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Photography Question 

Tyrone Walter
 

WEDDING???!!!!!


oK, im a an amateur with a Pentax K1000, 100-300 zoom lens, 35mm lens and a pretty good flash. This is all of my equipment. You probably can add a tripod in there since that will be my next purchase in a few days. Here's the problem: I was asked to take pictures at a wedding (AHHHHHH!!!!... just a bit nervous about it) the wedding is New Years eve, so I have a month and a half.
I'm not worried about taking the basic pictures to much just concerned about the portraits before and after the wedding. I want these pictures to come out at least pretty good. I'm concerned about things like, lighting, what to set the aperture on, how do I make sure I dont flash the eyes out of the bride when shes saying her vows. Just stuff like that. I dont want to embarass myself, just want to take some good pictures. Any help would be GREATLY! appreciated.
thanks

Ty


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November 21, 2002

 

doug Nelson
  The 100 end of your zoom MIGHT be OK for portraits, but you must hold it steady. If you have a 35-mm slightly wide angle lens, be glad. It's a great lens for wedding groups, as it will not distort at the edges. Get a 50-mm Pentax lens for that K1000. I don't think Pentax ever made a bad 50; get what's available. THIS will be your head-and-shoulders and the wedding couple lens. Go back to the 35 for candids at the reception, going to the 50 occasionally. Use a lens hood on all your lenses!
Don't make the mistake I did when I botched my sister's wedding 20 years ago. Set the camera to the flash sync speed and LEAVE IT THERE. Set the flash to manual and LEAVE IT THERE. Read the distance on your lens when you focus. Go to the scale on your flash and read the f-stop indicated and set your lens. This is not as tedious as it sounds; most of your shots may be the same distance, for example, 10 feet.
Never put a flash on the hot shoe of a camera. You'll get red eyes every time. Buy a bracket that sets the flash off to the side. Connect the flash to the camera with a PC cord. Buy an extra PC cord as a backup. For vertical shots, hold it so that the flash is on top.
Use Portra 160 film. I used it for a small wedding recently. The color rendition and detail surprised us all.
Before the event, practice shooting groups of people with your flash. Be sure you are focusing carefully, and let us know how you're doing. We want to see you pull this off.


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November 22, 2002

 

Tyrone Walter
  Thanks Doug,
That was a lot of good advice!! It surely does give me a lot more convidence. But I might be free from doing this wedding cuz I might have to work. But I if still do it and I pull this one off, You will get even a BIGGER THANKS.
But thanks none the less. You guys are great!


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November 22, 2002

 

John A. Lind
  Ty,
You can do this if you plan, prepare and practice. See my "survival guide" written for non-pros who will be shooting a wedding:
http://johnlind.tripod.com/wedding/

I agree with Doug on most of his points. Think KISS principle throughout. Keep your camera and flash setup as simple as possible. Use a single film type and speed. The 100-300mm zoom will have near zero utility for the wedding. I wouldn't bother trying to use it. Most definitely get a fast standard 50mm f/1.4 or f/1.8 prime lens and a lens hood for it (don't get another zoom for this). They should be quite plentiful and relatively inexpensive. If there isn't a dealer you implicitly trust nearby, one of the most reputable used dealers in the U.S. is KEH camera brokers in Atlanta, GA:
http://www.keh.com/

I recommend using the 50mm lens for everything and avoiding using the 35mm lens if at all possible. Not only is this in keeping with the KISS principle, the 50mm will be at least one if not two stops faster than your 35mm lens. While you wouldn't use this additional lens speed in setting exposure it does create a much brighter and shallower depth of field in the viewfinder since the lens is wide open until you trip the shutter. Makes composition and focusing easier and more accurate, especially in the lower light levels encountered during reception after the dancing begins. You should be able to use a standard 50mm for everything unless there's something quite unusual about a size of group combined with working space. Use "shoe leather" zoom for composition. The standard 50mm lens produces a natural looking perspective very close to that of the human eye and will be more forgiving of perspective than a wide angle lens. Architectural lines are nearly inescapable in the background. The shorter the focal length the easier it is to have unnatural looking architectural perspective lines in the background. In addition, wide-angle lenses can create unnatural perspectives of people's heads near the edges and especially near the corners of an image. As with background architectural lines, the shorter the lens, the greater the risk of this problem too. Nearly all flash units only cover the angle of view of a 35mm lens. Definitely do not use a lens shorter than this or you'll create problems with flash coverage (noticeable light falloff at edges and especially in the corners).

Read the sections in my tutorial about lighting and flash. The first and biggest problem for nearly all non-pros is having enough flash power. I consider red-eye and shadow control the second biggest problem. It's still a major one and not very far behind the first one. Assess ability to use Kodak's Portra 160NC based on the flash power you will have. If it's too slow a film for a working distance of 20-25 feet with a lens aperture of about f/5.6 then bump the film speed up and use Portra 400NC. DON'T use a consumer film for this. Kodak's Portra 400NC is still finer grained than Kodak's consumer Gold 100! This is in addition to having very wide latitude and rendering excellent skin tones. Kodak created Portra specifically for professional use by wedding and portrait photographers. Cost isn't that high if you shop for it carefully. Check the pricing for it at B&H Photo Video in NYC:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

An unrelated common pitfall is underestimating the amount of film and batteries you will need. Have plenty on hand. Running out of either is disastrous. I have 15 rolls of 36-exposure film on hand for a standard wedding and usually consume about 9-10 rolls, but sometimes burn 11-12. At about 350 frames average, consider flash battery consumption in shooting this many frames and have enough batteries on hand for at least 500 frames.

Finally, if you do this remember you're no longer a "guest," but are "working" the wedding and reception from start to finish. Doesn't mean you cannot enjoy it and have fun, but it will be different compared to being purely a guest.

-- John


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November 23, 2002

 

John A. Lind
  Ty,
One point about Doug's posting with which I disagree is puting the flash in manual mode and using its guide number (for the film speed being used) to set exposure by adjusting lens aperture based on subject distance. [This was the method that *had* to be used with flashbulbs that have fixed light output.]

The primary problem with doing what Doug suggests is the flash will dump full output every time it's fired. This means it must fully recharge too. For nearly all flash units owned by non-pros this requires 7-10 seconds depending on flash model, battery type being used and their state of discharge. Alkaline batteries in particular can begin taking an agonizingly long time to fully recharge a flash during their last half of life.

In my experience, averaging 7-10 seconds (or longer) for flash recovery is too long to be workable. If flash recovery takes too long the altar returns (posed stuff at the front of the church) will drag on too long. You will also end up with a few missed shots during some of the major events at the reception. There are a number of times when you will want to be able to make several shots in rapid succession (e.g. cutting the cake, the toast, throwing the bouquet, etc.).

I recommend puting the flash in its "auto" mode that uses its built-in sensor. One of the reasons I also recommended ensuring you have enough flash power to work 20-25 feet at f/5.6 for the film speed you are using is most shots will only need the flash to dump about half to 2/3 it's capacity. This allows very short flash recovery. One of the things to test and verify is exposure accuracy of the flash in producing the proper amount of light when it's in "auto" mode.

-- John


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November 23, 2002

 

doug Nelson
  Reason I mentioned this, John, was that I got burned trusting the thyristor setting. I was careful to match the distance with the suggested setting, but perhaps the white and light dresses reflected too much light back and fooled the flash sensor. Twenty years ago I didn't know about thyristors. I forgot to tell him that he'd better carry a bunch of spare batteries if he sets it to manual all the way. I also forgot your important point, to practice with this set-up first.


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November 25, 2002

 

John A. Lind
  A professional portrait film like Portra 160NC or 400NC has very wide latitude, noticeably wider than consumer films and general purpose pro films such as Supra. Combined with restrained saturation, it allows keeping both white dress and black tux details with some margin for *minor* exposure error. With Portra 400NC having finer grain than Gold 100, I'm not surprised you got rave reviews from Portra 160NC. Obviously they were printed well too (see next paragraph).

I have occasionally experienced blown out bridal gowns or tuxes that look like caverns, but rarely from gross exposure error when using a wide latitude film such as Portra. It's almost always print density or the printer using a consumer paper with higher contrast and saturated color (e.g. Kodak's Duralife). It's why I always recommend having a professional lab print wedding photographs. They do better at printing wedding negatives than any consumer lab I've used, including Qualex (which uses Duralife). If a print has blown out highlights or too much loss of shadow detail, the negative goes onto the light box and gets examined for its highlight and shadow details. Then I look at the back of the print to see what type of paper was used. Almost always the details are present in the negative proving that it's improper print density, and it goes back to be reprinted.

I also forgot to mention a couple pitfalls to watch for in using a flash in its "auto" (thyristor) mode. The built-in sensor on nearly all flash units has an angle of view of at least that which matches the widest angle of coverage the flash gives. For less expensive and older units, the flash will cover at least the angle of view of a 35mm lens. A few units, especially the pro level ones with zoom heads, have greater coverage, typically for a 24mm lens. Because the sensor's view is usually wider than the camera lens, the sensor can be "fooled" by a bright light source in or near the edge of the image frame as seen through the camera viewfinder. The most common culprits are bright table and floor lamps, and windows that have bright daylight streaming through them. Lesser light sources, such as a fire in a fireplace or a candle (as long as it isn't right in front of the camera) have never been a problem.

Other things to watch for are shooting straight into a very reflective surfaces, such as a mirrors, glass covered pictures, windows and highly polished wood paneling. Regardless of flash mode (manual, auto or TTL-auto), these surfaces will flare a magnificently bright hot spot back at the camera blowing out the entire photograph. That which isn't flared ends up underexposed. Uncovered windows during daytime can also create very strong backlighting; sometimes so strong that one must think in terms of fill flash. One of the first things I do when walking into a reception hall is look for these types of surfaces and assess how I can position myself to keep them at an angle to the camera direction. At the same time I also look for potential problems with bright light sources as mentioned above.

I've done some tough ones, such as a reception from mid-day to mid-afternoon on a bright sunny day in a penthouse ballroom at the top of a 16 story building. It had continuous waist to ceiling windows on all four sides. Magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside; nightmare for photography!

Part of the experiment with a roll of film and the flash setup should assess if it can be thrown off by table lamps of varying brightness, and backlighting from uncovered windows during the day, both within the image frame and just outside it (as seen through the viewfinder). In addition, vary working distance to get a feel for the working range.

-- John


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November 25, 2002

 
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