Ok wedding's done. Lessons learned tonight...

[Adam Hicks]

Well it was an educational evening to say the least! Presented some challenges and kept me on my toes for almost 8 hours. These things aren't easy.

From your advice and other things I've gathered from the board (randomly)

- I'm glad I bought the 50mm 1.4. The reception was so dark that even at ISO800 I was lucky to get 1/25 with bounced flash locked. I tried to stay at f2+ where I could, but I had to get the shots. The 50mm 1.8 would have been noisy, slower and wouldn't have autofocused as well in the low light (I know, I have it too)

- 5.5Gb of CF was just about right. I used every bit of every card. RAW on the first 4Gb and Large JPEG towards the end. Any less and I would have been in trouble.

- Someone here said ditch the grip... well I had to. Not because it was heavy, but because the $%&*# camera started shutting off during use. Guess I have one of those annoying battery grip issues. I've been using the thing for many months without problems, but this is the first heavy use on a Stroboframe bracket, and I think when I was trying to hold the camera by the body it tweaked the grip a bit and would cut in and out. Thank God for Canon's fantastic battery life without the grip!

- The PowerEx Maha 2300 rechargeable batteries are EXCELLENT. I had 16, only needed 8 really, and I should hundreds of shots with the flash. The recharge was always there, and the things just seemed to last forever. If you don't have these things, go to that Thomas Distributing site and buy some. They're worth their weight in gold!

- 20D wanted to back focus on me here and there. I've never had this problem before, so I still have to figure out why this happened. I'd recompose and get the shots a second time, so little was lost, but it was an annoyance.

The reception lighting was so bad that I couldn't even shoot anyone on the dance floor. No 'dance' lighting, just a little ambient, and it was just about dark everywhere. I don't know what they think a photographer's going to use, but the 50mm 1.0 wouldn't have helped me much here. It was bad. Luckily the B&G could have cared less about those shots. I had them turn the lighting up for the boquet toss, etc so it worked out well.

After taking the battery grip off the camera I reversed the direction of the grip... no biggie but then at the very end of the night I grabbed the flash and tried to rotate it towards the CF door, forgetting I had swapped it over. This led to me snapping the guides off the Canon Remote Shoe cord and breaking it. Guess that one will be used for hand held extended flash shots :( Time to order another one. Lesson learned.

All in all I have gone through many of the photos and I'm quite pleased with the exposure, lighting amounts (thank God for the 550's manual exposure settings... I must have adjusted it 100 times tonight.) and the critical shots are all there, and are all sharp, and are all well exposed with no blown highlights. I found that the 80/20 pocket bouncer and around -1 on the flash let to properly lit faces without blowouts most of the night.

I'm beat. I'll deel with these pictures another day!

Thanks for the advice guys,
Adam

[Skip Souza]

Just glad to know that you survived.

[tim]

Thanks for posting your thoughts! I only have 2 sets of batteries, maybe I need to get another. I'll up my 4GB of card to at least 6GB too, I really like the flexability RAW gives me to fix my mistakes...

Any thought on lenses? Which did you use the most? What do you wish you had that you don't?

That 80/20 bounced looks interesting, more compact than the LSII, I might have to get one some time.

[tim]

As an aside, in books i've seen setups where the pros put maybe 4 strobes up high in the reception hall, and use that as lighting for the reception photos. I bet they get paid well for that kind of setup, and it can't be cheap to do what with all the lighting, transmitters, receivers, assistants, etc.

[OceanRider]

As an aside, in books i've seen setups where the pros put maybe 4 strobes up high in the reception hall, and use that as lighting for the reception photos. I bet they get paid well for that kind of setup, and it can't be cheap to do what with all the lighting, transmitters, receivers, assistants, etc.

I have heard of this as well, the pics I have seen were great, it worked well.

[PhotosGuy]

I'm glad that you survived the "normal" amount of screw-ups that everyone goes through. Looking forward to your link to the pics!

[Moments]

Sounds like an average night, you not only had the normal stuff to be concerned with the additional things that digital bring.

As far as storage, I still do all my formals on film, so my storage is only for the journalistic and candids, which is usually 3 - 5 gigs. I bring a laptop to download to throughout the night. By the end of the night, all but the last card are downloaded. I'm waiting on getting the Epson P2000. It's smaller and lighter, but it does bring an extra step to the production process. Once the images are on my laptop, I make adjustments to images and edit out what I don't want, then I save it to a removable drive for backup archiving. Then the images go to the studio computer for final editing and color correction, then off to the lab.

I have issues with the focusing of my 20D in the receptions also. I usually try to just use the center focus point.

As far as the dark halls, I do use lights via radio slaves when ever I can. It is one thing that people notice when they see my candids. I get to shoot at 1/125 @ F 6.3. at 400 asa, and if I wish to get the mood, I just turn them off. I also have my assistant use a polelight if needed in the churches or smaller halls with low ceilings.

As far as the 550 flash, I usually have to bump it +1/3 in TTL. I switch between an 80/20 reflector and a stofen omni bounce depending upon wht I'm looking for. I too have snapped off the remote shoe on a flip bracket. I think it will be best to have a bracket that the camera rotates on, or I'm also thinking of the light sphere II to replace the bracket and all. But as many others say, it is big and bulky.

I also have two quantum Turbo batteries for the 550 and other flashes that I have. I never even have to think about battery life, even with shooting 500+ shots. I also do have an issue with the batteries and the grip, but I usually only see myself changing the battery 1 or rarely twice throughout the day.

Even though I shoot an average of 50 weddings per year, I always look at what has happened on each job and take note on what could be done differenty on the next job.

As I always say to my assistant on the way home after a job, "It was a good day, nobody died"

[Harry Settle]

It would be really nice if more new wedding shooters would post "Lessons Learned". Threads like this are more help than some of the pro answers.

[Adam Hicks]

Bloo Dog I'm trying to think about what you said with the flash vs. darkness... and the issue is that even with the flash on auto in low light my shutter times will still be 1/25 or slower, so even if the flash lights the scene, dancing or any movement will still show as ghosted blur in the shots. I'm trying to think of somewhere I might be doing something wrong, but I'm at a loss. Should the flash have bumped the shutter speed to 1/250 given it's light output and froze the scenes? I typically shoot professional motorsports, and there's rarely need for flashes. The reason I was needing to go -2/3 or - 1-1/3 was for close portraits it would wash the scene out if I didn't dial it down. I was surprised that the flash would not determine distance to subject and adjust light output (does the 580EX do this or am I dreaming?)

As far as lenses went, I used the 28-75 most of the time at the start, but started noticing some of the back focusing (even on the display!) which scared the bejesus out of me, so I switched to the 1.4 half-way through the ceremony. I figured this way I had two chances to get the important shots. Both actually ended up doing excellent (I'll try to find a 28-75 ~50mm vs. a 50mm prime) but I needed the 1.4-2.0 aperture indoors, so I used the 50mm most of the time. It focuses better and faster in low light and was easy to deal with. I love that lens.

I'll post some examples of the good bad and ugly today. I have plenty of shots for the album, and the shots that counted all came out nice and crisp (thank Heavens!) so it's mainly the difficult low-light-too-much-movement shots that caused me a little pain. That and having to buy ANOTHER $50 off shoe cord :)

Thanks for the replies guys, I think the one thing I learned from this experience was NOT to underestimate it!

Adam

[Adam Hicks]

I'll look into the focusing issue. I always use center-point focus and recompose after focus lock (I also use center point focus when shooting motorsports as it facilitates accurate panning.) I've put over 11,000 shots through the 20D so far, and have really never seen this happen... so I'm not sure why it was so finicky last night. All in all I think it was really successful and I definitely learned a great deal. The MOTB was very easy going and helpful, and the B&G have been raving about my Bridal Portrait shoot and asking to write recommendation letters, so I guess that's a good thing!

Now I just have to tackle the $%#$& wedding album issue... which seems easy until you start looking at the 3,000 wedding album combos and options (and prices!)

adam

[TSEE]

Sounds like an interesting day, I'd love to see some of the final products when you're done editing.

[tim]

Adam, if you post your pics to a different thread post the link to it in here wiil you? I'd like to see 'em :)

[Adam Hicks]

I'll work on them tomorrow and get a few online. Mostly pretty standard shots, as the wedding was only 20 minutes long so there was little room for creative license. Bloo I'll definitely talk to them about the letter after I get the final products to them. I agree with you about getting a few good shots from every wedding and building a portfolio. It wouldn't be too convincing to someone if all of my shots were of the same couple :) I'm just in the learning phase right now, so I'm taking the shots relatively 'safe' but when I do the next Bridal Portrait session I'll be able to play with some different lenses and styles and try to come up with some nice showcase shots.

Thanks,
Adam

[KevC]

Geez. 5.5 GIGABYTES of pictures. I was expecting shooting less than 2. Anyway, glad to hear you survived :) That's a helluva lot of post processing to do :)

[Adam Hicks]

I understand that... For all posed shots I took 3 shot bursts, AND I shot RAW+Small JPEG so I could have quick and easy previews to pick from, so really there's about 500 shots with many being duplicates. I don't expect to present >50 images to the B&G and have set their expectations as such before the wedding.

It sounds like a lot of shots, but after all is said and done it'll be just enough ;)

Adam

[Todd Jacobsen]

I'll look into the focusing issue. I always use center-point focus and recompose after focus lock (I also use center point focus when shooting motorsports as it facilitates accurate panning.) I've put over 11,000 shots through the 20D so far, and have really never seen this happen... so I'm not sure why it was so finicky last night. All in all I think it was really successful and I definitely learned a great deal. The MOTB was very easy going and helpful, and the B&G have been raving about my Bridal Portrait shoot and asking to write recommendation letters, so I guess that's a good thing!

Now I just have to tackle the $%#$& wedding album issue... which seems easy until you start looking at the 3,000 wedding album combos and options (and prices!)

adam

I forget where the article is (on web somewhere) but if you utilize the "*" key to establish focus, you need to keep it pressed for E-TTL to work.

If you do NOT keep it pressed, E-TTL reverts to "average" over the scene that is viewable by the sensor, and this is done on shutter fire.

So in essence, the camera is losing ALL metering once the "*" is released.

Although a quick fix, my IPOD works well as a downloadable device. Small, compact, and an "already purchased" item. P2000 is supposed to be faster, just not sure it's a $500 additional need (for me). I have never filled a CF card faster than the IPOD can download the data.

[Andy_T]

Bloo Dog I'm trying to think about what you said with the flash vs. darkness... and the issue is that even with the flash on auto in low light my shutter times will still be 1/25 or slower, so even if the flash lights the scene, dancing or any movement will still show as ghosted blur in the shots. I'm trying to think of somewhere I might be doing something wrong, but I'm at a loss. Should the flash have bumped the shutter speed to 1/250 given it's light output and froze the scenes?

Adam, the 20D has a very helpful custom function that sets the shutter time to 1/250 when using the flash in AV mode.
Also shows you in the viewfinder if your flash has recycled ... that's when the shutter speed changes from 1/15 to 1/250 again.

Best regards,
Andy

[Adam Hicks]

Yeah if that's not the default then I've set that function, as the camera will stop the shutter speed down to 1/250 as needed unless I run the 550 in High speed sync, which I was not doing. I think everything worked correctly, there was just too much action and the camera doesn't 'speed' the shutter up to 1/250 with the flash enabled, so the flash would fire, but the camera still took the photo at it's metered speed, which was 1/25 or less often. If there's a way to tell the camera to increase it's shutter speed when the flash is used, that would obviously be handy!

Adam

[Dirty Shirt]

Congrats! Now, we are all waiting to see some shots!

[Andy_T]

I think everything worked correctly, there was just too much action and the camera doesn't 'speed' the shutter up to 1/250 with the flash enabled, so the flash would fire, but the camera still took the photo at it's metered speed, which was 1/25 or less often. If there's a way to tell the camera to increase it's shutter speed when the flash is used, that would obviously be handy!

Hi Adam,

Maybe I didn't make that clear enough.

The custom function 03-1 sets the shutter speed of the camera to 1/250 regardless of metering if the flash is used. Works only in AV mode. (At least it works that way on my camera with the internal flash or a manual external flash.)

Best regards,
Andy

[Adam Hicks]

Interesting... wouldn't this be the same as running a flash in Tv mode at 1/250 and allowing it to set the aperture?

I suppose safety shift might kick in if f1.4 wasn't bright enough though, where your idea would override and lock it at 1/250. I'll give it a try.

Adam

[Andy_T]

No ... it wouldn't be the same thing as TV mode at 1/250 ... it allows you to set the aperture you need.
In terms of existing modes, it would be the same as using M, 1/250, and your aperture (so maybe what you do anyway :wink: ).

Don't know how the Canon flash would react. I manually select the flash output on my Metz MZ40 based on my experience, test shot and histogram.

The good thing is that there is no safety shift. The camera assumes that if you use a flash, there will be enough light.

Try it out, it works perfect for me.

Best regards,
Andy