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Right Exposure for Bride and Groom?


aaron_m_baxter

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I have been shooting quite a few weddings recently, and I am

encountering a slight problem in certain instances. When

shooting the bride and groom next to each other, I often times

have to decide between over-exposing her dress or

under-exposing his tux because of the GIANT difference in the

color: black vs. white.

 

Although average metering helps, Is there any way particular

work-around for this problem?

 

Thanks in advance!

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Yes, I'm using film. I usually go with Kodak 800 because I often

times like to produce a slightly over-exposed look in pictures. I

do, however shoot with 400 speed film at times, but fast speeds

have become my preference.

 

As far as Portra is concerned, I did not at all like the way it

rendered colors. I felt there was an strange blue-green cast on

the film.

 

I will look into the other film you suggested.

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<i>...As far as Portra is concerned, I did not at all like the way it rendered colors. I felt there was an strange blue-green cast on the film. </i><p>

It's gotta be your printing. Humor me. Try it again, Portra NC in any speed you desire. (160, 400, 800) This time have it printed by a lab that knows how to print Portra preferably on Portra paper. Most labs don't know how to print it and the results are usually what you describe. I recommend <a href="http://www.prophotoco.com/"target="newwindow">Pro Photo in Lakeland FL.</a> They are a good "wedding lab" and will also do NPH.

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Are you using a flash? Or shooting available light? What camera and/or

meter are you using? Are you flashing direct or using a soft box on the

flash? Is the flash off-camera, like on a flip bracket for example?

 

Generally, it is far more important to capture detail in the dress. Neg film

has a wider latitude for overexposure than under exposure, so I tend to

rate my films a bit lower ( like 400ISO at 320). When closer to the

subjects I also tend to compensate the flash -.3 or -.7 depending on the

distance.

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  • 1 year later...
Listen to Hal! Use a professional film because it is designed to solve the problem you have! If you got bad color from Portra films, you need to change to a Pro Lab. One that actually is a Pro Lab. They deal with these films almost exclusively and print on papers that give best detail and saturation for professional work. I never got anything but rich warm flesh tones from Portra by using CPQ or any other pro lab like Burrell, Millers, etc. If you are going to do pro work use another pro to process and print your film.
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