Thursday, November 24, 2011

What are the best settings for shooting differet wedding shots?

I know it depends on lighting, on whether you're indoors or out. On whether it's really dim inside, or super bright outside. I am just looking for a general rule of thumb that other photographers use to help them get the best exposure for a picture. How do you use your flash? Do you bounce it when inside, do you point it directly at the subject?? How do you prevent harsh shadows during wedding dances, and how do you prevent blurred images, when your shooting to rapidly and your flash can't catch up???? Would someone care to give me a few pointers?|||I'm not wasting a lot of time on this. You have absolutely NO business trying to shoot someone's wedding with your dire lack of knowledge. Do you not have any conscious about very likely ruining once in a lifetime photos for someone? Do you not realize that GOOD wedding photographers have vast knowledge of the craft of photography? There is no such thing as a "rule of thumb" used by photographers for best exposure. YOU have to KNOW how to use your camera to obtain good results under any and all changing conditions. You also need back up equipment in case of failure or damage to any of your gear. You need liability insurance to protect yourself in case of a lawsuit... and people WILL try to sue over anything now a days. There have already been many lawsuits brought against unskilled photographers giving wedding clients poor photographs. Do YOU want to be next?





Would you use any "professional" to do work for you if their knowledge of their field was as lacking as yours?





There is nothing at all wrong with needing to learn and asking questions, but you don't "learn as you go" when doing wedding photography. That is a recipe for disaster, for both you and the wedding client.





Gain your knowledge through studying books, practice, with photo classes, and working with a pro. No one here can teach you years of skill and knowledge in a little answer box. There are no magic settings that will make everything all right and easy and foolproof for you.





A digital camera does not magically erase away the need to understand the basics of photography.





steve|||Outdoors you want to shoot in the shade with maybe a bit of fill flash or a reflector. In harsh sunlight, use a diffusion panel.





Flash should always be off camera (or FV dialled right down) with a modifier (softbox or umbrella) to soften the light. You get harsh shadows from the size of the light source being small in relation to the subject. Larger light source = softer shadows, that's why umbrellas soften the light - the size of the umbrella effectively becomes your light source. Flash should be recycling fast enough to keep up (especially with fresh batteries). You should shoot with manual flash settings rather than rely on TTL for reproducibility and know how light fall-off (inverse square law) affects how/where you place your subject for even lighting.





Edit: I was assuming that you are taking some pics at a wedding as a guest! I see a lot of the other answers seem to think you are the sole shooter and if so I would agree with them, you have no business shooting a wedding if you don't know what you are doing!|||Here is the best possible advice I can give you:





Attend at least two years of photography school and work for at least two years as an assistant to a wedding photographer. The question you've asked tells me you are way too inexperienced to even think about wedding photography.





Think about this:





A few years ago, a bride sued her florist for $35,000.00 (yes, thirty-five thousand dollars!) because the colors of the flowers in the arrangements didn't perfectly match those shown in the catalog she chose from. Can you imagine what she'd have sued for if her wedding pictures were poorly done?|||You can't and shouldn't use flash for the actual wedding (inside a church) since it's distracting.





I can't agree with Edwin more. Don't jump into this without learning how to do it. It can't be explained in one answer like this.|||If you are asking about settings, flash can't catch up and "a few pointers" then you really should not be photographing a wedding.





The best advice that you can follow is decline to do the wedding. Be honest with the bride and they will understand your reasons for declining.





Take some classes, read books and find a mentor before you try to do a wedding.|||study photography, ask one question at a time|||Wedding photography? Here I come: Never ever shoot With the flash directly pointed towards the subject; this will give you those ugly and harsh shadows that nobody wants to see. Instead bounce it on the ceiling... you will notice I great difference. If the ceiling is very high, then use a powerful flash and open up the diaphragm (aperture or .f stop).


Alternatively you can use a big soft box on your flash and point it directly to the subject. Whatever you do, never use raw light directly towards your subject... it's just unnatural and ugly.


In regard to the dance, what I usually do is try to give the feeling of the moment and this cannot be done with a fast shutter speed. What I do is expose the frame for one second WITH flash. What I obtain is an affect like the photo on this page:


http://www.find-a-wedding-photographer.c鈥?/a>


Feel free to ask more and please visit the "How to take god pictures" section of my site.





Michael

No comments:

Post a Comment