AF settings for Reception Shots

[Keithaba]

I am fooling around with settings, and noticed i got a lot of blurry shots at my last wedding shoot (just shooting not hired).

A lot of them seem to be pure shutterspeed. Action blurr...

But some of the shots it seemed like I missed the point of focus. For reception, I go with AI servo, because people are usually moving.

On portriats, or when people aren't moving fast, I will usually use the center focus, and that way, if I want to crop later to make the frame look nicer, no big deal. At least their face is in focus. I find it hard to frame a shot during a reception, because people are moving quick, and I like candids.

Is it preferred to allow the camera to pick the point for AF rather than a preset one during these type of in the moment shots?

I don't fully understand how the AF picks the spot for focus in a frame.

[Mike]

I use 1 AF point only and always select it myself. Letting the camera decide what to focus on at a wedding reception is useless. The AF point I use will depend upon the placement of the subject and it takes very little time to change the AF point. I also only ever use single shot AF.

Your blurred shots is probably due to a too slow shutter speed. Don't be afraid to push up your iso to get the shutter speed you need.

[egordon99]

Don't use "Auto select AF point". You might as well just tell the camera to "auto compose" your shots :lol:

Practice selecting the AF point you need for each shot. It is very easy with the 40D's "joystick" on the back.

As for shutter speed, if you are using a flash (which you should be if you want good pictures in a room with crummy lighting), shutter speed doesn't matter (well it does, to expose the ambient background) as flash will freeze most motion.

Here's a good starting point - Camera in Manual, Flash in E-TTL with FEC set to +1 (or +2/3), bounce, ISO200, 1/250s, f/4. To give flash more "power", you can increase the ISO and/or aperture. To allow more ambient light in, use a slower shutter speed and/or higher ISO.

[tim]

I use one shot focus mode with the centre focus point for 99.8% of my shots on a wedding day. The only time I use anything else is when i'm using F2 or F1.4, the subject is off centre, and I want the eyes to be sharp.

[tim]

Here's a good starting point - Camera in Manual, Flash in E-TTL with FEC set to +1 (or +2/3), bounce, ISO200, 1/250s, f/4. To give flash more "power", you can increase the ISO and/or aperture. To allow more ambient light in, use a slower shutter speed and/or higher ISO.

These settings will make the flash a LOT brighter than a typical reception, so the background will be black. My suggested settings would be ISO1600, F2.8, 1/50th - 1/100th. These shots are rarely printed very large, and a well exposed ISO1600 prints fine with little significant noise up to maybe 12 or 15 inches in my experience.

[egordon99]

Listen to Tim, I'm sure he has alot more experience than me as I'm just starting out :)

[tim]

Listen to Tim, I'm sure he has alot more experience than me as I'm just starting out :)

I've photographed somewhere between 70 and 100 weddings, I lost count a while ago.

[Keithaba]

These settings will make the flash a LOT brighter than a typical reception, so the background will be black. My suggested settings would be ISO1600, F2.8, 1/50th - 1/100th. These shots are rarely printed very large, and a well exposed ISO1600 prints fine with little significant noise up to maybe 12 or 15 inches in my experience.

Tim: Are those settings sans flash? Seems like that would be very bright with the 580 exII without dialing down the flash a few stops.

Thanks for answers about AF settings!

[PhotosGuy]

Practice selecting the AF point you need for each shot. It is very easy with the 40D's "joystick" on the back. 20D: If you switch your camera to Custom Function 13-1 to put point selection on the Multicontroller (Joystick), life with AI Servo becomes a lot easier. It only takes a fraction of a second to set the point you need.

[tdodd]

20D: If you switch your camera to Custom Function 13-1 to put point selection on the Multicontroller (Joystick), life with AI Servo becomes a lot easier. It only takes a fraction of a second to set the point you need.
True, but as I understand it, with AI Servo the flash system will not make use of lens focus distance information to assist in making flash exposure calculations. Also, if conditions are really grotty the focus assist beam will not be enabled and maybe the camera will struggle with focusing. Neither one is a showstopper but just something to consider.

However, if you're bouncing your flash then the AF distance data is moot, I think, and if you are pointing the flash directly but have some sort of softbox or other modifier fitted then the AF distance data could actually be misleading for the flash exposure calculation. Perhaps AI Servo is the better choice after all :)

Hopefully someone will confirm what I've said or correct me if I'm wrong.

[tim]

Tim: Are those settings sans flash? Seems like that would be very bright with the 580 exII without dialing down the flash a few stops.

That's with a speedlite with FEC set to expose the subject properly. Of course some times you'll have plenty of light and you can change the setttings, I aim to have the background one stop below the subject. Often those settings still won't give you a good exposure, which is where room lighting with multiple flash units comes in handy.