flash or not for weddings

I am a landscape guy who recently got roped into doing a grand daughters wedding. My hat is off to you guys, not an easy job.

I used my 1ds-mk3 and a 17-40 lens (no 24-105 zooms in my bag). I also used a flash, but that was a problem. The batteries could not keep up and I had to change part way through. I also had trouble controlling exposure. Towards the end I went to a high ISO and shot without the flash.

In some ways I like the non flash shots better. But the color is terrible. I will need to adjust the WB during processing. But the shots have a more natural look without all the bright subject dark background look of a flash.

I have one more grand daughter wedding in October, some tips please?

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Ben

I do no flash whenever possible but you need the fast glass,,, 1.2 and at the least 1.4.... it's all in the glass.

you need to go to the sites first and take some trial shots to see exactly where you are at.... it's no good to go in blind.. with my 5D2 i can go to 3200 ISO with little trouble,,,, just watch out for the very dark areas of photos,, they will be noisy
shoot raw only and PP is rather easy.
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May The Light Be With You

Mentor_1 said:

I do no flash whenever possible but you need the fast glass,,, 1.2
and at the least 1.4.... it's all in the glass.
you need to go to the sites first and take some trial shots to see
exactly where you are at.... it's no good to go in blind.. with my
5D2 i can go to 3200 ISO with little trouble,,,, just watch out for
the very dark areas of photos,, they will be noisy
shoot raw only and PP is rather easy.
-
May The Light Be With You

Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply.

I had no problem with exposure, without the flash and using my 35 f1.4 stopped down to f3.5 for DOF I only needed ISO800. It was a fairly bright church. I now see I should have stopped down more because DOF is too shallow. I used f8 with the flash shots.

I now have mixed types of shots, some very yellow and others white. I fiddled with the non flash to get a better WB, and it looks ok, but the two types of shots will stand out because of the different back grounds. The flash have dark backgrounds, the non flash backgrounds are bright.

I have a 35 f1.4 and 50 f1.4, but could not change lenses fast enough to keep up, and the 50 is manual focus. Hard to imagine I would get much in focus at f1.4 or even f2.8. I only went to a prime when the flash quit.

My previous wedding was outdoors and much easier. I only have one more and it is supposed to be outdoors.

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Ben

I used fill flash, but with a nice diffusor fitted to soften the effect.

In my case I went with a Gary Fong unit - which I purchased for this wedding shoot.

Very happy with the results - worth the few $$$.







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I second Chris with the GF diffuser. Sometimes you just need the flash to freeze the action even with fast glass. Ceremonies are ok with natural light but receptions I equip even the second body with a flash.. just can't get by without it... especially if the second body is a medium tele/portrait or tele lens. Whale tail (use the color gels to match better for ambient lighting) or lumaquest or just bounce it (with diffuser card up)?

A Canon/third party battery pack also helps with the battery life/recycle time. With group photos, you need to take a few shots sequentially (and larger group requires more power from the flash too) to get everyone not to blink at that moment... there's always a dude who blinks.

I also find shooting manual with flash gives me the best control...

Definitely use a flash, but bounce it off the roof or get a diffuser. I use the Gary Fong Lightsphere at weddings and it works very well.

Also look into the Canon CP-E4: http://www.adorama.com/CACBPE4.html - I borrowed one for my first wedding and purchased my own the day after, they're excellent and provide instant recharge times (and should last the whole day). Worth every cent, because I never missed a shot.

Good luck with your wedding!

Bright subject and dark background.

It might help if you go for a slower shutter speed.
There is a very interesting article over here:
http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/2008/02/29/dragging-the-shutter-revisited/

Also his other articles are worth reading!

Ben_Egbert said:

In some ways I like the non flash shots better. But the color is
terrible. I will need to adjust the WB during processing. But the
shots have a more natural look without all the bright subject dark
background look of a flash.

Click to expand...

This means you're not correctly using your flash. A pro camera set in manual mode with a TTL flash attached to it shouldn't give such images but more natural looking pictures. It takes time to correctly use a flash.

Here are some tips... I love this guy, he's a master...

Hope this helps,

http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/

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Cheers,
Ed
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http://www.ebphoto.be

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Another vote for a diffuser. Using a diffuser makes it into a complete different and much more pleasant experience.

Take some practice shots beforehand so you can get an idea of how a diffuser works. You may need to bump up the FEC a little.

I don't use flash during the ceremony. Fast lenses and high ISO as needed.

The last wedding I shot I only used flash for group shots. Used a diffuser.

When I use flash I typically use camera in manual mode and flash in ETTL mode and bounce flash off ceiling or wall, floor, or person (assuming what you are bouncing off is close to white in color).

I shoot in raw mode. White balance can be hard. I think shooting some shots with digital grey card under various lighting conditions before the wedding can give you an idea of the existing color temperature and how to correct. I correct white balance as needed. One thing I have noticed is that even with a custom white balance I may still have to do some color adjustment to get the skin color right.

If you do use flash try and use it such that it appears you didn't. In some lighting situations flash will ruin the affect and you won't want to use it. Get an idea on what the exposure will be without flash and then underexpose slightly with ambient exposure and use the flash to fill. Using wider apertures and slower shutter speeds helps to capture more of the ambient light.

I took a wedding photography class and flash class online through betterphoto.com with Paul Gero and learned a lot about using flash for weddings.

Mike

Looks like most of you prefer flash. I got some good ones with flash, and some good ones without, but they won't match. I also got some not so good ones. Good thing they are not paying me for this. But that would never happen.

With only one more wedding in my entire life, and I will not be the primary on the next one, I doubt I ever get proficient at this. The only time I shot indoors is at Christmas :-0 (and the occasional wedding).

I normally bounce if possible, but the ceilings were too high, and there was too much ambient incandescent light. (the basketball court area of a Mormon Church).

The next wedding will either be outdoors or if weather forces it indoors, the setting is unknown. But I will be doing only the shots I want to do, not try to capture the entire event. I told my grand daughter I was not a pro and this one can afford to hire one, so she did.

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http://www.pbase.com/roserus/root

Ben

Mike Curtis said:

I don't use flash during the ceremony. Fast lenses and high ISO as
needed.

The last wedding I shot I only used flash for group shots. Used a
diffuser.

When I use flash I typically use camera in manual mode and flash in
ETTL mode and bounce flash off ceiling or wall, floor, or person
(assuming what you are bouncing off is close to white in color).

Click to expand...

I also use manual mode and only shoot raw. I bounce if possible, but the last time it did not work because of bright incandescent lighting and a high ceiling washed out the flash.

Mike Curtis said:

I shoot in raw mode. White balance can be hard. I think shooting
some shots with digital grey card under various lighting conditions
before the wedding can give you an idea of the existing color
temperature and how to correct.

Click to expand...

Thats a good idea.

I correct white balance as needed.

Mike Curtis said:

One thing I have noticed is that even with a custom white balance I
may still have to do some color adjustment to get the skin color
right.

Click to expand...

Thats what I found. I have my post processing figured out now, but the flash shots will still stand out from the non flash shots. Probably a nit my grand daughter will never notice, but I did.

Mike Curtis said:

If you do use flash try and use it such that it appears you didn't.
In some lighting situations flash will ruin the affect and you won't
want to use it. Get an idea on what the exposure will be without
flash and then underexpose slightly with ambient exposure and use the
flash to fill. Using wider apertures and slower shutter speeds helps
to capture more of the ambient light.

Click to expand...

I wish I had under exposed, all my flash shots have overexposed white dress (not too much to fix in post however). The non flash exposures are much better, but hate the color.

Mike Curtis said:

I took a wedding photography class and flash class online through
betterphoto.com with Paul Gero and learned a lot about using flash
for weddings.

Mike

Click to expand...

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http://www.pbase.com/roserus/root

Ben

Buy a better an larger flash system. Not all available light is good especially if a church or reception area is lit with small spots. Two people standing together may have one person in the center of a spot and another is out -- use flash to over ride.

You can use the flash to fill with the ambient also -- sounds like what you did was to over ride the ambient by a bunch and that makes the background dark.

I have a 550EX and it isn't powerful enough. Back in the days of film I had a Norman 200B and it would light up the church -- no problems with it.

Flash on camera tends to erase detail -- good for eliminating wrinkles but the white satin gowns look blown out. So in many cases the ambient light makes them look better if the light is good.

bcphoto2 said:

Flash on camera tends to erase detail -- good for eliminating
wrinkles but the white satin gowns look blown out. So in many cases
the ambient light makes them look better if the light is good.

Click to expand...

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Exactly what I found. My flash wiped out the gown, the non flash shots did not.

http://www.pbase.com/roserus/root

Ben