Please advise

[lightwave]

Hi Guys,

I was ask to shoot for a wedding next month (back up photographer). Here are few questions that I need your advise.

1) What setting do you normally shoot for the various situation:
- Tea Ceremony
- Match in

Which of this setting do you use most? Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority or Manual.

I have seen some really nice wedding pictures from some of the experts here and wonder how some of the effect is being capture for eg:

- In the tea ceremony, all the people in the foreground and back ground all sharp and nicely lite. I know to get the sharpness I can set the Aperture to about 5.6 but however, when the flash is thrown, those people nearer to the camera will be too bright.

- In the hotel ballroom and during match in, I have seen really nice one like the couple matching in and the whole ball room nicely lite up. I have read that in order to get this result, I can set the settings to higher ISO maybe ISO 800 and having a Aperture of about f5.6 and shutter set at 1/30s. But I have tried it at home and the result is not as nice as those I have seen from those professional's website.

Last but not least, any good advise that I have to take note of?

Thank you for taking time to read this thread.

Will be glad to receive some advise.

Regards

 

[sehsuan]

1) What setting do you normally shoot for the various situation:
- Tea Ceremony
- Match in

I haven't shot in such ceremonies before, so I can't share much. Will probably do so soon, sister's wedding about one week to go from now

Which of this setting do you use most? Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority or Manual.

I use Av most of the time, followed by Tv. but I shoot any other stuff other than wedding - see my above reply?

- In the tea ceremony, all the people in the foreground and back ground all sharp and nicely lite. I know to get the sharpness I can set the Aperture to about 5.6 but however, when the flash is thrown, those people nearer to the camera will be too bright.

try to figure out the hyperfocal range of your lens (loosely, the focus point in which provides a maximum DOF), and use bounce flash. experiment while you can, if you're using DSLR. if you're using film, i dont know how to help you, because i started off with digital.

 

[sehsuan]

- In the hotel ballroom and during match in, I have seen really nice one like the couple matching in and the whole ball room nicely lite up. I have read that in order to get this result, I can set the settings to higher ISO maybe ISO 800 and having a Aperture of about f5.6 and shutter set at 1/30s. But I have tried it at home and the result is not as nice as those I have seen from those professional's website.

pros can do 1/30 shots with minimal handshake ("motion blurring"). not true for most of us mortals try to figure out the relation between ISO, Shutter and Aperture first, you may find it hard at first, but that's part and parcel of learning anything

Last but not least, any good advise that I have to take note of?

practice, practice, practice. then elevate it to Perfect Practice!

Good luck!

 

[bishop]

I dont have much experience but...just wanted to share some

1. Film or Digital?
2. What gear ur planning on using?
3. An external flash is very important.If your going to bounce flash.please
remember that the color of your bounce surface will reflect on your subject.
4. If possible try to visit the venue...scout...ceiling height...ceiling type..
general area and possible shooting positions for you.lighting conditions..

 

[Ian]

I've moved this thread from the Photojournalism and Sports Image Gallery as it is not relevant to that forum as there are no images displayed and it's a technical query.

Ian
Moderator
Photojournalism and Sports Forum.

 

[lightwave]

Ops!!! sorry post in wrong forum.

Anyway, Thank you Sehsuan for the advise. And yes, I do agree with you that we are all mortals so I guess 1/30s not very secure. Anyway, I will try out different combination of Aperture, Shutter and ISO.

Thank you bishop for replying. Heres to your query:

1) I am using Nikon D100
2) I will be equipped with a Nikon AFS 24-85mm lens,Nikon SB-80DX speedlight, 2 X ENEL3 Batt & 2X 512 Mb CF card.
3 & 4) If I not wrong, the tea ceremony will be done in the hotel ballroom itself so I guess the ceiling will be too high for ceiling bounce flash.

 

[blurblock]

Ops!!! sorry post in wrong forum.

Anyway, Thank you Sehsuan for the advise. And yes, I do agree with you that we are all mortals so I guess 1/30s not very secure. Anyway, I will try out different combination of Aperture, Shutter and ISO.

Thank you bishop for replying. Heres to your query:

1) I am using Nikon D100
2) I will be equipped with a Nikon AFS 24-85mm lens,Nikon SB-80DX speedlight, 2 X ENEL3 Batt & 2X 512 Mb CF card.
3 & 4) If I not wrong, the tea ceremony will be done in the hotel ballroom itself so I guess the ceiling will be too high for ceiling bounce flash.

Anyway, I switched from Film to Digital, this is what I noticed .... when using flash, Digital tends to be overexposed or underexposed (Tot was my flash problem, but after talking to Nelson at Kotona and others, I realised I am not the only one having this problem). Quite seldom you get the right exposure .... in the end, nowadays when I want to use flashlight, I switch to Manual mode and take the picture with the same speed (1/30 or 1/60) but the 1-2 Aperture level lower or I take the picture with the same aperture but at higher speed, whichever is more convinent at that time.

 

[sehsuan]

if you can't do bounce, a stofen omnibounce may help to diffuse the flash over a larger area and soften the potentiall hard shadows

i'm not so sure if this is a canon-only thing or not, i think nikon has it too - lock down the shutter speed to probably ISO400 or 800, shutter 1/40 to 1/60s, there should be some amount of ambient light that be shown in the final photo. the flash should then act as a fill flash, without having the "deer in the dark" kind of shot

 

[bishop]

Geez....

Lightwave...you got some heavy gear...at least for me...
Mines only F65+Sigma 24-70+SB22s...Equiptment wise your ok...

Hmmm...

Since your digital...you can test your shots on-scene...Just come in early
to test the area.
My suggestion would be....

1. For me the safest is to Go P-mode with your flash at Slow-sync...This is at group shots/portraits so the your background wont be dark.But always
check that your Shutter speed doesnt go below your focal length.
Ex. 35mm at 1/45s
2. You can use a bounce card.Ceiling bounce max is around 9 feet.
3. If in doubt of the situation just use straight flash..Sure shadows will
come out but great moments come out only once.You wouldnt want to be caught fiddling with your setting while something is happening.

And even though your just the back-up..the primary cant be everywhere
at once.And your shots might come out better.

And please take everything I said with a grain of salt..All of us have diff
modes of shooting..but sometimes the safest approach is the simplest one..

And you can try www.nikonians.com
They've got a lot of info in their forum on event shootinq

 

[Spectrum]

Hi Lightwave,

To my knowledge, a SB80DX or any flash(unlike the METZ 54MZ-3 with a guide number of 54, which I think so) that can mount onto the camera hot shoe will give you enough light to bounce. I would suggest that straight on flash will be more appropriate when ceiling is too high(more than 5m). In order to freeze, movement, 1/60sec is the best most of the time. Using TTL & -1stop on your flash will do the trick(I think so). If not, use your flash built-in wide reflector plus -1/2stop will also do the trick(which I think so). You can even try to shoot someone by using this(so called what I know) method during a recee before the real thing happen on that day.

Anyway, try plus experiment & you'll know the result. Good luck.
Note: If anything goes wrong, please don't blame me for that, OK? :what: