Weddings... How do I....

Gilly B

Gilly B

Suspended / Banned
Messages
1,264
Name
Gillian
Edit My Images
Yes
....set the exposure?

I have covered a few Weddings in the past and have 2 booked (June & July) this year. All of the others were shot with the 20D and apart from the near disaster at one wedding with the wrong WB and the pouring rain etc. I want to be more confident this time and experiment with more candid poses as well as the traditional ones the couples have asked for.

I am going to be practising over the next few weeks with exposure settings and whether I shoot the Bride & Groom with the Sun behind them or behind me, or under a tree/in the shade. I will be using my new 24-105mm and 85mm1.8 for the portraits.

I was wondering what starting off point would you advise me to set my camera up with Shutter Speed & aperture. I have always started with the 'P' mode to see what the auto settings give me, and then go from there.

Would I be better to spot meter off the Bride or Groom? and if so, how?

Now please remember, I am not very quick at picking up ideas, so please use basic language to describe things. :thinking: I want to learn and become more professional at getting it right in camera and not rely on RAW & PS.

Thank you Peeps x I am waiting with camera ready, pen and paper - so fire away.:lol:
 
:'( Does nobody want to help me then? :'( Am I that thick that you have all but given up on me?:sulk: :'(
 
CT is ya man, I'm sure he'll be along in a second...........:)
 
I went on a wedding photography course the other week.
They told us to always shoot in RAW and have camera and flash setting in MANUAL.

Paul
 
Your 20D doesn't have spot metering so to take shots of subjects with their backs to the Sun proceed as follows.

Move right up to one of your subjects so that their face fills the viewfinder frame. Now if you're using P TV or AV Modes, press the Exposure Lock Button, keep it pressed and move back to your picture taking position. Take the shot. If you shoot in Manual Mode, you can meter off a subject's face with the advantage that you don't have to keep moving in close to meter, and you can keep those settings and take as many shots as you like from the same position as long as the light doesn't change. Your viewfinder will be indicating over exposure from your picture taking position, but it matters not as you metered on the faces, and that's what you're exposing for.

Taking shots with the Sun behind you is generally a bad idea as it causes squinting in your subjects and the light is usually harsh.Far better to place your subjects with the sun behind them or move right into the shade if you can.

Whether you shoot with the sun behind your subjects or move into the shade, seriously consider using fill flash to just brighten the shadows and lift the shots a little. It's never been easier than it is with a modern dedicated flashgun. Just make sure the flash is on ETTL (Fully automatic). Start off with the flash at full power and it wont be miles away, so take a couple of test shots first on the day. I usually find reducing power by about 1.5 to 2 stops gives a nice balanced result.

Lots of practice between now and the big day is what's needed, but it's far easier than it probably soiunds.

Hope that helps? :)
 
Thanks CT. Yep I understood that - well put. :thumbs:

Ahha! what I forgot to mention (minor detail) was that I was going to be using my new 5D that has spot metering which I do not understand. Sorry if I confused you - I am good at that.

Could you please go through the procedure for spot metering - Thanks
 
Ah 5D. :D

Set spot metering on your 5D as the metering mode. That's the little dot icon on the top plate LCD. Now when you look through the viewfinder there's a small circle in the centre of the viewfinder and your metering system meters just from within that circle ignoring the rest of the screen. So get that circle over the area you want to meter on. ;)

If you can possibly move into the shade it will make life a lot easier until you're very sure of your metering techniques. :)
 
Thanks again CT. You see that sounds quite easy. I am sure they write the instruction manuals to confuse people and make it sound like rocket science.

So let me refresh then. You focus on the faces (both, or Bride or Groom)? Will the Black suit and White dress be exposed correctly then? :thinking:
 
The faces should be mid tone which is why everything else should fall into place.


One thing I have just found out about my wedding (well not mine..but you know what I mean) is that it is at 12:00 midday in August.

Meaning that the sun will be almost above, on a day when most of the women will be wearing hats with big brims!

Great!! :bang:

Fill in flash is fine close up........but wont work well at a distance of groups will it.
 
Gilly B said:
Thanks again CT. You see that sounds quite easy. I am sure they write the instruction manuals to confuse people and make it sound like rocket science.

So let me refresh then. You focus on the faces (both, or Bride or Groom)? Will the Black suit and White dress be exposed correctly then? :thinking:
Click to expand...

Well when you meter on the faces you'll be close to metering on 18% grey. The blacks and whites will be as well represented as they can be given the exposure latitude of your sensor in the prevailing light. Be grateful for RAW processing, which gives you quite a lot more control after the event if you need it. ;)

I know you really meant meter on the faces not focus!! :D
 
Janice said:
The faces should be mid tone which is why everything else should fall into place.


One thing I have just found out about my wedding (well not mine..but you know what I mean) is that it is at 12:00 midday in August.

Meaning that the sun will be almost above, on a day when most of the women will be wearing hats with big brims!

Great!! :bang:

Fill in flash is fine close up........but wont work well at a distance of groups will it.
Click to expand...

Yep it'll still work fine. Make sure you have the diffuser screen in place for the wide shots, but any chance there's any shade you can move into? Noon is the worst possible time of day when the currant buns's out.
 
CT said:
I know you really meant meter on the faces not focus!! :D
Click to expand...

Yes I did mean meter - however, if you depress the shutter half way for a meter reading wouldn't it focus as well?:thinking:
 
Janice said:
One thing I have just found out about my wedding (well not mine..but you know what I mean) is that it is at 12:00 midday in August.
Click to expand...

Worst scenario Janice, my last wedding was 19th August 2006 at 11:30. Sun, what bloody Sun. It rained all day. It was the fine rain that made it look foggy. My then new 17-40L lens packed up due to the humidity. Then all the shots had to be taken indoors at the reception which had no windows and a million halogen down spots. Muggins here forgot to change the WB setting and ended up having most of the shots with a Yellow cast over them. No I hear you ask, I was not taking them in RAW then. Anyway, thanks for your input. Every little helps...:thumbs:
 
Gilly B said:
Yes I did mean meter - however, if you depress the shutter half way for a meter reading wouldn't it focus as well?:thinking:
Click to expand...

LOL. Yep of course. But when you're metering it doesn't actually matter if you're not in focus. I wa just trying to drive home the distnction between the two functions.... soz.
 
The only thing I can add to CT's fine explanation is to underexpose by 1/3 of a stop... there is nothing worse than blown highlights on a white wedding dress! You simple can't put data back into a lost area but you can always manipulate a dark area.

Another way round the metering problem is to use a handheld meter and take an incident reading, the light falling onto the subject rather measuring what is being being reflected back to you. That way you don't have to work out from which bits to 'spot meter'. (Incidentally, grass is a good thing to meter from as well - especially if you haven't a spot meter and can't get to some skin... use the back of your hand. :shrug:) Get well acquainted and confident using the histogram.... can be a life saver.

If you're using RAW you'll find it better to adjust the blacks rather wondering what you're going to do with the 'no data' of exposure in the whites.

Practice and experiment is the order of the day, don't wait until the wedding! When I've had new equipment that I may wish to use I just find a church on a Saturday and practice there when a wedding turns up!
 
You need to be careful when you use spot metering. It's very easy to forget you've set it and end up taking shots metering off a white dress or dark suit, which can give you problems you might have trouble recovering from. I've done it many a time! :D

A bright overcast day is ideal for photography. Just set Evaluative metering and the flash on ETTL or move into the shade on sunny days and do the same. You can even use P Mode and let the camera sort it out... you'd be surprised how many pros do. ;)

The main thing is don't wait till the day - take plenty of test shots between now and then so you know how it works and you have faith in your kit, which leaves you to get on with being creative. :)
 
Thanks Barry and Cedric. Yep! I do plan to practice, practice and practice. I just needed some guidance to start me off. You guys have given me that, I will print out and get on with it. Diolch/Thanks :thumbs:
 
There is one other way you could tackle this as well as the really good ideas already mentioned and that's to work off the histogram/preview.

The biggest problem shooting weddings is normally losing detail in the white dress and often people end up exposing to get the detial in the white and letting everything else fall into place from that.

If you're happy setting your exposures from the histogram and you are comfortable working out which bits of the shot are where on the diagram then that's a good way to go. If you look at and just see a nice mountain range then the preview can actually gove you all the information you need here.

I'd imagine that most of the Canons (probably all other DSLR's too) have a setting for the LCD that highlights over exposed areas. If you use this then you can just budge the exposure up untill you start to see some of the warning flashing on the dress. You know your then at the point where the the detail is starting to get lost and adust the exposure back a tad. If you're shooting in manual then you need to keep half an eye on it if the lights changing. If you're in P, Av, Tv or something then you can just dial in compensation from the cameras settings and it will adjust up or down as the light changes for you.

Of course, it still pays to have a quick look as you take each series of shots. :)
 
chuckles said:
]
Practice and experiment is the order of the day, don't wait until the wedding! When I've had new equipment that I may wish to use I just find a church on a Saturday and practice there when a wedding turns up!
Click to expand...


Thats something Ive always wondered Barry. dont people ask you who you are?? :thinking:
 
tis the great thing about weddings, everyone will assume that just because they don't have a clue who you are doesn't mean that you're not supposed to be there. :lol:
 
Except the official wedding photographer! ;)
 
dazzajl said:
tis the great thing about weddings, everyone will assume that just because they don't have a clue who you are doesn't mean that you're not supposed to be there. :lol:
Click to expand...

And the bride...who knows she booked a man!! :D
And thinks maybe he is a woman at weekends!! :clap: :D
 
And thinks maybe he is a woman at weekends!!
Click to expand...

Well so many of us are of course. ;)
 
dazzajl said:
Well so many of us are of course. ;)
Click to expand...

My son when he was 14, called out to his male maths teacher by mistake.......... "Miss?"

The 6 feet tall Maths teacher replied "I'm only "Miss" at weekends"! :D

As you can imagine, no work got done after that! :lol:
 
Janice said:
Thats something Ive always wondered Barry. dont people ask you who you are?? :thinking:
Click to expand...

Nope! They're so pre-occupied they don't even notice..... well, not till you start to organise the groups! :lol:
 
Following a link from another thread I came upon this name, Susan Stripling.
She has an amazing website, have just spent 30 mins looking at her wedding albums.
Well worth a butchers. Oh how the other half live :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top