I have been asked by my partners soon to be sister-in-law to take some photo's of their wedding this Saturday.
I've been and scouted out the location and the only thing I see the problem is that one wall of the room is all glass, and they're planning on having all the seats dressed in white!
I will be armed with my flashgun, and hoping to use it off the ceiling as a fill in when shooting against the light.
I have my trusty grey card, and will use that in a test shot of the room, as a reference in photoshop. Will it be worth while setting a custom white balance too in camera?
They've asked for some posed photos too, which I'm fairly confident about, as I can take my time with those.
They're fully understanding that I am by no means a professional and I just take pictures as a hobby. But I would really love to get some nice shots of them.
Any tips greatly appreciated.
>> the problem is that one wall of the room is all glass, and they're planning on having all the seats dressed in white!
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Nah - you'll be fine. More later - but I have a wedding to shoot.....
Did you get a snap of the room while you were there?
I took some test shots of the bride in the room, (without wedding dress), they were recoverable in PS, but started to look a little grainy.
I never thought to take one of the actual room in general.
I don't know anything about weddings, but I'd say if you shoot RAW you'll not need to worry too much about white balance as you'll be able to get it right during processing. I might suggest using a polarising filter to help kill reflections from the glass. But personally I find them a bit difficult when you might be taking opportunistic snapshots. They can give unwanted results if you forget they're fitted and don't check the effect before every shot - or at least when you aim at a different scene.
Simon
OK back from a fun little wedding.....
1. Why is the glass wall a problem? (I genuinely don't understand your issue here)
2. Why are the white chair covers a problem? Don't forget that most of them will be covered by people. There's a reason they put chairs in the room.
3. Is the colour of the light consistent throughout the room? Or is it (like most marriage rooms) predominantly daylight at one end and electric at the other? Actually, where are the windows? When is the wedding?
4. Why did the shots need recovery? What issue did you need to fix in post? I'm guessing underexposure....why is that?
5. Is there a reason you can't use flash? I was blasting away with on camera flash during the ceremony today.....
1. Why is the glass wall a problem? For many of the shots, I will be shooting towards the windows. Which is where most the light for the room is coming from. There are two large chandeliers, but the room is mainly light by the light from the windows. Just don't fancy having shillottes of the bride and groom.
2. Why are the white chair covers a problem? With everything been white, I'm concerned about the exposure of the images. It might be to much for the camera to handle.
3. Is the colour of the light consistent throughout the room? It is mainly lit from the light from the windows, again with two pretty looking, but damn hopeless chandeliers.
4. Why did the shots need recovery? What issue did you need to fix in post? Correct it was underexposure, and that's due to shooting towards the light source.
5. Is there a reason you can't use flash? I've read that some people conducting the service prefer not to have any flashes, as they are distracting/blinding. But hopefully this wont be a problem.
I've read that the best way to use a E-TTL flash gun, in these scenarios is to set the correct exposure for the background, and let the flash do it's own thing. I experimented with this yesterday afternoon, and it seemed to work, using my diffuser to soften the light.
Quote from: DavidHammond on September 24, 2010, 11:06:57 AM
1. Why is the glass wall a problem? For many of the shots, I will be shooting towards the windows. Which is where most the light for the room is coming from. There are two large chandeliers, but the room is mainly light by the light from the windows. Just don't fancy having shillottes of the bride and groom.
2. Why are the white chair covers a problem? With everything been white, I'm concerned about the exposure of the images. It might be to much for the camera to handle.
3. Is the colour of the light consistent throughout the room? It is mainly lit from the light from the windows, again with two pretty looking, but damn hopeless chandeliers.
4. Why did the shots need recovery? What issue did you need to fix in post? Correct it was underexposure, and that's due to shooting towards the light source.
5. Is there a reason you can't use flash? I've read that some people conducting the service prefer not to have any flashes, as they are distracting/blinding. But hopefully this wont be a problem.
I've read that the best way to use a E-TTL flash gun, in these scenarios is to set the correct exposure for the background, and let the flash do it's own thing. I experimented with this yesterday afternoon, and it seemed to work, using my diffuser to soften the light.
Hi David, I can see why you may be worried about the light, but you can turn this to your advantage, although the light is behind the subject you meter for the light on their faces and let the background blowout, you then have a clear white background with no distractions. You could use spot metering to get that effect, or set it up using manual exposure that way it will be consistant, get a few practice shots in before the ceremony starts.
Again for point 2, use spot metering on the faces, I should point out that I'm no expert so I hope Jonathan or anyone else experienced in difficult lighting will also come in.
Point 3. use RAW if you can, then the problem no longer exists, as you can correct it in PP, or use Auto WB and it should be very close.
It never crossed my mind to use a spot reading off their faces. :tup:
I'm sure it will yeild some very interesting effects if the light is strong enough- it's terribly overcast today, so I hope tomorrows a little better.
Overcast may be better than bright sun, its a more diffused light and gives softer shadows, in the end you can only use what you get :) so give it your best shot and all the best, post us some of your results if you can.
Quote from: DavidHammond on September 24, 2010, 11:06:57 AM
1. Why is the glass wall a problem? For many of the shots, I will be shooting towards the windows. Which is where most the light for the room is coming from. There are two large chandeliers, but the room is mainly light by the light from the windows. Just don't fancy having shillottes of the bride and groom.
Ah OK. I thought you meant an actual glass wall. You meant windows...
So the question becomes....why are you shooting into the light? If you are the official or sole photographer then have a chat with the registrars [hint: the one who sits down and doesn't talk is actually the registrar and is in charge. The other's the celebrant. They love it when you get that right.]
I posted a thread about my D3S last week. The only way I got decent pics without flash was because I had my back to the window. Plus you get to see their faces.
I've had friends of the B&G stand right next to me subject to the following rules
1. If you get in my way I will push you over
2. If you annoy the reg I will push you over and steal your camera
3. If for any reason only one person is allowed there then it's me
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2. Why are the white chair covers a problem? With everything been white, I'm concerned about the exposure of the images. It might be to much for the camera to handle.
Really I wouldn't worry about them. If nobody's sitting there and they make up more than 1/3 of the frame then knock the exposure up an extra 2/3 stop. But ordinarily I wouldn't even think about them.
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3. Is the colour of the light consistent throughout the room? It is mainly lit from the light from the windows, again with two pretty looking, but damn hopeless chandeliers.
Then manual whi bal will be fine. Depending on your camera auto may also make a nice job of it.
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4. Why did the shots need recovery? What issue did you need to fix in post? Correct it was underexposure, and that's due to shooting towards the light source.
No. The reason is that you failed to instruct the camera to expose correctly ;)
Usually I'll run with matrix metering and ride the exposure up and down from there - but I know my camera pretty well. Centre weighted or spot may work better here. In a church I'll usually run on manual since the light on the couple is generally constant but b/g light can vary a lot. Frame carefully and expose for your subject.
Note that if it's really bright you may be screwed anyway. You can get so much light wrap round them that the edges bleed. You're going to have to choose your angle and hope that some of the coatings on your lens do their job.
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5. Is there a reason you can't use flash? I've read that some people conducting the service prefer not to have any flashes, as they are distracting/blinding. But hopefully this wont be a problem.
I've read that the best way to use a E-TTL flash gun, in these scenarios is to set the correct exposure for the background, and let the flash do it's own thing. I experimented with this yesterday afternoon, and it seemed to work, using my diffuser to soften the light.
E-TTL? That will be a Canon thing. I know so little about that it's not worth commenting ;)
Yeah some couples don't like flash and some registrars ban it all together. It's VERY rare that I use it during a ceremony but we were outside yesterday and TBH I bet nobody even noticed. Lots of family and friends use flash at weddings. I bet most of them don't know the 10 foot rule.....
Should be a good day - have fun! Mine tomorrow is a late one (5pm) in a very dark London club. Then on to some warehouse in Fulham to shoot a party. I'll be lucky to get home before 3. Or get below 1,600 ISO all night :D
Thanks for your advice.
I had an idea of the problems I might be facing, but not many solutions. I'm feeling much more confident already and will just try and enjoy the day as much as I can.
Cheers again :-D
S-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o.....how did it go.....?
Mine was, err, interesting. The venue asked one guest to stop taking pictures because she was in the way during the ceremony and I seriously thought the registrar was going to call it all off. Of course I got the blame....
It went ok. The day was great.
I got some reasonable photos (I daren't say good).
I managed not to use the flash indoors, but it needed a high ISO, large apperture, to get a fast enough shutter speed to reduce the blurring.
Outdoors, my only regret is not using the flash to fill in the shadows on all the images, but you live and learn.
Once the Brides back and seen them, I'll post some online.
I'm fairly happy with them images, and do not envy you doing it as a living! :tup:
Glad you survived ;)
Here's mine from Saturday http://peoplebyryan.com/weddings/30-pavilion-road-west-end-elegance
Oh yeah. Flash outdoors..... :D
Glad you survived it David ;)
Mine was, err, interesting. The venue asked one guest to stop taking pictures because she was in the way during the ceremony and I seriously thought the registrar was going to call it all off. Of course I got the blame.... Jonathan
How was it you got the blame then J?
Have you ever been stopped for taking pictures / using flash when it had not been flagged up at the start. One of the few I did was at the Civic Centre in Newcastle and I agreed with the registrar at the start that I would not be "excessive" with my clicking but she flagged up the deaf side of the person doing the words etc and I found that by being that side there was not an issue for him.
>> How was it you got the blame then J?
The photographer always gets the blame. For everything. Fact. ;)
[That's actually pretty much true - I'm usually the closest vendor and the alternative is blaming a guest.]
>> Have you ever been stopped for taking pictures / using flash when it had not been flagged up at the start.
No. I've only been stopped from taking pictures during a ceremony once. I was told not to take "excessive" pictures. I hadn't taken a single one when a guest near me started hosing the bride with some horrid Canon with a big flash gun. We were "both" told to stop.
This weekend it was very very dark in the ceremony room and I'd worked out a cool way to light it. I spoke to the celebrant (yeah, rookie error) and was told it was cool. He also gave me exact places I could and couldn't stand. I took one shot with flash (since I was using CLS I could turn it on and off from camera). I noticed the registrar look annoyed so I instantly turned off the flash, waited for the guest to take her next shot (with obvious on camera flash) and looked startled. Then took a few shots clearly not using flash :D so now everybody thinks I never use flash.......
The registrar winced every time the flash went off and started to look angry. (Out of interest it's the registrar that can stop the wedding at any point and declare it void - do not mess with them).
The venue manager looked really angry too because she was right in the couple's face. He said to me "I'm going to put a stop to this". I said "well, if you don't the reg might..." (really I didn't care about guest in face syndrome - but I didn't want the ceremony abandoned). He had a word and the guest came to berate me in Spanish because she assumed I'd complained about the competition :D This was during a quiet bit of the ceremony so I couldn't really argue.
I heroically ran away ;)
I went for a test shoot meet the couple at the weekend, and found results a bit varied, well more than I would have hoped for. Jonathan reviewed some of the shots and was sooooo helpfull and pointed out some basic errors that would have been less than worthwhile on the day.
I'm still very wary about using flash as some images were so badly over exposed, so I've been practicing with manual settings on the camera and the images are much more reliable but now I have to read the back of the flash gun to ensure I'm within usable range for it,
Does anyone have any recommendations on how they setup for manual work and things to watch out for when doing so.
Bob
You mean manual on camera and flash in TTL? Nice combo.
Remember that the shutter speed basically controls how bright or dark the background is.
I set the aperture for DOF I want (maybe f4?) and the shutter speed for the ambient light (maybe 1 - 1.5 stops underexposed) and then let the TTL do the heavy lifting.
Things to watch out for? Mirrors.
Quote from: Jonathan on October 14, 2010, 09:49:34 AM
You mean manual on camera and flash in TTL? Nice combo.
Remember that the shutter speed basically controls how bright or dark the background is.
I set the aperture for DOF I want (maybe f4?) and the shutter speed for the ambient light (maybe 1 - 1.5 stops underexposed) and then let the TTL do the heavy lifting.
Things to watch out for? Mirrors.
Very true Jonathan, I also tried slow sync to get the background properly exposed and now appreciate that the flash rage\power setting illuminates the subject, and ambient light the background. If you use just ambient light you don't have that problem, but your subject may have dark shadows depending on the light angle, so fill flash is now required........ I want to run away now..... I never appreciated how flash is not an instant fix for low light.
My journey in the minefield that is wedding photography has turned a corner, learning how to balance the light to give the desired image is next on the to do list, lot of experiments today :)