What do you do when...Advice needed

[Numenorean]

Originally Posted by dmxsoulja3

1. This church was tiny, like throw a rock under handed front to back and hit the wall tiny, meaning there was nothing spectacular in front of the bride and groom and basically no "room" behind them for any depth of field. Due to the size of the place I had to be in the back, even with 70-200 IS II 2.8 on 7D, the lighting had me at 1/50, 2.8, ISO1600-3200, which meant I came up with maybe 20% of my shots in focus due to what I'm assuming is too shallow of DOF for the focal length. So what do you guys do in this situation? I couldn't shoot any higher without risking blur, which if you have held the 70-200 up for a few hours is def a possibility. The only other thing I could have thought to do was use a tripod but I would look like the Eiffel tower with that in such a small place and I felt rude, so I passed on it.

You need more practice. I don't think I ever shoot anything but 2.8 with my MkII and get good shots. 1/50th is fine with that lens. I wouldn't hesitate to go up to ISO 6400 personally. I don't use a tripod for any of my portraits anywhere.

Originally Posted by dmxsoulja3

2. Since the church was so bland, I'm in the back, shooting peoples backs, the pictures to me felt BORING, but it seems like shooting from the back is standard operating procedure, so is this to be expected? Should I be more concerned with them walking back down the aisle, because "it is what it is" during the ring exchange? When you are in the back next to the door they are coming in from, how do you guys get any shots of them walking up the aisle or is this not common practice anyways?

Honestly, a boring ugly venue will not produce amazingly awesome photos. Just won't happen. Nothing you can do. I get shots of people walking up/down aisles if it's feasible and there is enough room. Most of the ceremony I'm at the back - though I do go up side aisles if they are available.

Originally Posted by dmxsoulja3

3. Even after talking with the bride, and the rest of the wedding party about being mindful of their facial expressions, looking up, and pause for a split second when they see me and smile on the "critical" moments, they just plain didn't. Coming down the aisle they didn't stop for a sec and let me pop off a quick one, or even bother to look directly at me, the bridal party was staring at the ground, I mean it was brutal. Has this happen to you? What if I run into this again?

You can't do this - I literally have seen people make the B&G stop and pose during recessional/etc. and it drives me insane. You need to be able to capture their emotions as they happen - you can't force them or coach them or anything like that. They won't remember to do it, nor should they have to. You can coach more during posed formal shots, otherwise, just shoot the event.

[Numenorean]

Originally Posted by dmxsoulja3

I typically shoot in one shot or AI FOCUS, and select either one point, or the point with one to each side type setting. But I noticed that even when it thought it locked on two both subjects, or if I focused on one face, the person next to them was OOF, and I've never experienced this, mainly because I don't shoot multiple subjects at once alot, and if I do, I'm not at 150+mm. What is the key to getting two people side by side at 2.8 in focus?

Forget that AI Focus exists, and never use it again.

One Shot or AI Servo only.

[dmxsoulja3]

LOL noted.

Do you guys prefer having the shutter button start the focus or do you map it to another button? Also is it preferable to use center point only and recompose, or literally switch to the closest point to the subject in the framing you desire?

For most of the multiple subject shots I was shooting center and aiming at the eyes of one of the subjects and it was 50/50 on wether or not the person next to them was in focus or essentially looking like bokeh like there rest of the background, it was almost like the auto focus was being too selective at 2.8 side to side, where normally I would see issues shooting a group and not getting the back folks in focus, for some reason side to side was giving me a headache this day.

[Numenorean]

Originally Posted by dmxsoulja3

LOL noted.

Do you guys prefer having the shutter button start the focus or do you map it to another button? Also is it preferable to use center point only and recompose, or literally switch to the closest point to the subject in the framing you desire?

For most of the multiple subject shots I was shooting center and aiming at the eyes of one of the subjects and it was 50/50 on wether or not the person next to them was in focus or essentially looking like bokeh like there rest of the background, it was almost like the auto focus was being too selective at 2.8 side to side, where normally I would see issues shooting a group and not getting the back folks in focus, for some reason side to side was giving me a headache this day.

Sometimes I focus/recompose, other times I use outer points to focus. Just depends.

I have the focus points set to change with the multi-controller joystick thing. Focusing is on the shutter button where it should be. Half press to focus, fully press to take the photo. Some people say you can't keep the same focus in one shot and have to re-focus for every shot, which is ridiculous. If you half depress the shutter, it focuses and locks focus. You can fully depress to take a photo. If you want you can simply release half way to stop taking photos and wait to fully depress to take another with the same focus and you don't have to fully release and re-focus at all. Some sports shooters like back button focusing for AI Servo because the action is so fast. I've never been at a wedding where people are running around like in sports.

[dmxsoulja3]

How do you guys feel about that automatic lighting feature, I have mine turned off, but I think by default its set to Standard, since I mostly shoot outdoors never need any help with light per se, wondering if I should have enabled it.

[Numenorean]

Originally Posted by dmxsoulja3

How do you guys feel about that automatic lighting feature, I have mine turned off, but I think by default its set to Standard, since I mostly shoot outdoors never need any help with light per se, wondering if I should have enabled it.

I don't even know what that is so I doubt I use it.

[amirg]

Originally Posted by dmxsoulja3

I typically shoot in one shot or AI FOCUS, and select either one point, or the point with one to each side type setting. But I noticed that even when it thought it locked on two both subjects, or if I focused on one face, the person next to them was OOF, and I've never experienced this, mainly because I don't shoot multiple subjects at once alot, and if I do, I'm not at 150+mm. What is the key to getting two people side by side at 2.8 in focus?

I would stay away from AI focus. I don't find it reliable enough for wedding photography.