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20D Flash settings for inside a church

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Dave S124201

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I will be attending my niece's confirmation this weekend.

To keep things simple I will be using my 420EX, 28-135 IS and a Lumiquest Pro Max Bounce attached to the 420 EX.

I usually shoot manual at f8 1/125 ISO 200. It seems my images always need to be +exp when post processing . I will be shooting in Raw mode.

Any recommendations with this set up. I will only be about ten feet away when they pose in front of the alter for pictures.
--
Visit my gallery at http://www.pbase.com/dstearn/300d_gallery
 
Depending on the shot, I would say that you should try to get decently close and use your lens at about 50mm, and I guess about 1/60 or 1/80 at ISO 100 or 200 and I would suggest that you set your FEC at +1, but like I said it depends on the type of shots you are looking to do, are they group shots?? shots while the ceremony is going on?? family portraits afterwards?? I shoot in my church the majority of the time and our Church is very low lit, and with these setting I usually do fine, (except for large group photos, then I need some more flash power!!)

Charles
--
http://www.fotki.com/charlemagne
 
Dave S124201 said:
I usually shoot manual at f8 1/125 ISO 200. It seems my images
always need to be +exp when post processing . I will be shooting in
Raw mode.
Click to expand...
I use 125 and upward for outside. Inside you might want more ambient.

iso 100 is fine, but up to 400 for more ambiens and a more soft look to
the pictures. Shutter at 60 will be fine, but check your viewer.

Let the flash do the rest. Using camera in manual is good......
 
Just wanted to thank you for the advise on my big shoot over the weekend, everything came out really good after practicing to get rid of the shadows the other two speedlights casted, I think next time I will follow your advise though about purchasing a hand meter, then I wouldn't have wasted a lot of time checking each exposure and adjusting, for me it will be worth the 300-400 dollars for a decent one! and with those two 420EX's and the 580 on my camera, I got everyone in focus at f/7.1 and ISO 200, next time I think I want to try to use some umbrellas or softboxes over the slave flashes, the light was just a tad too harsh!!

But great advise and thanks again,

Charles

P.S. sorry Dave S. that I used your thread for that..
--
http://www.fotki.com/charlemagne
 
Well, that's probably what I would do. Actually, I would take a meter reading with the camera, and set the ambient exposure for 1.5 stops below a full ambient exposure using manual mode. Then I would let the flash provide the full exposure to on the subjects.

Doing it this way will provide sufficient ambient exposure so that the background won't go dark, adn since the flash is providing most of the light, you can get away with slower than usuall shutter speeds without noticable blurr from camera shake. Wedding photographers do this all the time. They just call it "dragging the shutter" and most people can get away with hand holding 1/15 seconds in a pinch. You can also safely raise your ISO to 800 when needed.
 
I'm from the old school where cameras were learned on manual
mode. That included the flash too. We actually had copal shutters
and just had to depend on the meters.

Also, I'm a big Quantum fan, so the canon flashes have been in
the box as backup for a year now. Every wedding we practice the
location even if we have been there many times. Each season has
its own lighting and we need to know a week prior just to get it
in mind and sleep on the info.

best wishes, HB
 
centralcoastmagazine said:
centralcoastmagazine said:
I usually shoot manual at f8 1/125 ISO 200. It seems my images
always need to be +exp when post processing . I will be shooting in
Raw mode.
Click to expand...
I use 125 and upward for outside. Inside you might want more ambient.

iso 100 is fine, but up to 400 for more ambiens and a more soft
look to
the pictures. Shutter at 60 will be fine, but check your viewer.

Let the flash do the rest. Using camera in manual is good......
Click to expand...
So, would f8 and 100 shutter be a good start?

Visit my gallery at http://www.pbase.com/dstearn/300d_gallery
 
Juli Valley said:
Many churches do not allow flash during services. You may have to
shoot 1600ISO. If you mean after the service, then that's not a
problem.
--
Juli
http://www.pbase.com/julivalley/galleries
Canon 2oD, Canon Gee3, and Canon S7o.

I keep trying to find an artist's eye in the B & H catalog

Click to expand...
Thanks Juli, after the service when they pose for photos. They had a pro their two years ago when my other niece was confirmed and I took pictures with my G3 and 420EX.

This would be
--
Visit my gallery at http://www.pbase.com/dstearn/300d_gallery
 
JimStrutz said:
Well, that's probably what I would do. Actually, I would take a
meter reading with the camera, and set the ambient exposure for 1.5
stops below a full ambient exposure using manual mode. Then I
would let the flash provide the full exposure to on the subjects.

Doing it this way will provide sufficient ambient exposure so that
the background won't go dark, adn since the flash is providing most
of the light, you can get away with slower than usuall shutter
speeds without noticable blurr from camera shake. Wedding
photographers do this all the time. They just call it "dragging
the shutter" and most people can get away with hand holding 1/15
seconds in a pinch. You can also safely raise your ISO to 800 when
needed.
Click to expand...
I will be using the 28-135 IS so camera shake should not be an issue.

Visit my gallery at http://www.pbase.com/dstearn/300d_gallery
 
What metering are you using? Are you using only one focus spot? Just the center? Have you experimented using FEL? Sometimes that works, but can be a bit risky.

If you want more of the background then expose mostly for it and let the flash fill the foreground....that is dragging the shutter. I prefer a compromise...I shoot for middle ground and boost the shutter speed a wee bit more.

Even with IS you can have some shake and if you drag the shutter the shake is more evident...for the group shots I would suggest using a monopod or set up a tripod and use either the timer or remote.

Also, if the shutter speed is too slow then "subject movement" could be a problem. Some people seem to "vibrate" and show up blurred when the shutter speed is too slow...I know it sounds strange, but I have witnessed it many times. For subjects I would try to stay at 1/125s or above.

According to the 420EX manual (what there is)...ambient lighting will leave a color cast if you use the slow-sync (dragging the shutter), so be aware of that. Flourescent lighting leaves a greenish cast and tungsten leaves an orange cast.

I tested the 420EX with my 10D in full auto and was pleasantly surprised with the results...not perfect but they were workable.

I'm learning flash photography myself, so I offer my advice with that caveat.

--
RichO
Texas Wildflower Report 2005:
http://www.pbase.com/richo/txwildflowers2005
http://community.wildflowerhaven.com
 
I agree with an earlier post that recommended settings around 400 ISO, f5.6 at 1/30.

I primarily shoot with the 1D MarkII, but I recently purchased a 20D as a backup body and experimented with it in low light conditions. I even used it during a recent wedding reception (very low light) for candids. I got some very nice results by setting the flash to ETTL and camera to manual -- shooting small and medium groups anywhere from f4 to f5.6 at 1/30 to 1/60. I also experimented with ISO 800, which also worked very well.

But as you know, each situation is different. If you have time, you could always see if the curch will let you experiement in advance of the ceremony. Start wide open and find the right f-stop and shutter speed for the various shooting situations.

To me, ISO 100 and 200 are much too low for general indoor situations. Low ISO smaller f-stop settings (indoors) are going to give you a lot of underexposed images.

Good Luck!

Tom
 
This article/tutorial has been mentioned before. It is a fairly extensive article covering both film and digital camera flash photography. It has some good information to understanding how E-TTL works albeit Canon keeps much of that a secret.

There are three parts of this article and the last update was June, 2004. It does not directly cover the 20D, but the 20D owner could follow the references to Type-A, and E-TTL II.

Check the Flash Tips section in the 3rd part and the additional references at the end of that part of the article.

Flash Photography with Canon EOS Cameras

Part I
http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/

Part II
http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/index2.html

Part II
http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/index3.html

Flash with digital cameras section
http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/#digital

Flash metering patterns section...
http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/index2.html#flashmeteringpatterns

--
RichO
Texas Wildflower Report 2005:
http://www.pbase.com/richo/txwildflowers2005
http://community.wildflowerhaven.com
 
Hi, Just wondering were you use to Flash guns at the same time to take wedding photos? I am going to buy another flash for my Canon 10D, but I am not sure if I could use two flashes together.
I am thinking put one on my camera, put another one on the bracket or handhold.

Can you please share some experience with me?

--
Best Regards
King Liu
http://www.kingliu.us
 
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