how to shoot good wedding photos with 580ex?

I'm still a newbie in using a speedlite and I would be shooting

wedding photos this summer.... so I need to practice a lot.

 

The wedding will be held indoor... and I assume the indoor

environment is going to have dim lighting.

 

I have the following equipments:- 20D, 580ex, lightsphere PJ, 28-135,

17-40L...

 

I read lots of tips from the forum and web, and it seems like the

following settings are recommendable:-

1. Shoot in RAW.

2. Use M mode.

3. Set shutter speed to 1/60

4. Adjust the aperture to my liking.

5. Let flash do all the work to expose the subject.

 

Here are my questions:-

1. Should I bump my ISO to 1600, so that I have nicely exposed

background and then use Noise Ninja to clean up the noise? Or 400/800

is good enough?

2. I probably be using 28-135 that day... or should I use 17-40L?

3. My lowest available aperture is (I think f3.5) on my 28-135, 17-

40L is at f4. Is f3.5 to f5.6 range good enough for indoor? I

basically want to preseve the background rather than dark background.

4. Is there any settings I need to adjust on my 580ex?

 

I would really appreciate it if anyone could share their wedding

photography experiences with me.

 

Thanks much!

I'm pretty new myself, but I've shot with the 580EX on several occasions at weddings. I usually shoot at 400ISO, f/4, and shutter at around 1/100. I also use the LS2PJ. The only difference between my set up and yours may be that I use the 17-40L and the 28-70L. The 17-40 should be fine but I have no experience with the 28-135.

 

Have fun shooting!

You really need at least f/4 to ensure you have sufficient depth of field anyway so I think either lens would be fine. I am sure that the 28-135 would yield nicer results, and with the IS set to on you will be able to reduce your shutter speed to 1/20 or so - giving you improved background lighting. You will need to advise your subjects to stand still.

 

Personally, I would not go higher than ASA800 - using noise ninja degrades the quality of the detail in the image and is an added step in your processing creating much extra work.

 

Experiment with the flash exposure compensation settings on your camera in different environments. Normally if the flash needs to provide most of the light I use +1, but here, where you will be only supplementing the light it may be fine with no comp. Outdoors for fill use -1.5 unless the suject is in full sun with harsh shadows where more is required.

 

Regards,

 

Antony

Here's where you need to start:<p>

The <a href="http://www.photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/">

EOS Flash Bible</a> at photonotes.org.

<p>

Shooting in RAW is a must, and usually M a good idea. 1600 for flash is a waste of time.

I shoot wedding receptions with my 5D and 20D. Both have excellent high ISO

characteristics so I don't hesitate to go into the ISO 1000-1250. With my 20D I shot at ISO

800. Both were using either a 550ex or 580ex with a LSII and LSIIPJ respectively. Shooting

with higher ISOs opens up the backgrounds quite a bit and lessens the harshness of the

flash. Also, since the LSII cuts a lot of power the higher ISOs help get some of that back.

 

Shooting RAW with M mode is the way to go. Shutter speeds can vary. I wouldn't hesitate

to use slower speeds. Often, if it is dim enough, the flash will act like a shutter. It stops

the action for a very brief time and the longer shutter speeds will help properly expose the

rest of the room. It creates some effects though if your videographer or DJ are using

lights to light up the B&G. Be aware of the other people using lights. Your apertures

should be fine.

 

One thing to consider is getting a backup. Even if you just buy one and sell it after the

event. If your equipment goes down you'll need at least one camera to finish off the event.

You will find a lot of advice in the dedicated forum if you browse through the previous questions:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/forum?topic_id=2021

 

In general, you will be faced with lighting conditions that could vary from bright sunshine outside the church (with a need for fill flash), through whatever light there is in the church and the reception (which could be almost nil, and with no convenient surface to bounce flash from because the ceiling is too far away, rendering your lightsphere useless). Therefore there can be no hard and fast rules, except to shoot with the lowest ISO you can in the circumstances, which will be bounded by shutter speed, aperture for DOF (depending on the nature of the shot - i.e. group or individual/headshot) and the brightness or otherwise of the ambient light. You would do well to check out the venues and plan ahead of time if you can. Take test shots, know your equipment and setup so you can concentrate on getting the best images rather than worrying about settings. You may also need to avoid unpleasant effects of mixed lighting by having gels or reflectors for your flash to match the ambient light in some situations. You may find a Lumiquest Pocketbounce serves better than the Lightsphere in some situations (you can get a warming reflector for it too).

Backups also apply to flash units. . .

 

I would experiment with the camera to determine tolerable noise levels. You *DO NOT* want to Noise Ninja every stinkin' frame! A few are ok. Ten is a hassle. 100 is a full time job for a long time. . .

 

IS is nice. . .but it is not a substitute for a fast lens. A fast lens is nice. . .but it is not a substitute for IS. And. . .for professional work. . .you probably want to stop down the 28-135/IS. The 17-40/4L is a lens in a different category, and will do just fine wide open.

Be warned that not every church allows you to use flash. You should add at least a 50/1.8 for available light. Especially if you are forced to use available light then you should scout the lighting first.

 

By upping ISO and open up you can do well enough without a flash.

 

Hopefully you will be allowed to use a flash since that makes things easier.

Thanks for all the response.

 

I actually shot for a wedding earlier this month, although I wasn't the primary photographer... (thank god!). At that time, I didn't have 580ex, so I had to bump my ISO to 1600. Even at 1600, the fastest shutter speed reading I got was 1/30, and at that speed, some of the faces were a little blurry even with my IS.

 

So, I decided to get 580ex with a diffuser (LS2PJ) hoping that the flash would 'freeze' the subject a little longer and also hope that the background wouldn't be too dark. Again, I had bad experience using flash before because subject looks brightly pale and background went missing.

 

If I use flash and bump my shutter speed down to 1/20, are you guys saying that the subject won't go blurry?

If there isn't a ton of ambient light on the subject then at 1/20 the subject should still be

sharp if you're using flash. It's called dragging the shutter and is a fairly common

technique. If there is some light on the subject, you might get some unusual blurry

outlines on the subject where the ambient light picked up the movements of the subject

while your shutter was open. The flash duration is typically short enough to stop the

action though. I routinely drag the shutter at speeds like 1/8 and 1/4 sec in a very dark

reception hall. For dance shots it can turn out quite nice!

Andrew,

 

1/8 for dance shots? I would be interested to see some of those photos if you are willing to share with me.

 

For some reasons, I don't feel too much confident in shooting even at 1/20 on moving subject even if I set my ISO to 1600... maybe that's because I didn't use flash... I did try 1/15 with hand held on still subject and some turned out sharp and some were a little blurry.

One other VERY important point.... make sure you understand how your camera is metering flash in practice. White wedding dresses and black tuxedos can make a big mess of flash shots unless you know what you are doing.