Wedding lens and flash.. please help!

Phil Light wrote in post #5366452
I think Tim has good point (as if he needs validation from me )

It's always amazed me how couples or families don't bat an eye at spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on a cake, invitations, flowers, dresses, napkins, decorations, etc.; all things that will be gone or usless after that day. And yet when it comes to the photographs, the only thing that will last and capture the emotion and memories of the day, they don't bat an eye at having uncle Bob with his shiny new SLR shoot the wedding.

None of their friends are going to look at the shots 10 years after the wedding, but people will remember not being invited, people will remember the cheap food.

hey man, did you get the flash yet? roberts imaging has 430ex's for 200 w/ instant rebate!

Sad, but true in a lot of quarters Doc.

DocFrankenstein wrote in post #5370738
None of their friends are going to look at the shots 10 years after the wedding, but people will remember not being invited, people will remember the cheap food.

yea the flash and card should be here today or tomorrow!

tim wrote in post #5363588
So it's good enough for family, but not good enough for paying customers? Is a family wedding less important? Only if you're not the main photog I think.

I was not saying that family is less important. I'm saying that family is more ... forgiving. Plus, if you screw up, you won't have the bride trying to sue, instead you just get a family member who'll try to give you a slap in the back of the head (trust me, much better than dealing w/ a customer.)

They may not sue, but you'll be getting the dope slap for the next 50 years or so .

Kevin034 wrote in post #5375734
I was not saying that family is less important. I'm saying that family is more ... forgiving. Plus, if you screw up, you won't have the bride trying to sue, instead you just get a family member who'll try to give you a slap in the back of the head.....

well they both came in on monday, snapped shots right away, and within the first 5 shots, i was impressed with the flash, pointing it straight up and bouncing off the ceiling was a huge difference! but it is really tricky to get used to outside, and still inside, i have to watch for the shutter speed blinking at me as im finding it hard to find a good exposure. any tips on some practice stuff to shoot on other then people? and tips with settings? also i found when i shot my mom cutting the dogs hair, my dog being white, was way over exposed but my mom was fine.

Gurry wrote in post #5383434
well they both came in on monday, snapped shots right away, and within the first 5 shots, i was impressed with the flash, pointing it straight up and bouncing off the ceiling was a huge difference! but it is really tricky to get used to outside, and still inside, i have to watch for the shutter speed blinking at me as im finding it hard to find a good exposure. any tips on some practice stuff to shoot on other then people? and tips with settings? also i found when i shot my mom cutting the dogs hair, my dog being white, was way over exposed but my mom was fine.

Be careful bouncing off the ceiling straight up. If you are close enough to the person and or the ceiling is high enough, the light source (the ceiling) is at a bit of an extreme angle to the person and will create "bags" under their eyes (shadows). This is why many recommend bouncing back behind you - the light source is no longer directly above them and it fills their face nicely. This is another reason I bounce from the side, I never have to worry about that.

As far as your mom/dog situation .. there is no help there except to read read read and understand exposure and metering. It takes most people years of practice and reading and learning and practice to get to a point where they can look at what they want to shoot and know what's possible, what's not possible, and how to set up a camera to take the shot the way they see it. The starting point for ALL of that is understanding metering and exposure:

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=249006

And posts numbers 3 and 4 in this thread:
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=255806

Bill

Or put a white card on the flash for fill - the 580 has one built in.

i also tried bouncing off the wall beside me, and i found that the wall i was bouncing it off of, that side was more bright, then the other side, i also just tried this in the room, so you mean bounce it behind me? how would the flash be angled then? i know it goes straight up, then 1 more click its kind of pointing a bit backwards, or do you mean, turning the head 180 degrees?

Yes, it will rotate 180 degrees backwards to you can bounce it off a near wall.

Gurry wrote in post #5390833
....., so you mean bounce it behind me? how would the flash be angled then? i know it goes straight up, then 1 more click its kind of pointing a bit backwards, or do you mean, turning the head 180 degrees?

For that kind of budget I would suggest a 35 2.0 since you will be using a crop body. I've used a Tamron 28-75 2.8 for many weddings on both a 20D and 5D and it works very well but you would have to buy used for your budget. Also, make sure you have plenty of batteries. I shot my first couple of weddings with regular AA batteries and I hated it. It takes way too long for the flash to cycle properly, especially after you have taken 40 or 50 shots. I now use an external battery pack.

Good luck and have fun
Tim

For wedding,
at indoor, I am using mainly 35L & 85L. Prime...............
at outdoor, I am using mainly 35L & 135L. Prime ...............

I don't think primes are a great idea for a beginner.

minatophase3 wrote in post #5390967
For that kind of budget I would suggest a 35 2.0 since you will be using a crop body. I've used a Tamron 28-75 2.8 for many weddings on both a 20D and 5D and it works very well but you would have to buy used for your budget. Also, make sure you have plenty of batteries. I shot my first couple of weddings with regular AA batteries and I hated it. It takes way too long for the flash to cycle properly, especially after you have taken 40 or 50 shots. I now use an external battery pack.

Did you use AA batteries in the camera, and you used the flash in the camera? That doesn't sound like a very good plan...

Did you use the rechargable batteries or the throw-aways? The rechargables will give you very very good life and recycle relatively fast between flashes. I keep a couple of sets with me for each wedding and I never exhaust all of them.

minatophase3 wrote in post #5390967
...... I shot my first couple of weddings with regular AA batteries and I hated it. It takes way too long for the flash to cycle properly, especially after you have taken 40 or 50 shots. I now use an external battery pack.

Good luck and have fun
Tim