Any Tips for ROP Sufferers

[garren]

I've been lurking around in here for a few months...for my first post I thought I would jump in with a question.

Here's the story. My neighbor is getting married in 3 weeks and she has asked me to shoot her wedding. I have only been shooting about a year and only microstock. I tried to reason with her and suggested she hire a pro. Its a once in lifetime event and if I screw it up she would end up without any good images. She "counter-reasoned" that she couldn't afford a pro and if I didn't do it she would end up with no pics at all. Luckily I hooked up with a wedding photog from the Istock forum who is gonna walk me through an average wedding at her studio...kind of a wedding photography primer...maybe I wont have to bug you guys with the wedding questions.

Ok...on to the question. This bride-to-be was born with ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity). She asked me if I knew of a way to make sure both of her eyes were looking at the camera when we take her portraits. Luckily she is not self-conscious about it and is open to suggestions. In all of her photos that I've seen, it appears the her eyes can move independently of each other or one is lazy and is always looking to the left. She cant see very far and she assumes she is looking into the lens...but its not actually happening. I suggested that we shoot some poses where she doesn't have to look at the lens....she liked the idea but still wanted to try some shots straight on.
Have any of you dealt with this before?....are there any tricks or suggestions to help her line her eyes up on the lens? The only thing I could think of was taping a small bright pen light to my lens hood....maybe she could see that and focus on the light...does that sound feasible?

~G

[Frugal]

Firstly welcome to the forum!

It all depends on setting her expectations. If she just wants something that's better than uncle Joe in the crowd with a P&S camera you may be able to give her that. But you should be very very clear with her what your capabilities are. You definitely need an assistant. Preferably someone who has shot a wedding before. As well as photography, he/she could watch the brides eyes. I'm not familiar with the disorder, but it sounds like she can compensate for it is she's alerted to it. But do everything you can to have her looking at the camera or the Groom.

What equipment do you have? It's helpful if you put that in your signature. Take 2 of everything including camera bodies so you're not having to swap lenses and you have a backup if something goes wrong. Since she's your friend, you could do some practice shoots ahead of the big day. Do some in the venue where the ceremony will be held to be sure that your lenses can cope with the lighting. If not, rent what you need... Good Luck!

[garren]

Thanks Frugal!

It looks like we'll have access to the venue the night before and can take some test shots and notes. I will have an assistant but his experience level is about the same as mine. At least we'll have two cameras and two sets of equip.

I've updated my signature so that you can see what I have.

[monk3y]

i would just like to ask do nikon flash work with canon bodies?

[garren]

i would just like to ask do nikon flash work with canon bodies?

Mine have worked great so far...on and off camera...but only in manual mode of course.
I mostly use them off camera with the ebay triggers. I'm really pleased with the SB28's.

[mrbojangles13]

im not farmiliar with ROP, but any ideas that you have i would go out in the front yard or around the house (practice bouncing your flash off walls and ceilings) and test run them before the big day. try out your light on the lens trick. i would watch for glare if you tried this tho.