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Q. Need Wedding Photo Advice
Asked by James McGinnis
(K=6045) on 5/13/2004
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I work with a young girl who is getting married. For a variety of reasons (mostly financial) she was going to forego wedding pictures. She is an absolute angel and I just felt awful that she was not going to have any portraits of herself in her wedding gown. So.... the office got together and we've developed a plan.
One lady is going to arrange for us to use a relative's summer flower garden, Another is arranging a hair and make-up session, I am doing her photographs....all of this is free of charge.
Here's what I'm planning to work with:
Canon EOS 3 with 100 mm 2.8 USM Macro for the 35mm head/shoulder shots.
Bronica ETRC with 75mm 2.8 for the full length shots.
Since we're shooting at about 1100 I'm planning on getting a couple of gold reflectors to soften the sunlight. I thought I might use the my 430EX as a soft fill flash with the 35mm. I don't have a flash for the Bronica so that will have to be done with completely natural light.
Now, the question. This is a perfect excuse to go buy more gadgets but I can't get too crazy. Any recommendations for gear that would be useful for this set-up? 200-300 dollars would be about the limit on this.
Thanks!
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Eveline Shih-Pitcairn
(K=4406) - Comment Date 5/13/2004
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1. Invest in a tripod if you haven't already.
2. Obtain an Omni diffuser or LumiQuest diffuser for the Canon 420EX. Learn how to use it. Cheap route: rubber-band an unmarked portion of a white plastic grocery bag over the flash unit.
3. Rent a couple of other lenses and an extra Canon body for backup. My favorites: Canon 17-35mm, 28-200mm or 70-200mm, 300mm...
4. Optional: rent a flash unit for the Bronica.
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Adam E. J. Squier
(K=9803) - Comment Date 5/13/2004
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If you'll be doing portraits in bright sun, use your (diffused) flash, and also have someone hold a diffuser between the sun and the bride/groom to cut down the light a bit. Otherwise, you'll certainly blow out the lights of the gown.
Make sure you use a low contrast film. Fuji NPS, NPH, NPZ. I wouldn't use NPC, but that's my taste. Kodak's Portra line is also good for low contrast.
A 28-105mm zoom would be your good friend for weddings.
Is there a reason you can't use your Canon flash on the Bronica? I'm not familiar with Canon's models -- maybe the 430EX is only TTL and doesn't have "auto" or "manual" settings.
Best advise I've ever received: have fun!
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James McGinnis
(K=6045) - Comment Date 5/13/2004
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Eveline: I've got the omni-diffuser and the tripod and I do intend to use them. I guess I should have mentioned those, as well.
Adam: I do have a Tamron SP AF28-75mm F/2.8 XR Di but for the type of shots I'm going to take I didn't think it would be useful. I'm not going to be at the wedding. I'm just taking some portrait shots of the bride in an outdoor garden setting.
I'll take your advice on the film choices. To be honest, I was looking at using Velvia 50 or 100 to try to keep things softened up a bit.
The 430 EX does have a manual setting but I guess I'd have to use a synch cord with it. I could certainly buy a synch cord cheaper than I can buy a new flash for the Bronica!
A second concern:
Am I on the wrong track with the reflectors? I was watching a model shoot on a local university campus (being done for a well known "men's" magazine) and that's what they were using.
My "model" (actually, the bride) is a Native American and has relatively dark skin tones similar to someone from southern Europe (think Spain or Italy). She'll be wearing a white gown (of course) and the garden will have pink and white azalea bushes.
I'll take all the advice I can get!
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Mark Jones
(K=458) - Comment Date 5/13/2004
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James, adding my two cents here. The time of day youre doing this is going to test your skills. Midday sun is harsh and can sometimes cause people to squint. Try to position your subject where you can minimize that. Also, be aware that midday sun can also cause metering problems if the subject is wearing white. Personally, if that was the case I would consider a slight ND filter to minimize a bright backlit scene. Secondly I think velvia would be a poor choice for this(although I love velvia) simply because slide film is less tolerant of exposure errors. Besides prints made from slides can be expensive. I think its admirable youre doing this for her and I think you will do a fine job.
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Andy Szeto
(K=212) - Comment Date 5/13/2004
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Hi James,
I have taken wedding photos for my sister-in-law in Hawaii and here's some suggestion:
1) Try to post the bride and groom with the sun slightly behind them (over the shoulder but not directly behind). The reasons were that you will less likely to get flare in your lens, the couple won't squint, it creates beautiful hair light and the veil will light up beautifully. Also this is a better angle to use the reflector.
2) Use print film. You friend would love to show off your work in an album instead of carrying a slide projector around ;)
3) Unless you have a hand-held light meter or spot meter (which your EOS3 has), I will set my camera's exposure compensation to +2/3 and keep shooting. This is just to make sure the bride's gown and the background are properly exposed. A little overexpose on print film gives you better color too.
4) Use the best film processing you can find. Since I use Kodak Portra films, I always request Kodak's Premium Processing (the photo lab sends the film back to Kodak for processing). I am sure there is similar service for Fuji films.
Personaly I don't think you need any extra equipment (may be an inexpensive 50mm f1.8 lens for your EOS3, about $70, so you don't have to use the Bronica) if you already have the reflector. I shoot mostly with the 50mm f1.4 lens. Hope this helps.
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James McGinnis
(K=6045) - Comment Date 5/13/2004
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I know the time of day is going to be an issue. I had hoped to get things done much earlier or even later in the day. But, with all the "volunteer" aspects of this particular venture, well...it just wasn't going to work as well.
I guess I'll go with the print film in the EOS 3. I have become rather fond of the slide films but if the Portra is as good as they say it is, then I'll give it a chance.
I am going to use the Bronica for some of the shots, though. I just bought it and haven't had a chance to play with it yet so this is a perfect opportunity. It's a win-win situation. She can get a full length portrait and I get to play with my new toy!
I think I will go with the ND filter for a few of the shots. I've also got a soft focus filter that I was going to try.
Oh, and Andy...thanks for the lighting advice. I'm going to go scout the area later this weekend at around the time I'll be shooting. I'll be sure to take your suggestion into consideration!
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Mike George
(K=3429) - Comment Date 5/13/2004
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Here's a couple more suggestions that will work on your budget.
1. A Stroboframe. Enables you to mount the flash a little higher an eliminate most shadows. It flips so that you can take vertical shots and still have the flash above the camera. Cost about $50.
2. As mentioned before, an Lumiquest type mini softbox (attaches to your 420ex flash) about $20.
3. A Cokin filter system. The holder and adapter ring is about $25. Then filters run about another $15-20 each. You can get some diffusion, soft focus, center spot type filters for some really creative shots.
I have used the Fuji NPH, NPS & NPC films with a lot of success. Also a solution for the bright daylight time frame, if there are trees nearby, shoot in their shade. The shade is a nice diffuser (but watch for hotspots from the light getting through).
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Randy Hergesheimer
(K=139) - Comment Date 5/13/2004
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Dear James,
I believe that you would do well to avoid Velvia as it can give unpleasant skin tones. I have not seen a Native American photographed with it, however.
Since you are limited in terms of artificial light, perhaps you would be well advised to use somewhat faster film, such as Fujicolor Portrait NPH 400 Professional or even Fujicolor Portrait NPZ 800 Professional. Avoid Fujicolor NPL 160 Professional, as that film is balanced for tungsten lighting. I agree with the earlier reply that Fujicolor Portrait NPC 160 Professional might not be a good choice for wedding pictures.
If you have money to spend, spend some on trying different films before the big day. The practice shots do not have to be anything fancy. Just a shot of the bride standing near her dress will give you a wealth of information. For example, wedding dresses are notoriously difficult to make white, with everything else properly color balanced. The reason is that they are not really white, but look white to the human eye. On film they can look grey or blue. This can be an unpleasant surprise when the film is processed.
In addition to the color shots, you might make some black and white shots. This sort of photography will have the virtue of no unpleasant surprises in terms of color balance.
If you want the best pictures, you might take the more important ones prior to the big event. Mid-day, unless it is quite overcast, guarantees difficulty in getting good pictures. The gold reflectors you are going to buy will not help you much at 11:00 in the morning. They would be of more use to you later in the day. Save your money if you only want them for the wedding pictures. The amount of light you will need to bounce back to balance the harsh overhead light would be better (and less expensively) served by using white foamcore -- perhaps a 4' by 4' sheet or bigger.
What you really need if you are doing photography at mid-day is to diffuse the sunlight, but we shall not get into that. Your best bet is to take your important pictures before the big day, unless you are lucky enough to have a overcast day.
If you want to spend money, you can hardly go wrong by buying more light, in this case for your Bronica.
Randy
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Scott McFadden
(K=5663) - Comment Date 5/14/2004
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James
I think silver would be a better choice especially if the brides wearing white.
Gold may cause unwanted colour casts esp near the facial area.
Medium format is very expensive to develop.
So buying the 50 for the cannon would be a better idea.
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Charles Morris
(K=5969) - Comment Date 5/17/2004
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for sure stick with print film. I am a fan of portra, for softer shots i use NC. for anything with foliage you wish to emphasize, VC is nice and still offers exceptionally manageable skintones. I live and work in Oklahoma and we have alot of native americans here and the number of mexican families is gorwing, portra has not let me down even on asian skintones. if you want a much softr contrast film, agfa "portrait 160" is some freaky stuff. it offers almost pastel colors. perfect for dreamy/romantic shots.
the canon flash with a bracket and a hotshoe adaptor or PC cord will be a fine accessory for your bronica. since you are using 35mm in addition to the bronica, it may be worthwhile to shoot with faster film in it, and slower film in your 35mm cameras. just taking advantage of grain control where you can. reflecotrs seem like a good idea., but you need ot have a pretty good grasp of how to use them effectively and you will need some helpers that can take direction well.
about the gold reflectors: with darker skinned models, even if you have a white dress to deal with, this warmer light can help you get a grip on the contrast. dark skin against a white gown is a difficult exposure ot manage, so the gold reflectors sound like a great idea in this case but make sure you lab knows about this and is up to the task of filtering to get a clean white gown in the prints and your model will appear to be a tiny bit lighter in the process.
additionally you may want to get some plastic sheeting, the kind that is not quite clear, but has no color cast to it. it's cheap, and can be found at garden centers and hardware stores for very little expense. if there is an arbor or some other structure under which you can pose your subject, this will diffuse the light a bit and act like a big softbox. sort of a poor man's scrim. or if you want to go nuts you can build a makeshift structure out of plastic pipe or tack it to the side of an existing structure or tree. just get it between the sun and your bride.
2cents@large.
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Karl ...
(K=503) - Comment Date 5/18/2004
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You have gotten decent advise already, so I can only add one and second/third vote for:
1. PRACTICE. If time allows, take whoever will pose for you (in white clothes) to the garden at the same time of day. Figure out how to meter. I would suggest spotmeter off the white dress and + 1,5 stops or thereabouts so that you will have detail in the white.
My new EOS 300V/Rebel Ti on matrix does a tremendous job in the snow quite unlike my older EOS100/Elan, maybe the 3 will do the same good job on matrix... Try this.
2. Film. Fuji NPS (160) or NPH (400) will do fine. If you insist on slides (can you find a place that will do good prints from slides? I can't...), use Fuji Astia which is optimised for skin tones and is also low contrast. Velvia is WAY too contrasty. I don't like Kodak any more because the Kodak lab in the Netherlands sucks, maybe you have a better lab near you in which case you could use Portra, eg 160 VC.
3. Equipment. Sorry to say, but you have all you need (maybe not all you want) :-) .
I have photographed a wedding mostly on the Canon EF100/f2 and LOVE the lens. You already have 50mm perspective in MF. Some people say the 100 (Macro or not) is WAY too sharp for portraiture...I don't agree.
Around 70 to 100 mm (on 35mm) with an aperture of around 4 (up to 5.6 for full length portraits) will do a nice job to keep the background out of focus. Be carefull with 2.8 since the DOF will be VERY shallow (maybe not enough to keep both -or four- eyes in focus when they are not on the same plane).
I am not shure about a gold REFLECTOR. The thing will almost behave -in full sun- like a MIRROR (VERY hard light....) and the golden cast might suit a face (or a sun tanned body for a mens magazine) very well, but a white wedding dress...
Also, I cannot see how you could frame one or two people with a (grad) ND filter isolating a too bright background...A mountain range is easier to align with an ND... Try to find shade or use a white reflector, just white card board will do.
I suggest you practice all these combinations and see if they work for you.
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