Wedding photography help..

[Jer76]

All those experts.. which print film is the best for wedding photography? mostly indoor shots.. another thing - the ceiling quite high so i wun be able to use bounced flash, mostly direct flash.. is there any way to prevent the harsh light on the subject's face? using bounce card helps? or direct flash with omni bounce? thanks so much... wedding's tis friday.. any other pointers would be greatly appreciated.

 

[espn]

Direct flash will be a bit too harsh, tilt the flash head 75-90 degrees up, and use a bounce card, that should give you nice exposure and yet won't be too harsh on the shadows esp around the eyes area.

I've yet to try the omnibounce + flash head tilted at 45 degrees. Maybe you can do some testing at home? Or the experts around here can advise. My wedding shoot is coming up too

Hope my comments help. Do correct me if I'm wrong, I'm still learning how to use external flash also.

 

[Zerstorer]

Not an expert, but having tried both omni-bounce and a large bouncecard, I'd say that a bouncecard is better in the majority of cases.

An omnibounce is only useful in a small room with low ceiling, anywhere else and I'd prefer a bouncecard.

Only problem is a bouncecard is more cumbersome than an omnibounce.

 

[Quacks]

use iso 400. saver for weddings and usually weddings how big do they want to enlarge it? so grain not much problem.

for flash, if u are outdoors or in the day, don't worry about washed-out white faces. hardly happens. try to direct flash or bounce. but if u bounce, maybe u might want to do manual metering, 1/30 s, and about f 4

i'm sure u know this but check the ceiling if u want to bounce. and yes best is practise bounce at home. check distance from subject, vary that as well as degree of tilt.

some simple rule of thumb for non-daring photographers, ie non experts, if u shoot close up, go for direct flash, if wide angle, include like group, can try slight bounce with cardboard attached using velcro.

if u want to do dinners, manual metering, won't go wrong, open up f-stop, set 1/30s and direct flash. don't want to play with bouncing cuz these diners pay with huge angbaos money so want their big face to appear.. cannot take risk. look ugly never mind as long as they appear...

however for day shoot or wedding shoot, u got a lot to choose from so can expt slightly.

good luck. i had fun... hope u have..

 

[scanner]

Originally posted by Quacks
use iso 400. saver for weddings and usually weddings how big do they want to enlarge it? so grain not much problem.

for flash, if u are outdoors or in the day, don't worry about washed-out white faces. hardly happens. try to direct flash or bounce. but if u bounce, maybe u might want to do manual metering, 1/30 s, and about f 4

i'm sure u know this but check the ceiling if u want to bounce. and yes best is practise bounce at home. check distance from subject, vary that as well as degree of tilt.

some simple rule of thumb for non-daring photographers, ie non experts, if u shoot close up, go for direct flash, if wide angle, include like group, can try slight bounce with cardboard attached using velcro.

if u want to do dinners, manual metering, won't go wrong, open up f-stop, set 1/30s and direct flash. don't want to play with bouncing cuz these diners pay with huge angbaos money so want their big face to appear.. cannot take risk. look ugly never mind as long as they appear...

however for day shoot or wedding shoot, u got a lot to choose from so can expt slightly.

good luck. i had fun... hope u have..

Maybe your method works, but care to elaborate why using direct flash for dinners shots?
Isn't that will cause harsh lighting on the subjects faces ? :dunno:

Personal view: If you make use of bounce light with a bounce card, complemented with a faster film - ISO 800 and possible a fast len , I dun see why bounce light is a problem for dinner shots?.


My 2 cents of input.

 

[Revo]

heres some ISO800 flims comparison in case u wanna know abt the grains.

 

[Jer76]

Originally posted by scanner
Maybe your method works, but care to elaborate why using direct flash for dinners shots?
Isn't that will cause harsh lighting on the subjects faces ? :dunno:

Personal view: If you make use of bounce light with a bounce card, complemented with a faster film - ISO 800 and possible a fast len , I dun see why bounce light is a problem for dinner shots?.


My 2 cents of input.

i guess coz if use bounced flash the subject may be underexposed if wrong settings used so use direct safer.. i have not tried ISO800 films are their grains more visible? guess i'll go for an ISO400 film ( general use ma ).. fuji superia good?

 

[ralphii82sg]

for ISO 400 film..i reccomend fuji NPH400....great skin tones...

anyway...not true that ISO 800 film is always grainy...have u tried fuji press 800....

try fuji press 800 if the lighting is realli bad

 

[Quacks]

Originally posted by Jer76
i guess coz if use bounced flash the subject may be underexposed if wrong settings used so use direct safer.. i have not tried ISO800 films are their grains more visible? guess i'll go for an ISO400 film ( general use ma ).. fuji superia good?

exactly... not so safe for bounce flash... cuz if don't bounce properly... u only get maybe table looking nicely exposed. as i already mentioned, pple pay big angbao so want big face in photo album. nice or harse that one shot, they don't really care.

and if u as photographer cannot capture their face... cannot hand up assignment. as for nicer shots, save it for the couple.. the artistic shots and less shadows...

400 is best i feel. good compromise between speed and grain. just my preference...

 

[Jer76]

Originally posted by Quacks
and if u as photographer cannot capture their face... cannot hand up assignment. as for nicer shots, save it for the couple.. the artistic shots and less shadows...

i oso agree hahahaha :bsmilie:

 

[scanner]

Originally posted by Jer76
i oso agree hahahaha :bsmilie:

OK, different style.
I've a suggestion. If you're really afraid of underexposing your subjects, you might want to consider using a diffuser and do a bounce with it. It should work well and should not suffer much harshness as a direct flash.

Just my 1 cents worth of inputs.

 

[Kho King]

any film is a crap film if u can't find a good printer (lab to process the film). If u use professional films, make sure u go to professional lab. Normal lab might not have the setting for the professional film. If they are doing it the first time...don't expect surprises.

I use cheap and handy Superia 200.

I use Omni bounce + Nikon SB26.

My friends (the wedding couples) said they are very happy with the results, so does their relatives and friends. So...I guess my setup is ok...

 

[wormz777]

Just a tot.

How big shld a bounce card be? Mine is ard 4R size and it was commented to be too big.

Say the flash is mounted on the hotshoe. If u r shooting in portrait mode, how do u overcome the uneven lighting since the light from the flash is only coming from the side? That is only one side of the face is illuminated.

 

[Pegasus]

Originally posted by wormz777
Just a tot.

How big shld a bounce card be? Mine is ard 4R size and it was commented to be too big.

Say the flash is mounted on the hotshoe. If u r shooting in portrait mode, how do u overcome the uneven lighting since the light from the flash is only coming from the side? That is only one side of the face is illuminated.

That's a good one. That's why for some weddin photographers, they swear by their flash bracket. In whichever way, the flash will be moved to the top of the lens.

Alernatively, my assistant will hope a slave flash on my another side. 2 flashs are good for lightening a group photos. One strong flash (Metz) for bounce and weaker one for direct flash (fill-in purpose).

 

[Pegasus]

Originally posted by wormz777
How big shld a bounce card be? Mine is ard 4R size and it was commented to be too big.

alternatively, let not just put a tissue paper around the flash and use direct flash. Shadows will be controlled and light will be soft. Rather than bounce flash and if done incorrectly, may just cause dark shadows under the chins, eyes area etc..