Wedding Lighting

[beaconlightboy]

Hello all, i have been asked by a friend to shoot their wedding as they are kind of low budget and i have had a 10D for quite a while with a 550EX. I am just upgrading to a 20D. i do understand the basic photography concepts however multiple lighting situations i seem to have a bit of dificulty with.

i am thinking about buying 2 more 550EX's so that i will have 3 total. one off shoe (fill) , 1 for a main, and a spare.

my question is what is the best setup to use? i'm sure its all relative to skill and preference but i have heard so many things. i have listed some things i've heard, as well as some questions. any information anyone could provide would be quite helpful. thanks in advance.

===what i've read/heard ===

1) never use more than one light in a church. use your single light as fill one stop below incident reading.

2) dont use umbrellas use sto-fen bounces

3) measure flashes with meter (incident) for f-stop

=== my questions ====

1) if using a flash, i have been told that the f-stop is all that matters and you just put the camera in manual. if that be true, then howcome you can set the flash exposure in manual? if you can set the flash exposure in manual, then doesnt that mean the camara is still metering for you in manual?


2) based on question 1, if i have two 550Ex's. do i need to take an incident reading? can't i set the 20d in manual mode, set the ratio on the flashes, then take a flash reading off something neutral, and step it down if i have to?

3) in a multi-light setup. for instance 1 flash on the camera, one to the side. when taking a meter reading, you obviously take one on each flash to verify the readings are in fact different by the stoppage you want, but what do you set your camera to? the lower f-stop (i.e larger number) or do you take a joint reading of both flashing and use that.?

[beaconlightboy]

about question 1.. the reason i ask this is because i have taken pictures of brides before based on incident reading and burned the dress. don't really understand how that happens, but wouldnt adjusting the flash exposure help that?

[idofotos]

you might be trying to hard, instead of buying 2 more 580's get one good white lightning mono and an umbrella and a digitalcalabration target, the one light will give you consistan exposure, try to get f5.6-f8 f8 is best for groups, the brides dress will usually blow out you can under expose so it doesnt but then you will need to do a levels adjustment on the files, read up on histograms and learn to use them, for weddings I highly recomend shooting raw, its a little more work but a wedding is a job just like anything else, I shoot the target under the flash and try to get a good exposure when the bride is in the photo change the exposure so the dress isnt blinking in the highlights, when the groomsmen are in you might open up a little to comp for the dark tuxes, remember good skintones are more important than seeing detail in the dress, dont try to blow them out but be more aware of faces, I would be glad to help more if needed you can email me
at dennisatidofotos.com use @ where aplicable. also with raw you can make a few more major corrections , the fstop is not all that matters but get it right and then control the room light with the shutterspeed, when shooting film I always used a slow shutter speed so the ambient light would absorb to the film but with igital I dont like the color cast I get so I have started using the higher shutterspeeds, its hard to give a lighting class on the computer but will try to help as much as possible

[beaconlightboy]

thanks for the info. i have done some basic photo shoots with one light/umbrella setup. i aimed it straight at the subjects, i know its flat light. anyway what struck me as odd was that even with the incident meter reading F8 and me setting the camera @ F8 i still burned the subjects? did i miss something? wouldnt it just be better to measure a reflective reading..?

[tim]

You might like to read this thread I recently wrote after doing my first wedding. For a first wedding, unless you're quite experienced and your friends are VERY organised and reliable, I suspect using a single flash would be a better idea. Using a single studio monolight is going to add to your setup and pulldown times, and you'll probably need an assistant if you use more than one on-camera flash. You should probably have an assistant for your first wedding anyway, my girlfriend helped me out.

Your questions, remember i'm not an expert on multiple flashes, I just know what i've read. Actually your question can be answered by one explaination: since you're using ETTL just set your f-stop, ETTL will flash at the right power for you. Use FEC if it gets it a bit wrong. You set the ratio on the master flash, I understand, and the scene is automatically exposed for you.

Whatever you decide, practice Practice PRACTICE! Practice with friends in the dark in dark clothes, with people in white clothes, mixed light and dark clothes, using a single flash on camera, etc, etc. You don't want to be learning at a wedding!

[tbfoto]

You do need to have backup equipment. Two of everything is the rule. Set your camera on "M". White balance to flash. Set your camera for 1/60th and f8. This will let the flash unit do all the thinking for you. Use just one 550 flash but do use a flash bracket. Shoot some test shots before the event starts to double check your exposure. Think ahead as to where you want to be standing for each shot. Once the wedding starts ..things go pretty fast so you have to be ready. Good luck and ...try to relax.


Tom

[tim]

Backup equipment for one wedding... that'd be taking on the cost so your friends can save money. For a professional photographer, backup equipment is essential though. Perhaps hire, or borrow one from a friend for the wedding?

Take lots of batteries.

[AjP]

don't complicate things, first of all I agree you need a back up just in case, one 580 is suficiant, just bounce light, don't use direct flash, check places where you gonna shoot wedding, take several test shots, check what are the best settings, and definately shot RAW. don't try to bring whole photo studio to church, there is no need. Good luck!!!!

[robertwgross]

Wedding lighting can get stressful if you let it.

My partner and I nearly always shot the main photography with a single flash on a flash bracket. The exception is when there was a large family group, like twenty people in one or two rows. For that, we would use two flash units.

---Bob Gross---

[tim]

Originally Posted by robertwgross

Wedding lighting can get stressful if you let it.

My partner and I nearly always shot the main photography with a single flash on a flash bracket. The exception is when there was a large family group, like twenty people in one or two rows. For that, we would use two flash units.

---Bob Gross---

So you use one or at most two on-camera flash units for a whole wedding Bob? No messing around with studio strobes?

[robertwgross]

The other guy, who uses Nik** camera equipment, uses mostly one or sometimes two big flash units, radio sets, cables, batteries, flash meters, and all sorts of stuff to make it difficult.

Since I am a Canon guy, I use the Canon wireless flash system. Most of the time, I use a 550EX on a flash bracket. If it is a very wide shot, I will stick the 550EX out on the left, and stick the 420EX out on the right, and then stick the STE2 on the camera. That's all.

---Bob Gross---

[tim]

Interesting. Do you ever or often think you could make a better picture with strobes, given the setup/takedown overheads?

[MSRphoto]

Interesting indeed. I have always used TWO white lightening Ultras -- occassionally just one WL off left and one camera flash (on bracket) as fill if the groups aren't too large. The strobe off left always firing away from people into umbrella.

Of course I never owned a digital camera until last month either lol

I am anxious to cut down my "studio lights" at weddings, but I don't know that I'll eliminate both. Probably just the "fill" strobe and replace umbrella with soft box (?)

This brings me to my point .. the Canon 580 flash .. WOWZA! It arrived yesterday, and after playing around (which means I didn't read the manual, I just turned it on MASTER, ETTL, and pushed the shutter) I discovered that this flash has some serious power. Turns out that I can be in a COMPLETELY dark room where I can't even SEE the subject at ALL, the infared will focus the 20D (another amazing point to me), and the resulting flash shot will look normally and perfectly lit...no signs of "flash picture"

Of course the kids are now blind.

I have no intention of incorporating the digital into my business until I know what I'm doing (maybe next season) but I have to say ... this is AWESOME.

Oh ..another good way to shoot wedding groups ... take them outside and then you can FORGET the strobes! (have a good fill on flash bracket)

[beaconlightboy]

hey, great responses guys.. bloo dog, what i meant was that i have taken pictures of other brides at weddings and used F8 and F11 respectively with two flash units slaved equadistant from the bride and groom. i then set the camera for F8 and burned the bride. that i what confused me. did i do something wrong? shouldn't setting the Fstop at the brightest flash point prevent such a thing?

[beaconlightboy]

so the question really is. if you have 1 flash measuring F8 and another F11. do you need to take a new reading with the combined lighting? take a 100 watt bulb and put a 75 watt bulb next to it. is it brigher? or is there just more of the same light? seems to be brighter to the eys (perception) but is it really?