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Comments
Most of us are not in the same league as someone like @PitchBlack. But wanting to get better is a good start. All of us can get better.
Here is my suggestion for you. Go to the place where you have to shoot the wedding. Bring a couple you can shoot + someone who can help you with your flash/light. Use the link on how to balance the light to dial in your own settings. Shoot a lot of pictures and make a lot of mistakes - learn from them and be prepared for the real thing.
There is no shame in realizing that you can get better - we all can. But it is a shame not to do something about it.
You seem to be like me - lacking in post work skills. Try to get things right in camera. That is my best advice.
Again: thank you for sharing.
20% is a pretty sweet spot, and it makes it incredibly easy to see if you are achieving this.
kidsphotos.co.nz
If you decide to go and do some test shots with a meter you will soon know the relation between flash and ambient light and how much you need to compensate. And a meter does not get fooled by a white bride and a black groom.
I have the Seconic one with touch interface - it is very easy to use.
Postscript:
Just scrolled down and noticed that PitchBlack asked the question and mine was redundant.
With the alien bess I use the Cyber commander flash meter to get the correct exposure in camera.
However I don't go on location with the alien bees. I rely on TTL and compesate as needed or desired.
But here is the thing: Jon did not hit the right exposure on his first try. I suggested a meter primarily as a learning tool or to use it until he gets better at hitting the desired exposure.
I don't think you need to use the meter all the time. Once you have the strobes dialed in all you have to do is to move the strobes a little forward if your subject gets to dark or a little backwards if they get to hot. But a meter will get you pretty close with only one test shot.
If on the other hand you use TTL flashes or strobes and you use aperture priority mode then you might pull it off.
Or am I missing something?
If you think that you don't need a light meter and you should just shoot speedlights in TTL with aperture priority or whatever, then you are free to think that. But it does sound like someone go on about how they only shoot natural light.
kidsphotos.co.nz
Set the camera into manual exposure mode, put my shutter speed at somewhere between 1/160th to 1/200th so that I can stay within flash sync speed and also keep the shutter fast enough in case some of my ambient exposure of my subjects makes it into the final frame that they're frozen which, as long as they're not jumping around or running, that should work.
I shoot typically AF-C, Dynamic Area focus with 9 points (D700). This means if they do move a little bit, theoretically, the camera will maintain focus.
A test shot of my entire scene (either with or without the subjects in the frame) is made and then I dial in exposure to a point where I"m hopefully not losing anything in the histogram on either the highlight side or the shadow side. In other words, try to get a "good" exposure of that scene. (I guess I made an error here, as I probably should have underexposed that background more to make it darker and richer for my shoot here).
I'll then setup my flash and fire light (typically with either an umbrella or more often than not the 28" Octa). The flash is communicated with the Yongnuo 622nTX Wireless transmitter (yes, it's HSS and TTL compatable) and then I use their 568EX TTL flash heads. It's a very good and versatile combination. Though, in a shoot like this, I go with manual mode. TTL is just way to unpredictable and changes for me. I *only* use TTL mode when I put that flash on camera and start doing the bounce of ceilings and walls things and when I'm running and gunning. TTL (I find, but maybe I need to play with it more) tries to be the dominant light source, doesn't know what my true subject is, etc. I realize dialing in + or - flash compensation helps though.
I'll start at usually either 1/8th or 1/4 power. I'm really only using flash here to try and fill in the gaps. I don't typically like my photos to have flash as a dominant exposure tool in my pictures. This is when I'm shooting outside in a natural environment of course. I'll then chimp and watch the histograms as I kind of modify either ISO or Aperture to taste.
That's about it.. In this case, I think I got flash about right in some, but others I think the overall scene was just too highly exposed.
I agree though 100% with PitchBlack when he says there really is no "accurate" exposure. The accurate exposure is the one that reveals the image you're either trying or best able to acheive according to what the viewer feels is most satisfying. This is why I don't own a lightmeter. How the hell does that thing know what the "right" exposure is?
To me it is a false statement that you let a meter decide how to much light should hit your subject. You decide. The meter is just a tool.
The one time I hate to be outside my comfort zone is when I shoot an event. I like to know what I am doing. Mind you I don't shoot for money. I only shoot for fun. But I would like to come back with good pictures. At least as good as I can make them.
I have made mistakes that required me to spend a lot of time in post to bring back pictures that was not too bad. Most of the time I could have avoided making the mistakes by using what little brain I have :-)
I think the best strategy to shoot an event is to keep things as simple as possible. At least so simple that your tools does not get in the way of taking the pictures you want. If you master your tools you can use a more complicated set up. But if you are not sure how things work you spend most of your time focussing on your tools.
Thank you for sharing. I think all the nice members of the NRF are only trying to help you get the best possible pictures. All the best. Henrik
My sister wanted me to shoot an event for her. Nothing earth shattering. Just family stuff. But the day was important to her. I said “I don´t know I am not a pro bla bla". She told me how she loved my pictures. I am a sucker for praise. I said yes.
I knew I had to move around a lot so I wanted a simple set up. I decided to use D800 with 24-70 2.8 and a SB900 on camera. A chicken shit set up I know. But to this day I still think it was a good plan as I was trying to match the set up to my skill level.
I wanted to use the ceiling as an reflector for the SB900 to get rid of most of the hard shadows an on camera flash can make. I had used this set up before with good results so I was confident I could pull it off.
I did a test shot. Looked at the back of the camera. Everything looked fine. So off I went.
Took the first shot. Looked at the back of the camera. All good. Took a string of shots and moved on to the next shot. Took the first shot. Looked at the back of the camera. All good. Took a string of shots and moved on. You get the picture :-)
Looking at the pictures on my computer at home most of them was underexposed.
Here is what happened. The ceiling was 20 feed up. The first shot was OK. But the SB900 was struggling to keep up during the following shots. I was shooting at ISO 100 :-( Bumping the ISO to 200 or 400 would have helped a lot :-) I don´t know what ISO setting would have worked because I was too stupid to check my set up properly.
One other thing I learned that day was that light coming from the ceiling can make some ugly shadows around the eyes - black eyes. Using the build in reflector on the SB900 would have helped here.
I am happy to learn. But I wish I could have learned before shooting that event. That would have saved me countless hours trying to fix two stupid mistake that would have been easy to discover had I tested my set up for how I really wanted to shoot.
The story had a happy end of sorts. I did manage to give my sister a set of photos she is very happy with. But it does not change the fact that it was pure luck that I did not make a "global mistake". The D800 helped a lot. You can make mistakes and get away with them - at least a lot better than with the D700.
BTW I like this forum because a lot of people are willing to share not only success but also things they find difficult.
We all strive to do the best we can on a photo shoot...more often than not, with proper planning things do you our way, but still their are times that it does become challenging. Push threw and finish strong....
As for the light meeter, I have personally been keeping an eye on eBay for a good deal on a Sekonic 758DR. Tools of this nature do help in some situations...special when you have control of the light for a good duration of the time. However, when the light is changing so fast, specially during sunrise and sunsets, I full agree with our other members that the usage of this tool is not practical and most likely handicap your performance in getting as many shots as possible.
I am not trying to be a PIA but I would like to know why "fast changing light" is in any less need of a meter than "stable light" when the plan is to shoot in full M mode.
Maybe I should make an experiment one day to find out just how fast the light is changing during a sunset - One way of making a visual display of that would be to make a "time-lapse" - locking down your settings and taking a picture every minute or so. If I ever get around to do it I will be sure to share my findings :-)
Happy shooting and the best of luck with the wedding to Jon.
If there is no correct exposure then why do we expose for the brightest part of the scene to avoid blown highlights?
I learned that here and that seems to help.
Now for the sunset portrait photos you expose for the sunset light and if you place a person in front they become a silohoutte.
Now if you have TTL you dont need a light meter or flash meter
But if you are using a strobe and you are limited in space because you are on a cliff or whatever why wouldnt this tool come in handy? You cant move the light around you can dial the flash power down or up and take several guesses but then the sunset is going down light is changing etc etc.
In my living room if I want a simple shoot with a modifier I use the flash meter to control the lights power.
I stopped reading strobist a while ago but lets pretend that our cameras didnt have raw or had the DR of the d800 wouldnt we want to get the correct exposure in camera as much as possible.
Of course if you want to make the person glow or underexpose because thats what you had in mind well isnt that the same thing as the correct exposure?
My next strobe shoot i plan to use a honeycomb grid or use the speedlight with a snoot and only light part of my face thats my goal and vision and I want to get that right so that in post i only have to adjust as little as possible including white balance.
For me...and if I may be bold by extrapolate that most of us, when shooting a model at sunset or sunrise, using the warm colors and changing colors of the sky is what makes it special. Thus, it is important to place the subjects' in locations that will bring that into the shot. It is for this that I would be considering using reflectors vs. fill light, etc...etc.
I look forward in having a light meter in the near future and personally putting it through its paces...
These are not bad, and better than many that I have seen.
This is also a very photogenic couple who may have high expectations.
Since you are asking for feedback, I am offering some observations, I do the same after every shoot for my own work.
Shooting outdoors in bright sunlight is among our most challenging conditions, harsh shadows and white balance are constant problems. Unless you have a crew with reflectors, flash fill is the usual approach.
When I use flash fill in those conditions, I use it directly, without modifiers or diffusors (it is the only time I ever use direct flash) It is easy to underestimate the power of direct sunlight, and even direct flash is a fraction of the exposure.
Shoot on manual with as high a shutter speed as the camera will completely sync to (usually 1/250 on Nikons) , adjusting aperture accordingly, This increases the relative contribution of the flash, filling shadows and controlling white balance. Do not use focal plane flash settings, they gives you a weaker sustained burn.
One reason MF cameras are still popular for this is that their leaf shutters can sync flash at high speeds (1/500 or 1/1000).
Composition and cropping-
Composition should be deliberate, for all parts of the frame, foreground and background.
When a complete body part is not in the frame, cut it off completely and tighten the frame. parts should be all in or all out.
frame 1 since part of the mans hand is cut off, come in closer crop above mans leg
frame 3 again hand cut off, come n crop above mans elbow
frame 6 - as above
frame 8 - a little space behind her behind would be a better transition
frame 11 - as above mans feet are cut off, make it look intentional by cutting them off completely and tightening up.
- position / juxtaposition
frame 2- horizon at neckline is distracting
frame 3 - nice
frame 4 = background juts into woman's head
frame 7 - jetty in background is distracting in its position
These are general observations to consider in refining your work, Others may disagree, but these approaches work for me.
I commend you for wanting to refine and improve and not settling for 'good enough' as too many do.
Regards ... Harold
Nikon N90s, F100, F, lots of Leica M digital and film stuff.
I understand that you can use reflectors. In that case you have little use for a meter. But that is not Jons plan.
BTW he is using D700 so "I have D800 files" is a mood point.
I think in future, the minimum people for a sunset beach shoot will be me and an assistant to pose the couple and do the lights.
Perhaps just doing a time-lapse of that period will be a bit irrelevant Hendrik. There will be no pressure in doing that.
Joe McNally Videos.
The "time lapse" idea was not to simulate a real shoot. It was to see just how much light is changing. We can imagine two extreme situations: 100% natural light. Here it will just get darker and darker until it gets black. 100% flash/strobe. Here there will be no change in regards to the main subject but the background may change like the above 100% natural light.
But how about 50% flash on the main subject? Will that give you a longer window to shoot?
I would need 3 cameras, 3 tripods, 2 flashes, 2 softboxes, 3 models and a meter to set it up. Maybe you are right. It is not worth doing :-)