Confused about manual -

[Kai]

Okay, so I try to use manual at my weddings but most of the time get frustrated. I was wondering how others delt with these situations.

The light is different everywhere. The light is different when the bride walks down the isle compared to up on stage.

If I am using my flash bounced and am on manual then my close up pictures are brighter than the ones further away. (now that I think about it shouldn't my flash be detecting that)

And if I use a strobe during the reception the light in the room is not even, unless I use two at opposite ends, but then it is still different. Some people are closer to the strobes than others.

I'm sorry I don't feel that my questions are clear - I was trying to not write so much. Let me know if I need to rephrase them.

Basically my question is how can you operate on manual when there are so many different light sorces?

[Kai]

And I forgot to mention, this last wedding I did that video guy and his narrow video light was everywhere. When the bride is throwing her flowers the video light was on her so I exposed for her but now everyone in the background is dark.

[tim]

Audra, it seems that you need to understand more about light. Have you read "understanding exposure"? There's a link in my book thread (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=242640).

Yes light changes, you just have to get used to the camera and metering modes. For walking up the aisle i'll tend to use manual, often without flash, as it reflects off the pews and isn't bright on the bride. Once they're up the front i'll either switch to Av mode, or i'll have metered the stage earlier so I can just right to the correct exposure.

Do you use a diffuser on your flash when it's pointed up? Or a white card? You have to think about the path the light travels and bounces, and work out why the people further away are darker. Generally it's the relative distance of the light source (ie the part of the roof where the flash is bounced from) from each person.

With strobes as room lights are you bouncing them or using them direct? Again it's an issue of relative distance from the light to the subject, made more complex by multiple lights. It's still not so difficult.

With the video guy yes if he's lighting a subject then you need to light the background. Flash bounced from the ceiling would be best, as direct flash won't get to them. You might even need the flash in manual, which is something I rarely do.

Overall you need to understand the way light works, and learn to quickly change your settings. I did an exercise with a guy who works for me, I set up a room so part was dark, part was lit by a spotlight, had another well lit room, and had a completely dark room. I made him follow me, and quickly moved between each area, he had to get a good shot of me in each place. I didn't care how he did it, so long as he did it. It's a useful exercise.

Hope that helps, but the "understanding exposure" book should help even more :)

[Kai]

Thanks Tim, I have read that book a couple times. Sometimes it just takes reading it again and again on top of practicing for me to finally get it. I am learning each time but I hate that I am doing weddings and haven't fiqured everthing out 100%. I only started doing weddings this summer and often leave thinking "what am I doing?' I will share some of my work soon to get cc. Thanks

[Nicole Faith]

Hell, I think a lot of people feel that way for some time and you will always be learning something. I've only been doing wedding photography about a year (paid) - but I think the fact that I learned on a manual camera and went through whole process that way - processing my own film and all - it helped to no end. I am still learning though.

And I think getting comfortable with your workflow during a wedding will help too. Sometimes it's easy to get excited through the process or you just get going and forget to change a setting. I hope that will settle down for me soon - that's my issue right now. Slow down.

You can always just do test shooting in your free time - get used to what settings may or may not work in any given light. Test to see how the flash works in shade or in a darker room or bouncing off someone's face? I play around a lot just to see what I can get.

[Jonny]

Tim - Does understand exposure cover flash? I didn't think it did, good book though.

Audra - You do not say what flash you are using but i guessing it is a speedlite. You do not say what size rooms you are shooting in but i guess they are pretty big. In manual your flash will try to light the whole room which it may struggle with the only way to solve this is to a)get a bigger flash or b) bounce you flash effectively of the ceiling. Try to think of your flash like a pool table, it you aim your flash at say 45 degrees it will bounce off at a similar angle and cast it's light further down the room than pointing it at 75 degrees.
Learn to use FEC and assess your pictures straight away and re shoot them +/- FEC as required.

[picturecrazy]

Yup, the light is different all over the place. And yes, you gotta adjust it for just about every different angle you choose. Which is why many people like the Av and Tv modes.

As for flash, if your subjects are a lot darker further away, then maybe you are going beyond the power the flash can deliver? 30ft ceilings bounced and ISO 400 F/4... hmmm.. that could be pushing it . It all depends on your environment and settings. One guy I know started in P mode, moved to Av, and is now starting to experiment with M. Maybe that is a good route to go? You don't want to miss any shots because you are trying to figure settings out, right? Learn gradually if it suits you.

And no, the book understanding exposure does not talk about flash at all.

[Kai]

Thanks for all the responces.

Usually I just aim my flash straight up because I have my white card on it. I will try to angle it some. Good suggestion.

I think next wedding I will shoot in Av or Tv mode for most of it. Maybe if I am worried less about exposure I can be creative. Thanks.

[Vermin87]

The way I learned flash was by doing isolated experiments in manual. For example, I would leave the flash at 1/2 power, then shoot someone at the proper distance so they were exposed correctly. I would then distance myself like 5 ft from the subject to see how the distance effected the flash power. If you remember your physics at all, light loses power exponentially, so you're always gonna be compensating as distance changes, raising and lowering the power of your flash (or increasing or decreasing your shutter speed or aperture) as the distance from your subject changes. Just try experimenting with it even on still objects until you feel you are comfortable and understand how it works fairly well.

[cdifoto]

If your flash is lighting up the subject well and good and it's just the folks in the background you want lit up better, drag your shutter. You can slow the shutter speed down and still not have camera shake if the exposure needle is still barely blinking. In other words, kick your shutter down to the point where your needle isn't blinking, then drop it back just a wee bit till it is again. You can get some pretty insane slow shutter speeds without shake when you're using flash. It helps bring up some more of your ambient light and thus the folks outside the range of the flash itself.

[Derbyshire Weddings]

If you are using a Speedlight do as cdifoto says & drag the shutter. Set the camera in manual, F stop 5.6 (for EG) & set shutter speed to at least 30th second/2oth etc. Flash should freeze subject movement & low shutter speed capture ambient light. If in doubt go & try it in an empty church when you have some spare time. When I started out, if I had a problem I would go & re create it in an apt location & find the solutions.

[Phil V]

I think next wedding I will shoot in Av or Tv mode for most of it. Maybe if I am worried less about exposure I can be creative. Thanks.

It's a common misconception that shooting modes alter exposure. It's all down to understanding what it is you're metering and balancing that with what you want to achieve. I'm guessing the reason for this thread is that you've seen all the 'helpful' suggestions to 'shoot manual to have better control over your exposures', which really depends on you having more than a basic understanding of exposure and it takes practice.

Firstly, you should learn how to see an area of average reflectance, so that you can meter from it. This will help for all exposures.

Secondly, you need to read up on the relationship between flash exposure and ambient, basically you treat them as seperate exposures, so you create an ambient exposure that's correct (for outdoors when using flash as fill) or under (for indoors where the flash is the main light and you'll be dragging the shutter) and ETTL will give you your correct(ish) exposure.