Wedding lens and flash.. please help!

Photodawg1 wrote in post #5163295
These were great! I felt like I was there.

Thanks for the compliment Photodawg1. I appreciate it.

smorter wrote in post #5128653
I wouldn't be confident doing a wedding unless I had 2 of:
5D/1DMkIII
17-55/24-70L
35L
85L
135L
70-200 f/2.8L IS
580EXII
multiple lighting options
Pocket Wizards
30 1GB CF cards

What is the 17-55 for? It won't fit on the 5D or the MkIII! lol

You might be able to pick up a Sigma 24-60mm f/2.8 cheap on eBay! They used to be $200.

Well I wasn't looking and didn't notice there were 9 pages on this...
My post is probably pretty worthless right about now...

well time to bring up the update, things have been put off, but i ordered the 430ex and a 8gb extreme 3 card, should be here tomorrow, not buying a lens, what i have is what i have, but i will be making these cards i see, so i can point the flash straight up, and using it to bounce off the card. just wondering some good settings to use, i also noticed people only shoot in AV or TV mode, instead of straight M mode. when do you use what? ive been reading a lot of the flash topics, and copying and pasting good info, so i can look back at it, cant wait to start using flash and trying this all out, going to be practicing every night!, and good things to practice with? any help with flash is helpful, thanks everyone.

Gurry wrote in post #5352032
well time to bring up the update, things have been put off, but i ordered the 430ex and a 8gb extreme 3 card, should be here tomorrow, not buying a lens, what i have is what i have, but i will be making these cards i see, so i can point the flash straight up, and using it to bounce off the card. just wondering some good settings to use, i also noticed people only shoot in AV or TV mode, instead of straight M mode. when do you use what? ive been reading a lot of the flash topics, and copying and pasting good info, so i can look back at it, cant wait to start using flash and trying this all out, going to be practicing every night!, and good things to practice with? any help with flash is helpful, thanks everyone.

Again,

The fact that you're asking the questions about when to use certain modes is scary. Each mode offers a different way of getting the correct exposure and each mode is useful for different reasons.

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

Then ask me any questions you have. Get out there and practice practice practice. Make sure that when you practice you do so on people that are dressed in all black and other people that are dressed in all white otherwise you're in for a nasty surprise when wedding time comes - a 2-stop nasty surprise.

Bill

Gurry wrote in post #5352032
i also noticed people only shoot in AV or TV mode, instead of straight M mode. when do you use what? ive been reading a lot of the flash topics, and copying and pasting good info, so i can look back at it, cant wait to start using flash and trying this all out, going to be practicing every night!, and good things to practice with? any help with flash is helpful, thanks everyone.

Now that I've said what I said in my last post, I'll try to answer these questions:

Personally, I'm a large Av user. Av is aperture priority mode. In this mode, I set my ISO, and I use the camera's dial to set the aperture I want to use. The camera will now select the correct shutter speed, based on my metering mode and the luminocity of my metering area, to expose my photo the way I tell it to ("the way I tell it to" refers to exposure compensation here). Av allows me to lock in my aperture and be certain that the camera will not change it unless I tell it to.

Tv is shutter priority. It is mostly used in sports situations where the photog requires a particular shutter speed to attain a certain effect - like making sure the wheels on a race car are blurred to give it a sense of motion or that the blades on a helicopter give a nice swirl. The photog in this case doesn't care about aperture as much as he cares about locking in a certain shutter speed.

M mode is for cases where lighting is consistent and the photographer wishes to "lock in" both aperture and shutter speed. Where the photog knows the amount of light hitting his subject(s) will remain the same at all times and the photographer doesn't want things like varying colors throwing off his camera's light meter and changing his exposure settings.

Every photographer is different, there is no right way or wrong way to shoot anything. I prefer to stay in Av when using natural light and bouncing on-camera flash. I move to M when using off-camera flash so I can control balance my main light against my ambient quickly. I hardly ever use Tv but that's because of what I shoot and my style of shooting.

Another photog might have a problem with motion blur and may use Tv the entire time to maintain a minimum shutter speed. Maybe he/she then modifies ISO to gain or lose aperture stops and increase/decrease depth of field. The bottom line is that there is more than one way to skin a cat. If you understand exposure, you'll know all the ways.

As far as help with the flash, you'll be using an on-camera flash that has TTL capability. First things first ... bring backup batteries with you, at least 2 sets - if you use a lot of flash, you'll need them.

Outdoors - AKA fill flash: Here you can point your flash at your subject. A nice effect is putting the sun behind your subject which stops them from squinting and makes a nice hair light. Put your flash in high-speed-sync mode, leave your camera in Av mode and shoot away with the flash pointed directly at your subject. If you're not getting enough light from the flash, open your aperture up farther to raise the shutter speed. The higher shutter speed will keep the ambient light just as bright as it was before, but the wider aperture will allow more strobe light to hit the subject. Also, flash output loses significant power as distances increase, so if you need more fill and your 430 is already maxxed out on power, move closer to your subject.

Indoors - do NOT point your flash at your subject: Point it up and back at an angle to create a broad flat light source - helps to have lowish ceilings here. Or - point it straight out to the side and let the light bounce off something to the side. I used this technique quite a bit at a wedding last year. I literally bounced the light off of other people's shirts, bodies, tables ... you name it, I just lined something of a neutral color off to my side, turned my camera on its side to portrait mode, and fired away:

http://www.half-lime.com …/175436830446fe​76cc3e7b0/

This is a wedding though, you're going to have to watch your exposure comp and make sure that you are exposing your whites and blacks correctly ... this is going to be paramount to your success. Good luck.

Bill

alright, well i know what each mode does, just wasn't to sure, why people would just use AV or TV rather then having control over both, im just so used to using M and doing everything myself, but i guess in a wedding you want to have the least time to mess up, so if you choose one over the other then you only have to worry about the one. but thanks for the info and help with shooting outdoors and indoors, as for the indoors my plan was to point the flash straight up, and use a bounce card. but i have to wait to getit to start trying all these things.

Gurry wrote in post #5357884
alright, well i know what each mode does, just wasn't to sure, why people would just use AV or TV rather then having control over both, im just so used to using M and doing everything myself, but i guess in a wedding you want to have the least time to mess up, so if you choose one over the other then you only have to worry about the one. but thanks for the info and help with shooting outdoors and indoors, as for the indoors my plan was to point the flash straight up, and use a bounce card. but i have to wait to getit to start trying all these things.

Practice with it first. I've gone the straight-up method, and the straight-up bounce-card method and I'm not fond of either. Side bounce is my preferred look, it looks like natural light through a window no matter where you are.

The following images are all at night and I bounced from the side:

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Very nicely done Bill - these are extremely attractive and look very natural. As you said, it looks like window light could have been used. I have tried this myself only a few times, when a nearby light colored wall is available. Sometimes it works quite well - just as you have demonstrated here. Other times one side of a face has gotten a little too "hot" due to proximity to the bounce surface; takes practice, but well worth it. Thanks for sharing. - Stu

Gurry wrote in post #5128208
ok well i have a cannon rebel xt dlsr, kit lens, and a 70-300 f4 sigma lens, now my sisters wedding is coming up, and as a gift she wanted me to take the pictures, now im not that amazing at photos, but i know some what mostly on how to use my camera. but i need to know what lens i should get for the wedding, i would like to spend as little as possible, maybe 200-300 dollars. and for the flash im getting a 430ex speed light, what do you guys think? i need help picking something out. and tips are always welcome to help! thanks

Pick up a 50 1.8 MKII ($90 bucks).

Few 2GB CF ($12 each).

You should be OK. Laugh a lot, keep your eyes open for cool things, when the lights get dark make sure to use the 50 1.8 MKII.

Have fun, relex, check your histogram, remember to charge the camera battery the day before.

Good luck!

Edit: Some shots to consider.
- Bride getting ready.
- Dress hung by the window / closet.
- Bride putting the tie / bow on the groom.
- Bride inside the limo, laughing, anticipating.
- Bride getting out of the limo. (get that first step leg shot, w/ the shoes. Shoes are important to women.)
- Church, anything beautiful that's laying around.
- Couple shots, some cool / cute poses. The cornier the better, they will end up laughing later when looking at it.
- Family members. Traditional and PJ style.
- Ring exchange (duh). (ai-servo and burst shoot the crap out of this one)
- Walking down the isle as couple.(ai-servo and burst shoot the crap out of this one)
- First kiss (ai-servo and burst shoot the crap out of this one)
- People dancing / dining. (get the kids eating, the younger the cuter. The couple always end up going "awee ... look how cute timmy is when he eats that cake".)
- Couple leaving, car w/ cans.
- Sunset, horses, riding into the horizon (just kidding).

haha yea that last one with the horses is a must LOL, not sure where you can find 2gb cards for $12, but i have a 8gb card on the way. thanks for those pics, i will have to try that side flash effect, looks awesome!, thanks

Kevin034 wrote in post #5358088
Pick up a 50 1.8 MKII ($90 bucks).

The 50 F1.8 isn't a professional lens, no way should a wedding photographer be using something that's so unreliable. Do a search on it, it's been covered many times.

tim wrote in post #5358671
The 50 F1.8 isn't a professional lens, no way should a wedding photographer be using something that's so unreliable. Do a search on it, it's been covered many times.

I am pretty sure that Gurry has no intentions to become a pro wedding photog, well, atleast not yet - perhaps until he's made enough from "family" gigs (or other means) to afford some decent equipment.

I'm just saying, if his budget is $500, he might as well pick up a 50 1.8. It's not a pro lens, but I think it's good enough for what he's trying to do at a family wedding.

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 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.