radiorickm
No longer a newbie, moving up!
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2011
- Messages
- 186
- Reaction score
- 81
- Location
- South West New Mexico
- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos OK to edit
Well, I got your attention anyway, didn't I. (LOL)
If you have been on this forum for any time, you've probably read this or a similar question about 473,187 times. So, I have taken it upon myself to answer this question ONCE AND FOR ALL.
The answer is, ALL OF THEM .
We (me and my girlfriend who I have been teaching photography to) were invited this weekend to shoot a wedding as a 2nd shooter, not by the photographer, but by the family involved. It was a Native American-Jewish-Wicken- Country wedding. What a combination. The ranch is about 50 miles from the nearest town. I felt it appropriate to introduce us to the main photographer, so we stopped by his studio and introduced ourselves. During the wedding, we made EVERY effort to stay out of his way, and still get the shots we wanted. As a mater of fact, we did not even pass out business cards. When he as doing the "formal shots" we actually went away and sat down so he could do his thing.
I am not yet into the position to shoot competitively, so here was my set up for the event. Canon 40D, EF-S 70-300 (Kit) Lens, Oolong flash; Canon 50D EF-S 18-55 (Kit). Also had a "nifty fifty" EF 50mm 1.8 handy the whole time. My girlfriend was carrying a T1i, EF-S 55-250 IS lens (with her own EF-S 15-55 IS in reserve). Nothing hi-dollar here, just good solid equipment that we are very familiar with, and very comfortable using.
The wedding was SUPPOSED to start at 7:00 PM sharp. We arrived at 5:00 PM, an just got the pictures of the decorations and such before they were disturbed. The Groom's mother was MIA and over 45 minutes late. It worked out that it happened just about sunset, on the night of a full moon. Due to a raging forest fire about 20 miles away, there was large amount of smoke in the air, which diffused the sunlight very nicely and shooting was not that bad. Most of the pre-wedding shots were made in P(rogram) mode on the 50D (100 ISO) as we were moving rapidly from open sun, diffused sun, partial shade, and full shade; and TV on the 40D (400 ISO) to keep the shutter speed above 250 for the telephoto. Where I knew there would be issues, such as strong backlighting, I added Exposure-Compensation as necessary.
For the ceremony, I was actually able to stand behind the "preacher" and capture the expression on the bride and grooms face. I had the 18-55 on camera, and it worked out great because during the ceremony we were in deep shadow under the "smoke cloud" and right as they began, the sun came through and illuminated the surrounding mountains just beautifully. I knew the primary photographer couldn't deviate and include it easily, so I positioned myself to get the glowing mountains in a few shots.
After the primary guy did all the formals, and they got through all of the "toasts" it was going on dark-thirty. Dinner was served on a very long porch, under a couple of incandescent lights, but mostly clear "Christmas tree" lights wrapped around the porch. Trying to use the flash was a mess, so it was all available light-hand held (but braced). I think that's where I bumped up the ISO on the 50D to 400. Seems like shots were in the 1/4 to 1/8 second range under the very dim light.
The party moved around back into a barn for dancing. LOW light-need I say more. Bumped up the ISO to 1600 for some hand held shots full manual. The building had a NEW tin roof up about 20', so I was able to reasonably bounce flash off of it back onto the dance floor.
So, all throughout the day, things were changing and adjustments were necessary. Here's what I used in the end.
Quality: RAW
ISO: 100, 400, 1600
Exposure Mode: P, P+EC, TV, TV+EC, M
AF POINTS: ALL, #3, #5(Center), #8
Metering: Evaluative, Spot
Drive: Single Shot, Slow Continous, 2 second delay
FOCUS Mode: AI Servo, Single Shot
White Bal: Auto, cloudy, incandescent
If you have been on this forum for any time, you've probably read this or a similar question about 473,187 times. So, I have taken it upon myself to answer this question ONCE AND FOR ALL.
The answer is, ALL OF THEM .
We (me and my girlfriend who I have been teaching photography to) were invited this weekend to shoot a wedding as a 2nd shooter, not by the photographer, but by the family involved. It was a Native American-Jewish-Wicken- Country wedding. What a combination. The ranch is about 50 miles from the nearest town. I felt it appropriate to introduce us to the main photographer, so we stopped by his studio and introduced ourselves. During the wedding, we made EVERY effort to stay out of his way, and still get the shots we wanted. As a mater of fact, we did not even pass out business cards. When he as doing the "formal shots" we actually went away and sat down so he could do his thing.
I am not yet into the position to shoot competitively, so here was my set up for the event. Canon 40D, EF-S 70-300 (Kit) Lens, Oolong flash; Canon 50D EF-S 18-55 (Kit). Also had a "nifty fifty" EF 50mm 1.8 handy the whole time. My girlfriend was carrying a T1i, EF-S 55-250 IS lens (with her own EF-S 15-55 IS in reserve). Nothing hi-dollar here, just good solid equipment that we are very familiar with, and very comfortable using.
The wedding was SUPPOSED to start at 7:00 PM sharp. We arrived at 5:00 PM, an just got the pictures of the decorations and such before they were disturbed. The Groom's mother was MIA and over 45 minutes late. It worked out that it happened just about sunset, on the night of a full moon. Due to a raging forest fire about 20 miles away, there was large amount of smoke in the air, which diffused the sunlight very nicely and shooting was not that bad. Most of the pre-wedding shots were made in P(rogram) mode on the 50D (100 ISO) as we were moving rapidly from open sun, diffused sun, partial shade, and full shade; and TV on the 40D (400 ISO) to keep the shutter speed above 250 for the telephoto. Where I knew there would be issues, such as strong backlighting, I added Exposure-Compensation as necessary.
For the ceremony, I was actually able to stand behind the "preacher" and capture the expression on the bride and grooms face. I had the 18-55 on camera, and it worked out great because during the ceremony we were in deep shadow under the "smoke cloud" and right as they began, the sun came through and illuminated the surrounding mountains just beautifully. I knew the primary photographer couldn't deviate and include it easily, so I positioned myself to get the glowing mountains in a few shots.
After the primary guy did all the formals, and they got through all of the "toasts" it was going on dark-thirty. Dinner was served on a very long porch, under a couple of incandescent lights, but mostly clear "Christmas tree" lights wrapped around the porch. Trying to use the flash was a mess, so it was all available light-hand held (but braced). I think that's where I bumped up the ISO on the 50D to 400. Seems like shots were in the 1/4 to 1/8 second range under the very dim light.
The party moved around back into a barn for dancing. LOW light-need I say more. Bumped up the ISO to 1600 for some hand held shots full manual. The building had a NEW tin roof up about 20', so I was able to reasonably bounce flash off of it back onto the dance floor.
So, all throughout the day, things were changing and adjustments were necessary. Here's what I used in the end.
Quality: RAW
ISO: 100, 400, 1600
Exposure Mode: P, P+EC, TV, TV+EC, M
AF POINTS: ALL, #3, #5(Center), #8
Metering: Evaluative, Spot
Drive: Single Shot, Slow Continous, 2 second delay
FOCUS Mode: AI Servo, Single Shot
White Bal: Auto, cloudy, incandescent