Wedding question

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smith.james0

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James
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I have just been to a wedding where the photographer was using a d3s. He only used the following settings inside the church f4 1/40 ISO 5000. He said that he would correct them in photoshop later. Is this normal just to use one ser of settings and correct later?

James
 
It might not even be normal for him!

If he was shooting manual it's possible that he knows what works in that church. But I'm sceptical about 1/40 sec for shooting people. That sounds like b0110x to me, so anything else he says should be taken with a pinch of salt.
 
smith.james0 said:
I have just been to a wedding where the photographer was using a d3s. He only used the following settings inside the church f4 1/40 ISO 5000. He said that he would correct them in photoshop later. Is this normal just to use one ser of settings and correct later?

James
Click to expand...

It's just possible he was yanking your chain a little ;) though if it were a very dark church it's perfectly conceivable he was using such settings but I'd not imagine for each and every shot :suspect:
 
Hi, This sounds like the answer one of my past collegues used to say when asked what settings he was using on his camera. He used to take a quick look around and then say, "Second Notch (aperture), Extra Rapid (shutter speed)" and then just carry on.:)

It sounds like the guy was winding you up.
 
Aside from maybe him winding you up, does it matter? As long as he gets the photo are his settings important?
 
You can't change shutter speed and aperture later.


Steve.
 
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I was a very very dark church, and it was over cast outside. I had a go of the camera so I know the settings are true.
I was asking the question, is this the norm to leave it to photoshop nowadays?
 
smith.james0 said:
I was asking the question, is this the norm to leave it to photoshop nowadays?
Click to expand...

Only to the extent that "real" photographers left it to the dark room to correct / improve things in the olden days :)
 
smith.james0 said:
I was a very very dark church, and it was over cast outside. I had a go of the camera so I know the settings are true.
I was asking the question, is this the norm to leave it to photoshop nowadays?
Click to expand...

In answer to that; No - it's inefficient. There are some people who shoot certain shots in ways that they know will need manipulation, but shooting to 'fix' is just stupid. even a ridiculously long SS and great PS skills, it takes 1/60 to shoot and 1 minute to fix, you've just increased the amount of time you're spending by a factor of 60 - creating an hour for every minutes work.

I'm not going to guess the how or why (he's led you to believe this) - but you can't shoot people at 1/40 and expect a reasonable keeper rate. There's nothing you can fix in PP that'll cope with that much movement. In body IS/ VR/ OS/ IS etc cant account for the fact human beings breathe, rock about constantly rebalancing their weight etc.

It's like burning toast - you can ruin it, then scrape it and it'll be 'OK'. But that's not as good as doing it properly in the first place and it takes more effort.

Like any other business, we have to work efficiently, and shooting crap to sit at a computer to fix, isn't efficient.
 
Certainly possible to get the odd sharp shot where there is little subject movement with those settings if you're using something like the 24-120 f4 VR, but any significant movement, e.g. exchange of rings, first kiss etc. would be blurred and smudged. If he only had an f4 lens he might have been limited to that aperture, but a D3S is more than capable of higher ISO so why not up the ISO and shutter speed?
 
jpw said:
Certainly possible to get the odd sharp shot where there is little subject movement with those settings if you're using something like the 24-120 f4 VR, but any significant movement, e.g. exchange of rings, first kiss etc. would be blurred and smudged. If he only had an f4 lens he might have been limited to that aperture, but a D3S is more than capable of higher ISO so why not up the ISO and shutter speed?
Click to expand...

Would his customers be happy with 'the odd sharp shot'? He's not there to test his hand holding ability, he's there to shoot for a customer :shake:.
 
The couples don't move around a lot during the actual service, he may well get away with a 1/40 sec, especially if he's got a is or vr type lens, again it's up to him to use what he likes, just because some others can't do it doesn't mean he can't. Or he just might be having you at it.
 
It does seem a little unlikely that the guy had no clue what he was doing and wasn't either doing what he knew worked, you're possibly mistaken or was simply pulling your chain.

That said - I'm more surprised a photographer would have had time to stop & chat during the service and would hand you his camera
 
Phil V said:
Would his customers be happy with 'the odd sharp shot'? He's not there to test his hand holding ability, he's there to shoot for a customer :shake:.
Click to expand...

Not sure why you selectively boldened the first half of my sentence when the second half contains the answer to your question :thinking: :shrug:
 
Phil V said:
It's like burning toast - you can ruin it, then scrape it and it'll be 'OK'. But that's not as good as doing it properly in the first place and it takes more effort.

Like any other business, we have to work efficiently, and shooting crap to sit at a computer to fix, isn't efficient.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly.I doubt very much whether the guy was being honest with you. I've taken many shots where in hindsight I wish I'd had the camera on different settings at the time of shooting. But I'm the first to admit that. I wouldn't pretend that I meant to have the camera on those settings.

Jason
 
f4 1/40 ISO 5000
I think that this is plausible (maybe) if he was shooting just wide angle shots.
but anything candids with a telephoto? I would doubt it
could be that his standard lens is a f4 throughout the focal length, so that's his max aperture, then 5000ISO is the worst at which he'll shoot,
then 1/40s is all that's left. At a wide angle, 28mm or something for general shots, why not (with some VR)
but portraits or set group shots (when I thought he'd have added lighting) I wouldn't bother
 
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jpw said:
Not sure why you selectively boldened the first half of my sentence when the second half contains the answer to your question :thinking: :shrug:
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Cos I never read your second half as having the answer :shrug: :)

Re-reading it I can see where you were going, but the first sentence seemed to infer it'd be OK because he'd get some keepers :)
 
often my settings for the service dont change much, especially if I'm not aloud to move around. in past years i often shot at 1/40 or 1/30 with tripod. You have to pick and choose when you press the shutter but when using 10 and 20Ds (8 years ago) its that or nothing. I now shoot with a 1DX so higher iso are possible.
 
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