So I'm going through pictures from yesterday's wedding I was a 2nd shooter at and wow am I frustrated at some of the photos of the bride, as usual. This was the 15th wedding I've shot and once again, there a bunch of shots where the camera was obviously exposing for the bride's dress ONLY and the entire rest of the picture is so dark that it's unuseable and I have to just delete it. I've noticed that it usually happens when the flash is direct, when I need some reach with it like when they're walking down the isle etc., but what should I do, automatically dial in +2 exposure when shooting anywhere in the bride's general direction so the camera doesn't act stupid?
GRRRRRRRRRR!!
Equipment I was using yesterday was a 5DII, 24-70, and 580EX. The camera seems to underexpose by about a half of a stop anyway in dark situations.
What metering mode ? In matrix (evaluative) I'll use about +2/3 to +1 when the dress dominates the frame, maybe +1/3 when it's her and someone else, but nothing more than that, I've never found a photo to be totally unrecoverable, are you shooting RAW ? Can we see some examples ?
It's why the gear has exposure compensation and a manual mode. Keep working at it. As you gain experience you'll know how to override the camera. The camera is just a tool it's the photographer who needs to learn all the hard stuff.
Will, I hear you, it's part of the deal called Canon's flash system: if you want truly consistent results, I figure manual flash is the way to go, otherwise you'll get a few missers like these. It's one of the reasons I rely more and more on fast primes and no flash for weddings and corporate events. I do always take care to use as much ambient light as possible and +1 stop in post usually poses no problem (even at ISO 1600 when shooting a 1D3 or 5D).
What exposure mode are you using? Mixing flash with available light?
I find that ETTL-II compensates very effectively for bright and dark subjects, as long as you use AF so it gets a distance reading. Maybe the 5DII doesn't handle this as well as the 1D2 and 3.
PetKal wrote:
White brides, white birdies.....six of one, half a dozen of the other.
You can practice on Trumpeter swans until you get it right.
Many wedding photographers and birdie photographers struggle with it.
Practice makes perfect.
Great shot PK...did you crop this or do you really have a 600mm in your kit and are not telling us
Lord Fluff wrote:
No offence, but you were using direct flash for the walk up the aisle? Really?
<shudder>
That reminds me actually, about 18 months ago when I decided to give this wedding photography thing a proper go, I did a training course given by the people recommended by Canon for their D-SLR training (I won't mention names, don't want to get sued, but it won't take much research to find out who I mean) and on their wedding photography course, the instructors actually boast about how many flash-lit photos they can get during the walk down the aisle ("36 is X's record") and my immediate thought was "yeah, the bride is going to love that if you actually did it on the day" - who needs to actually be able to SEE their husband during the vows anyway, over-rated if you ask me
Will - I have been shooting weddings with the 5D for the past three years and I shot my first wedding with the 5DMKII yesterday. Compared with the MKI, the MKII was terrible in getting the right flash exposure - totally all over the place but most consistently underexposing compared with the 5DMKI.
I like the new camera quite a bit until I used it for a wedding. I just put up a thread on the flash exposure problem.
Lord Fluff wrote:
No offence, but you were using direct flash for the walk up the aisle? Really?
<shudder>
That aside, set M and balance the flash to the ambient. There are articles out there - google is your friend.
You would have had to have been there. Quite a dark church, raining outside with next to no natural light coming inside, lights turned way down for some reason, etc. I had no other choice. It was either direct flash or horribly slow shutter speeds.
Gary Petersen wrote:
It's why the gear has exposure compensation and a manual mode. Keep working at it. As you gain experience you'll know how to override the camera. The camera is just a tool it's the photographer who needs to learn all the hard stuff.
It's not an experience thing. I'm just wondering why I have to shoot in full out manual mode with a $5k camera and lens combo that should be doing it for me.
PetKal wrote:
White brides, white birdies.....six of one, half a dozen of the other.
You can practice on Trumpeter swans until you get it right.
Many wedding photographers and birdie photographers struggle with it.
Practice makes perfect.
Will Patterson wrote:
It's not an experience thing. I'm just wondering why I have to shoot in full out manual mode with a $5k camera and lens combo that should be doing it for me.
+1 to Gary. Reread his post with an open mind. Why would you NOT want to shoot in full out manual mode with an awesome body and lens?
lindabrowne wrote:
+1 to Gary. Reread his post with an open mind. Why would you NOT want to shoot in full out manual mode with an awesome body and lens?
Because. That's what it's designed to do. Why else even have a metering system then?
Will - I have been playing with the flash and MKII and it seems to give slightly brighter results when you use Average in the flash settings instead of the default Evaluative.
But... I have been using Canon equipment shooting weddings since 2000 and the flash system is just plain terrible. You are 100% correct that you should not be paying many thousands of $$$s and have to use M settings all of the time.
CBDigital wrote:
Will - I have been playing with the flash and MKII and it seems to give slightly brighter results when you use Average in the flash settings instead of the default Evaluative.
But... I have been using Canon equipment shooting weddings since 2000 and the flash system is just plain terrible. You are 100% correct that you should not be paying many thousands of $$$s and have to use M settings all of the time.
I'm really beginning to understand why so many people love the Nikon flash system.
I'll try the average setting, I've used it before but never liked the results. If it's better on the 5D II then I'll use it for sure.
