Lighting.....

[Southerngal]

What is your best bet, as far as camera settings, before and during an indoor wedding? I am still having difficulty understanding exactly what settings will give what results.....ISO, shutter spead, f-stop etc.? And this is probably a very elementary question, but could someone explain metering to me as simply as they can? and how I do this? Sorry, for the questions....it seems that as soon as I think I get it I snap a shot that confuses me to death

Thanks in advance

 

[Keith Gebhardt]

in my opinion.. you should know this before you have even attempted to handle weddings on your own. unless your working as an assistant photographer.

They sell light meters that you can get the correct amount of lighting off a certain object. set your cameras flash metering system to the right settings and your good.

If you using on camera flash, the cameras flash metering system is perfect. However, if your using speedlights or other off camera flashes you might need to change the metering preferences in the menu.

The best advice.. google search if your still unsure what to do. also try youtube. youll be surprised on some of the great tutorials.. or how to? videos people host.

 

[Keith Gebhardt]

im sorry for the semi harsh post before about needing to know lighting before doing weddings.. i looked at your blogspot and you have some very nice wedding shots. the only problem i would see is.. no flash at all.. or the ones i can tell you used flash.. a bit harsh. thats where you wanna learn your proper metering. Also, try a difuser and aim the light on about 45 degree angle up towards the ceiling. it will then refect the light pigments off the roof, and floor hitting your subject just righ reducing many shadows and producing a less harsh light. difusers are cheap, pick one up for about $10-15

 

[Southerngal]

im sorry for the semi harsh post before about needing to know lighting before doing weddings.. i looked at your blogspot and you have some very nice wedding shots. the only problem i would see is.. no flash at all.. or the ones i can tell you used flash.. a bit harsh. thats where you wanna learn your proper metering. Also, try a difuser and aim the light on about 45 degree angle up towards the ceiling. it will then refect the light pigments off the roof, and floor hitting your subject just righ reducing many shadows and producing a less harsh light. difusers are cheap, pick one up for about $10-15

Thanks for looking at my blogspot.....and just to let you know the weddings that you see wouldnt have had a photographer otherwise..and they were very aware that Im new.

Do you mind having a second look and letting me know which pics you are referring to, so that I can see what I did and maybe what I need to do differently.

Thanks

 

[Garbz]

Metering is that voodoo that the camera does to try and guess what it is you want and often get it wrong anyway. Basically it works depending on what mode you are in. Most people here will shoot in Aperture priority. In this mode you set the ISO level of the sensor as low as you can given your situation, and pick your aperture based on the depth of field you want. The metre then picks the shutter speed which will approximate what it thinks is a properly exposed image.

This doesn't always work as it tries to average light. For instance photograph someone in snow and the picture is likely to come out dark (underexposed) photograph someone against the night sky and they are likely to come out overexposed. This is where compensation comes in and it is something that you build a feel for over time.

 

[Mike_E]

If you cook (I do) then think of exposure like cooking eggs.

You can cook them slow- narrow aperture, slow shutter speed.
(the same as low heat/long cook time)
You can cook them fast- wide aperture, fast shutter speed.
(high heat/fast cook-time here)
You can cook them medium- midway for both shutter speed and aperture.
(medium heat/medium times)

The real question is how fast do you need to get the -eggs- prepared. If someone is moving fast and has to go then you should cook fast for best effect (less motion blur). If they are moving slower then you can cook slower or with a slower shutter speed for more depth of field (to better taste the herbs if you like).

The thing that ties all of this together is that it takes a certain amount of energy to both cook an egg and expose an image for a photograph. Your stove can only get so hot so you are limited to how fast you can cook your eggs and your lenses will only let in so much light per second so you are limited by the shutter speeds you can use.

If you need more heat from your stove for faster eggs, then you'll have to spend the money. If you need to take faster photos in low light then you will need a lens that lets in more light per second and again have to pay for it.

hope this helps

mike