's a very funny joke). I'm not a fan of moving hands in photo, preferring a frozen hand for a timeless feel. Hence my keep rate for 1/125 was only about 5 out of 10... with about 150+ of such shots in a dinner alone, keeping only 80 is unacceptable.
I then went for 1/250 for the next event and my keep rate turn out to be about 9 out of 10.
To reconfirm again (I'm a paranoid guy), I went back to 1/125 for the next event and my keep rate is once again about 5 out of 10. Hence, I concluded 1/250 is the magic number to capture the candids I have in my mind.
Even recently, I went back to 1/125 to confirm the above test I did a couple of years ago and had the same result. So somewhere between 1/125 and 1/250 is the magic number to freezing the hands in photos.
The conversion is there to put into perspective that it's nowhere close to a "razor-thin" dof you have described. If you are talking about razer thin, I'll call the < 1mm dof from my Venus lens "razer-thin". Anything more is seriously a luxury to me.
"Make yourself invisible and you will get the shots, even with flash."
And without flash, you will get even more natural looking facial expressions and shots.
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Perhaps 1/250 and 1/125 appears a tad conservative to some people, but i guess it all depends on the photographer and what he is comfortable with, or perhaps whether the lens has IS/VR/OIS to help with handshake.
For me 1/60s is more than enuff usually unless it is a sporting event or dance with fast movements. typical wedding shots and candids are definitely achievable below 1/100s.
I only recall cameras in the recent 4-5 years that allow us to shoot comfortably with > iso 6400. Before that, 1600 was more of the norm and 3200 is a tad pushing it in terms of IQ. hence I usually go for faster lenses to bring down the ISO.
For me 1/60s is more than enuff usually unless it is a sporting event or dance with fast movements. typical wedding shots and candids are definitely achievable below 1/100s.
I only recall cameras in the recent 4-5 years that allow us to shoot comfortably with > iso 6400. Before that, 1600 was more of the norm and 3200 is a tad pushing it in terms of IQ. hence I usually go for faster lenses to bring down the ISO.
I just had one below the next block, last weekend. And that was not the only one this year already.
And natural expression is not possible with flash light? Interesting theory...
