 Dan W. Shallenberger |
Going from film weddings to digital... I have shot quite a few weddings with another more experienced photographer, trying to learn from him. Things have gone well, so I am shooting some weddings on my own now. Previously, I have shot with a film camera, Canon A2E, using primarily Portra films, and I've had a lot of success. I had a digital D30 that I just upgraded to a 10D, but I haven't used either for weddings. Well, sadly, my A2E has come to an untimely death with direct, hi-speed contact with an unforgiving floor...a common story among photographers. The repair cost far exceeds replacement. Now that my A2E is out of the picture, I want to go digital for weddings. My question is for those experienced with shooting weddings digitaly. What should I look out for? I have heard that digital tends to blow out whites, but that it also has a wider exposure latitude than film (I find that hard to believe though). Also, I'm used to TTL, and not experienced with ETTL. What should I be aware of there? Can anyone help me with some advice in this transition from film weddings to digital? The rest of my gear is as follow: Pro-T Bracket with a 550EX flash, Quantum external battery, canon 10D with grip and canon 28-70 2.8, 4-512 mb cf cards, and an iBook laptop. I have appropriate backup gear as well, but all digital as well. Please help with any advice anyone might have for this transition. My next weddings is scheduled for June 5th, and I really need to be ready by then. Thanks in advance! Dan Shallenberger
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Jon Close |
Not so experienced with digital, however, wrt E-TTL... it fires a low power preflash prior to the main flash and shutter opening. You may have to warn your posed subjects to wait for the 2nd flash before moving. Also, for fill-flash E-TTL has its own algorithms for ambient/fill balance. If you want to adjust the fill ratio to your own tastes, you need to set custom function 14 to 1. Otherwise flash exposure compensation will be applied to the algorithm's exposure as a starting point, rather than 0.
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Gene |
Hi Dan: The first thing I noticed in your question was no mention of a Flash meter. I hope this was just an oversite because you and your flash meter and the custom white balance on your 10d had better become the best of friends before your June Wedding..Trusting the ettl on the camera is asking for a disaster, because there are too many variables in lighting when it comes to shooting a wedding..As you probably know film has a much wider latitude than the CCD chip in you camera. Go back to the basics...Shoot in manual mode, take flash readings,do a custom white balance before every scene change,to insure your not blowing out the detail in the gown. That way you won't have to see your bride getting irate when she sees her proofs. Whoever told you a ccd chip has more exposure latitued than film had better read a few more articles on digital photography. Kodak Portra film for example has approx. 2-3 stop latitude in either direction the ccd chip has approx 1/3 stop latitude in either direction. If you can find a sale on CF Cards you could stock up and shoot your wedding in RAW mode this would give you more latitude when you do the post processing before sending off to the lab. Hope this helps............Gene
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Dan W. Shallenberger |
I was just reading tonight about the lack of latitude with digital...remindsme of shooting slide film! That's kind of scary, having only a 1/3-1/2 stop latitude. I've never really used RAW before...I've read though that I could adjust the exposure a stop or two either direction before converting to a tif. Is that true? Also, you read correctly that I do not have a flash meter, but it looks like I'll be picking one up. With film and TTL, I could almost always trust the exposure, plus rely on the latitude of the film to save me if any exposure adjustments were wrong. How, though, do you meter the scene with a flash meter, or ambiet meter for that matter, during fast moving times? I can't be constantly checking my exposure with a meter. I realize that if the lighting says somewhat consistent, I can use pretty much the same exposure. But the lighting doesn't always stay the same from one side of a room to another. I guess experience would play a role there, and maybe relying on the latitude of the RAW images. And Jon, thanks for the tip about the fill-ratio adjustment and pre-flash...didn't even think of that one. Maybe the pre-flash will get the 'blinks' out of everyone and then the main flash will be 'blink' free. Well, thanks for the quick responses! I appreciate your time. Dan
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Derek Holyhead |
Hi Dan, Take a look at Thea Menagh,s site, http://www.afittingimage.com/index.htm she does weddings with a 10D and I know she visits this forum. Maybe she will see your post and offer some advice, her pictures look very good. Regards, Del
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