A little advice?

[dawnrogers]

My friend got married a few weeks ago and is having a church blessing tomorrow, she didn't have any photos taken at the wedding and has asked me to take some for her at the blessing. I'm happy to do that for her, I've been to the church, and the vicar is happy for me to use flash.

Question is which lens....70-200 IS F2.8 or 24-105 f4.0 ? Or may be I should use 2 bodies so I can use both lenses?? What do you guys think?

Will be taking out door shots too...

[mace0002]

Hi Dawn, you should be good with the 70-200 lens inside the church for distance purposes...and the 2.8 means some of the images could be flash free(use your tri/monopod)!!! The 24 will give you some great wider angle shots in the church too) You can use both lenses outside. Maybe 2 bodies, but I find I can switch my lenses quickly enough to get the shots I need. Good luck and please post some images afterwards!!

[Phil V]

1 on each body is the obvious answer, you'll probably only use the 70-200 during the service, but the 24-105 will be great with flash for the Processional /Recessional and register signing.

[tim]

I'd use 24-105 and high ISO without flash.

[dawnrogers]

Ok, thanks guys...2 bodys and lenses it is !
I'll post some photos once I've got them back and edited them....

[Mario.]

I played around with the 24-105 f/4L, and was not terribly impressed with it. My vote would be the 70-200 f/2.8. :)

[dawnrogers]

I haven't had 24-105mm for very long but I used it for some portrait shots of my daughter and her friend and found it to be very sharp...but I'll be taking along both just in case!

[TimSewell]

Take the lot and read this (http://www.planetneil.com/faq/flash-techniques.html).

[wilky95]

I'd use 24-105 and high ISO without flash.



:lol: :lol: Tim your an evil bugger some times:rolleyes:

My response would have been that she had answered her own question two bodys with one lens:lol:

Martin

[dawnrogers]

Hi guys, well I did the blessing and everything went fine, took both camera's and lenses as suggested.....it was a very sunny day and there was no shade at the church at all...none...so I did the best I could with the conditions. I used a little diffused fill in flash .
So as promised here are a couple of shots from the day....

[dawnrogers]

And another....

[August 15 Photography]

One thing I would suggest is the posing positions. The first picture, the guy looks more like he is ready for an old western shootout than a picture with his new bride. Move him closer in and turn him toward her a little bit. Same with the last image, Everyones shoulders should be angled toward the middle, you dont want to have them flat fronted. In the last one the grooms left shoulder should be closer to you than his right. The bride and groom should form somewhat of a V shape.

[Jonny]

I'd use 24-105 and high ISO without flash.

AGREED

[dawnrogers]

Thanks guys...I'll remember that ....other than that are they ok??

[GertS]

Hi Dawn,

the pictures are ok, but the problem is the intense sun light. Especially the last image, with the the eyes nearly closed (and looking in different directions).
A shady place with a fill flash could have been better, but that's what we always know after the event. The problem is that the whites are a bit to bright.
I had on a recent shooting the same problem, even with fill flash, that the eyes had dark areas around them due to intense sun light. I used CS2, selected the areas with the lasso and reduced a bit the shadows there. Worked fine for me.

One small detail on the third image. Check if you can fix the skin of her hand at the beginning of the thumb with the healing brush.

Gert

[dawnrogers]

Thanks Gert...yep I knew it was going to a difficult shoot as there was no where to move to...it was a very strang church and there was no where else to go....I did use a bit of fill in flash....
Under the difficult lighting I think it was not too bad a job....I'll look at fixing the mark on her hand too..

[Phil V]

The difficult priority to learn is that the light is more important than the easy to use green background. People never look good facing the sun, and an alternative setting is a must.
The photo's are OK and would improve 10 fold if you hadn't shot with them facing the sun. Remember that no amount of fill flash will stop people squinting, it just balances the shadows.

[dawnrogers]

Hi Phil, I was well aware of the difficult lighting situation, I had arrived very early to check things out, and it was obvious that the light was going to be very difficult, however due to the location of the church and the fact that there was no garden or park which could have been used I had no alternatives....I couldn't shoot in the other direction as it was against an ugly carpark.......so it wasn't choice that led to the photos being taken there ....there simply was no where else to go... and that was also where I had been asked to shoot them despite my words of warning about the light...so it wasn't that I didn't realise the problems, I did...but on this occassion I was powerless to do anyting about it.

[BJ Pulsipher]

What about exposure compensation?

[dawnrogers]

Do you mean under exposing the shot? There isn't really a problem witht he exposure...its just that the sun was very bright and it was shinning on them....and there was no where else to go...so there was no choice, not a great way to do things but some times you have to do the best you can with what is there.....this is one of those occassions...