Photo nightmare, please save my life!!

"D O'Reilly" wrote in message
m...
i have bought a canon G5 & a canon 420ex speedlite flash, i will be
taking the photos at a family wedding, as i do not have a lot of time
to get to know the camera i was wondering if there are any G5 users
out there who would be able to recommend a list of settings on the
camera and flash to get the best pictures on the day with the least
amount of fuss,all the photos will be indoors in a hotel banqueting
suite, your help would be very much appreciated.

I sincerely hope that you are not THE wedding photographer.
If so, then you have likely done a disservice to the wedding party, and even
moreso to yourself.
Nobody should try out a new system on a wedding...

That said...
Shoot in RAW mode (this will allow you to salvage poorly metered shots
later).
Expect to need flash in all but out-door, unless there are huge, bright
windows.
Most wedding lighting is not nearly bright enough...
Pick up a flash diffuser and shoot some candids with it a bit before hand.
Try some posed shots too.
It will REALLY improve skin tones/textures, and reduce harsh flash shadows.
Reach will be reduced, but for people pictures, it will make a huge
difference.
Lumiquest makes a nice one.
-If you can't find this item, get a 5x7 index card, and cut one end a bit so
that it is tapered. -Rubber band this end to your flash...point the flash
upward...and then bend the card slightly forward (about 45 degrees or less).
This will give you a similar effect.

For distant shots, drop the diffuser.

Make sure you are prepared to create custom white balance settings in the
light that you'll be shooting under (at the hotel). For close proximity
flash, just set white balance to flash mode.

Do not shoot in AV mode, as this will attempt to expose for ambient light
(even with flash). What will result will be shots that suffer from motion
blur since it will keep the shutter open as long as it thinks it needs to
(too long indoors).

If you shoot in TV mode, don't go below about 1/60th if you can help it.
The flash will attempt to provide whatever light you need automatically. If
you're shooting a dance, crank it up to 1/200th or so--which will give you
less power from the flash, but will nearly freeze motion (higher yet to
really freeze, but you'll lose light...try it).
You may want to set your camera manually to the flash synch speed
(1/125th?). This will assure you you're getting full power from flash, and
will avoid blur in most situations.

Learn to interpret your histogram display.
-Do NOT rely on your camera's screen to determine whether shots are blurry
while shooting...
....you will be disappointed.


For posed head shots, zoom about half-way out and back up until they fill
the frame the way you like. Avoid getting to close using wide angle (this
will give them big noses).
For group shots, back up as far as is practical so that you don't force
people on the sides of the group into the "fat zone" due to wide angle
distortion at the edges.
-Use as large an aperture as it allows to blur the background.
-Focus on the eyes, then re-frame.

If the hotel is nearby, take a spouse or friend there with you, and ask if
you can visit the room you'll be in. Then take some shots there-which will
be very revealing in terms of light and white balance needs.

You're a dead man. Taking a new camera and flash to shoot a wedding? This is
totally insane. The most important day of the bride's life, a can't miss and
can't reshoot event? Total chaos, at times, and rushed shots? And all this
with a new consumer-level digital? that you don't really know how to use?

Sell the camera and flash, and hire a pro. If you can't do that, just set it
on "A" (full auto) and fire away. SO NOT experiment with various settings,
since you'll likely screw up the most important shots of the day. But don't
plan on anything quick or fast. Those things don't focus very fast, and
there's always a shutter delay. Shoot at the highest resolution, make sure
you have plenty of memory (CF cards are not normally sold at weddings), and
make backups as soon as you can. My sympathies.

"D O'Reilly" wrote in message
m...
i have bought a canon G5 & a canon 420ex speedlite flash, i will be
taking the photos at a family wedding, as i do not have a lot of time
to get to know the camera i was wondering if there are any G5 users
out there who would be able to recommend a list of settings on the
camera and flash to get the best pictures on the day with the least
amount of fuss,all the photos will be indoors in a hotel banqueting
suite, your help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Dave

I hope the "family" is forgiving. I have a friend who shot a wedding with
35 mm. The photo processing service ruined all the negatives. He was sued
and had to pay for air fare to get the wedding party back together as well
as the tux rentals. To make matters worse they had another photographer do
the pictures at his expense. He lost his business. I wouldn't touch this
shoot with a ten foot pole.....

That's ridiculous! No sane judge should allow this. If it's for real, then the
judge was an idiot.

Weddings are not just about photos.

Well this happened in the US and as it goes he

If things don't go my way, I'll find somebody to sue!!


"Sabineellen" wrote in message
...

I hope the "family" is forgiving. I have a friend who shot a wedding
with
35 mm. The photo processing service ruined all the negatives. He was
sued
and had to pay for air fare to get the wedding party back together as
well
as the tux rentals. To make matters worse they had another photographer
do
the pictures at his expense. He lost his business. I wouldn't touch
this
shoot with a ten foot pole.....

That's ridiculous! No sane judge should allow this. If it's for real, then
the
judge was an idiot.

Weddings are not just about photos.

On 20 Jul 2004 18:10:03 GMT, (Sabineellen) wrote:


I hope the "family" is forgiving. I have a friend who shot a wedding with
35 mm. The photo processing service ruined all the negatives. He was sued
and had to pay for air fare to get the wedding party back together as well
as the tux rentals. To make matters worse they had another photographer do
the pictures at his expense. He lost his business. I wouldn't touch this
shoot with a ten foot pole.....

That's ridiculous! No sane judge should allow this. If it's for real, then the
judge was an idiot.

Weddings are not just about photos.

I find this hard to belive, too (not that I'm calling anyone a liar!).
I would think the legal remedy would be for the cost of the
photographer only.

Bill Funk
Change "g" to "a"

Sabineellen wrote:

Weddings are not just about photos.

Clearly you've never worked a wedding.

Rule number one of photography: never, ever, for any reason, under any
circumstance, shoot a friend or family member's wedding.

--
Jeremy |

Jim wrote:

I hope the "family" is forgiving. I have a friend who shot a wedding with
35 mm. The photo processing service ruined all the negatives. He was sued
and had to pay for air fare to get the wedding party back together as well
as the tux rentals. To make matters worse they had another photographer do
the pictures at his expense. He lost his business. I wouldn't touch this
shoot with a ten foot pole.....



Hard to believe a judge could be such an idiot. The photographer
shouldn't have to pay for something beyond his control. Might as well
make the judge's clerk pay. It want HER fault either.

"Jim" wrote in message
...
Well this happened in the US and as it goes he

If things don't go my way, I'll find somebody to sue!!

Do you have a link to any info on this?
Court case listing/number?
That is public information, so you should be able to obtain it.

"Skip M" wrote in message
news:wXlLc.2540$BX.41@lakeread08...
"Mark M" wrote in message
news:zrjLc.2523$ml.176@lakeread05...

"Jim" wrote in message
...
Well this happened in the US and as it goes he

If things don't go my way, I'll find somebody to sue!!

Do you have a link to any info on this?
Court case listing/number?
That is public information, so you should be able to obtain it.


Mark, you beat me to it. I have a standard wedding photographer's
contract
that indemnifies the photographer in case of anything beyond his control.
I
would have found it unlikely that a judge would find that way, if it
weren't
for the cases like the McDonald's coffee...

He says such "specific" things like, "This happened in the US..."
For a guy who says this happened to a "friend" I'd say he's grossly
non-specific.
I'm thinking this another one of those *I have a friend who* stories...

Jim--If I'm wrong, then by all means follow up with meaningful info.
If you do, I will happily retract my skepticism.

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 17:45:21 -0700, "Mark M"
wrote:


"D O'Reilly" wrote in message
om...
i have bought a canon G5 & a canon 420ex speedlite flash, i will be
taking the photos at a family wedding, as i do not have a lot of time
to get to know the camera i was wondering if there are any G5 users
out there who would be able to recommend a list of settings on the
camera and flash to get the best pictures on the day with the least
amount of fuss,all the photos will be indoors in a hotel banqueting
suite, your help would be very much appreciated.

I sincerely hope that you are not THE wedding photographer.
If so, then you have likely done a disservice to the wedding party, and even
moreso to yourself.
Nobody should try out a new system on a wedding...

A case in point:
A good many years ago I was doing a wedding with a brand new Nikon
F-3. About 15 minutes into the shoot the rewind lever fell off. Now
that is more than a bit inconvenient. I still had my old F-2 with me
which saved the day, even though I was able to repair the F-3 which
was more than just a screw coming out.

I always used "at least" two cameras. There is too much hinging on
the equipment not to use at least one backup. A medium format for the
posed, or formal shots was also quite common.


That said...
Shoot in RAW mode (this will allow you to salvage poorly metered shots
later).
Expect to need flash in all but out-door, unless there are huge, bright
windows.

There you will most likely need to use fill flash.

Most wedding lighting is not nearly bright enough...
Pick up a flash diffuser and shoot some candids with it a bit before hand.
Try some posed shots too.

The diffuser really improves the flash shots.
Thing is, for the posed shots having at least one and preferably two
slaved units makes for far better results.

It will REALLY improve skin tones/textures, and reduce harsh flash shadows.
Reach will be reduced, but for people pictures, it will make a huge
difference.

I used, and still have, a Vivitar 285. That had the power to reach
even with a diffuser.

Lumiquest makes a nice one.
-If you can't find this item, get a 5x7 index card, and cut one end a bit so
that it is tapered. -Rubber band this end to your flash...point the flash
upward...and then bend the card slightly forward (about 45 degrees or less).
This will give you a similar effect.

Even using it as "bounce" flash will help, but you have to be careful
with that... colored ceilings, etc...


For distant shots, drop the diffuser.

Make sure you are prepared to create custom white balance settings in the
light that you'll be shooting under (at the hotel). For close proximity
flash, just set white balance to flash mode.

Do not shoot in AV mode, as this will attempt to expose for ambient light
(even with flash). What will result will be shots that suffer from motion
blur since it will keep the shutter open as long as it thinks it needs to
(too long indoors).

If you shoot in TV mode, don't go below about 1/60th if you can help it.
The flash will attempt to provide whatever light you need automatically. If
you're shooting a dance, crank it up to 1/200th or so--which will give you
less power from the flash, but will nearly freeze motion (higher yet to
really freeze, but you'll lose light...try it).
You may want to set your camera manually to the flash synch speed
(1/125th?). This will assure you you're getting full power from flash, and
will avoid blur in most situations.

Learn to interpret your histogram display.
-Do NOT rely on your camera's screen to determine whether shots are blurry
while shooting...
...you will be disappointed.

If he's the wedding photographer he wouldn't be the only one.

As you well know there is a reason the pro wedding photographers have
all that equipment and usually at least one assistant.

To reliably do weddings with quality, takes good equipment with back
ups, experience, and maybe a little luck now and then. For some one
to go out with one new camera to do a wedding takes a *lot* of luck.



For posed head shots, zoom about half-way out and back up until they fill
the frame the way you like. Avoid getting to close using wide angle (this
will give them big noses).

Or other attributes.:-))

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com
For group shots, back up as far as is practical so that you don't force
people on the sides of the group into the "fat zone" due to wide angle
distortion at the edges.
-Use as large an aperture as it allows to blur the background.
-Focus on the eyes, then re-frame.

If the hotel is nearby, take a spouse or friend there with you, and ask if
you can visit the room you'll be in. Then take some shots there-which will
be very revealing in terms of light and white balance needs.