Shooting Continuous Drive Mode

I'm new here and have been enjoying all the info on this forum. I'm primarily a sports photographer but

have somehow ended up booking a few weddings this year. These are relatively small weddings and I've

shot various events before so I'm not worried about any particular technical issues.<p>

My question is about capturing certain fleeting moments and shooting quickly. I have two 1D MkII

cameras which can fire off a good number of frames per second. This is great for my sports work

obviously, but I'm wondering if any wedding photographers take adavantage of continuous mode shooting

with whatever camera you have. Or have you just gotten really good at anticipating the right moment to

press the shutter. Or is it not really useful because so much work is done with flash which kind of rules

out continous mode shots

Over 1200+ weddings: vary rarely.

 

Perhaps some of the reason is because when I started out continuous shooting was not a luxury that was easily available at a cost benefit for a wedding business.

 

Having said that too, long ago, I covered football and press door stops and a motor drive was like gold, if I got to one to use.

 

That being said, with the availability of a technology one should exploit it when it is useful to the end goal.

 

I take your point about fleeting moments, very astute and accurate IMO. When I have used continuous shooting, (at a wedding) it has been in low light, without flash, usually at the reception for a more artistic candid capture, but only two or three frames in a sequence to capture that nuance in the facial muscles, or the tear, or laugh.

 

Not wishing to start an argument about styles, but as a side comment, philosophically, I am not much in favour of the (Wedding) style whereby 1000 frames are shot willy-nilly (on digital) and 200 are subsequently the result of the cull. This comment refers to my opinion that this `style` is predicated and encouraged by the relatively low cost of digital capture and continuos shooting being easily available.

 

I think that this `style` of approaching a Wedding Assignment creates a scenario where the photographer can become less focussed on the job at hand in the false sense of `if I take enough there will be enough good ones`.

 

I am interested in other`s opinions on these points.

 

Regards

 

WW

The marginal cost is negligible, so of course you should shoot bursts when possible. That said, the eight frames per second rate of the 1D MkII may be gross overkill. But I believe that three or four frames per second are useful, especially in available light. With flash lighting you must keep a very close eye on the recycling, but short bursts are also useful there so that you get a chance to get more frames with your subject having a good expression and no blinking. Just keep wide open with high ISO so you don't drain too much power. In addition to the short bursts discipline and attention to recycling, an external battery will certainly help. Of course I am the sort of person who offsets low technical expertise with high volume and sees much in common between sports photography and people photography. Your mileage may vary and I understand that radically different opinions are also perfectly valid in their own context.

It may be useful just to provide a sharp picture, there is an article here from Bob Atkins which shows that shooting at very low speeds in machine gun mode gives you more chance of getting a sharp shot. I had to do this recently when trying to handhold a 35mm focal length at a 1/10, shot of 10 frames and half were sharp. That said havign never used the machine gun mode for real shooting (e.g. sports), it is an alien concept to me for wedding shooting, I have no doubt that it is especially so for us ex film shooters who could never afford to shoot that much. You have to remember of course that you will be adding a sizeable amount of editing time and someone has to pay for that!

There really aren't that many circumstances during wedding coverage that you can get high fp/s rates. Either you're shooting at low shutter speeds and/or using flash and limited by recycle time. Unless you're outdoors and have enough light to be at 1/250 sec the camera won't fire at its maximum rated speed. Timing and anticipation is the thing for key moments.

There are moments like the boquette toss that high FPS can be useful.

I prefer "semi-auto" myself, but I see little harm in "full-auto" from time to time. I tend to accidentally fire off multiples in rapid fire mode, and this is generally a bad thing, especially with flash. For this reason, I keep it in single shot mode.

 

I don't like to trust the camera's auto focus capability. I want to verify the auto focus in each shot, so I tend to "focus shoot, focus shoot, focus shoot"

 

Do you have any problem in low light with auto focus in rapid fire mode?

Can't see many times at a wedding where it would be useful? Maybe the garter/boquet toss or running for the car? I suppose there may be instances, but overall I don't see continuous mode being needed very much.

I find bursts of two or three frames to be highly useful in for capturing people in action, even if they are just talking. Talking and laughing people have all kinds of ugly expressions and blinks - a short burst gives you a better chance of capturing an acceptable expression.

 

Of course all this makes more sense if you know that I shoot 99% candids, which is also why I use for social occasions the same Custom Function 4-3 that I use for sports.

"flash which kind of rules out continous mode shots"

 

Not neccessarily, Ian. If you get an external power pack and set the speed to relatively low

(3 fps, instead of 5 fps), then continuous mode shooting, with flash, is very possible. Of

course a assuming you got a good flashgun (580EX or so).

 

If you are used to shooting in continuous mode with sports, and feel comfortable with it,

then I'd incorporate it in the occassional wedding shoot too. It may get you a few very nice

shots: shoving the ring on the finger, the kiss, the cake cutting, the toast(s), etc.

 

Have fun!

Well I don't get enough power to recycle my 580ex with the CP-E3 in one shot mode if I'm shooting too fast. I suppose you could do it at high iso and with straight flash but I'm willing to bet that the majority of wedding shooters are using some sort of flash diffusion which sucks up a lot more flash power hence longer recycle times.

Funny, I just this weekend decided to put this to the test at the wedding I shot. I found it very useful for getting people when they kiss. I've been frustrated about catching stolen kisses. When I snap one shot sometimes it's just before or just after the kissers lips part. With the drive I shoot through the kiss and keep the one that is just right.

Although needed sparingly it comes in handy, I use the semi mode in available light of course right when they turn to head back down the isle. just a change in the direction of the eyes or head can make all the difference. On formals I do two or three fast for eye blinks.

I do both. I wait for the perfect moment and then use continuous to catch a few frames of

that moment just in case the 2nd or 3rd is actually better than the anticipated capture.

Works great for kiss at the altar, cake feeding (in case they smash), bouquet, and garter toss.

I don't know any photogs who have a 1d mk2 who fire at 8fps like what the camera is able to, but I know many who will stick with a scene for 3-9 frames depending on how things develop. I will often take a frame, and then see something improve - ie. expressions - and then take another, etc, etc, and then either it gets great - people laughing - or it fizzles out, and the best shot is somewhere in between.

Comes in very handy when the B & G decide to do one of those dove release things. Single frame shooting just doesn't cut it.

Depends where the action may be. I use continuous on the cake smash, garter throw, bouquet toss, the first dance when they put the bride and groom on the chairs at jewish events; you wanna get the looks on their faces of fear! I use the turbo batteries so they recycle very fast if your are set at 5.6 or less.

> I understand that radically different opinions are also perfectly valid in their own context. <

 

Agree 100%

 

WW

I wouldn't want to edit down to 300 images if I'm shooting at 8.5 fps after a full day of wedding.