Advice for wedding candids

<p>Hi,all...I'll be shooting candids only at a wedding this December in Oz and I could use some advice here. It's an outdoor affair and I expect the couple, wedding party and celebrant to be in the shade whilst the guests will be in sunlight. Although it kicks off at 10 a.m. the light at this time of year is usually bright and hard. Contrast, therefore, will be an issue. I hope to capture guests mingling before the ceremony, bride's arrival, ceremony itself, and the goings-on afterward. I have not met the "official guy" but will not be in his way, nor will I steal shots he has set up. Rather than turn this into Gone With The Wind I think you know what I'm asking! Thanks.</p>

<p>I wouldn't assume that the ceremony would be in the shade, with Murphy's Law it's just as apt to be half in shade and half in direct sun. Shooting outdoors is the most difficult place to control the light and since you're shooting candids, I would suggest placing yourself (since you can not place/pose your subjects) by putting the sun somewhere behind and to the left/right of your subjects (think of it as a backdrop hair light), use your flash and look to balance the ambient light with your exposures (without blowing out your sky) and use flash for fill (set the flash a half stop less). Since you're not the pro, you can look for all the little moments behind the scenes and concentrate on having fun.</p>

<p>BTW, if you see any Munchkins, Dorothy and/or the Wizard say a hello from me...........unless you're going to that big island "down under" :-)</p>

<p>Stay away from the poppies, and keep a green filter on your flash to balance the light coming off the Emerald City.</p>

<p>Hi, David. It is Downunder, HOWEVER...Dorothy's daughter is here (Liza Minnelli) and I mentioned your name to her. She said: " Tell that chiselled swine he hasn't called in weeks! And thank him for..well, he knows". I hope that was a help to you, I found her Noo Yawkese hard to fathom. I think she called me a "putz" but I can't be sure. ANYWAY, you kinda hit the nail on the head when you mentioned "little moments". Obviously I want to get the big moments, but also the little ones that no-one may notice on the day. I guess that means keeping wide awake and alert as much as anything else. Camera, lenses, cards, coffee etc.</p>

<p>And YOU, Hal, need to stay away from A: the coffee, and B: those funny Californian cigarettes. I remember you from 2001; A Space Odyssey...you haven't changed.</p>

<p>Liza's such a sweetheart.........coming from her, "putz" is a term of endearment, you must have made a good impression. Good luck with your shoot. BTW, you get extra points if you catch moments with the kids and grandparents......you risk losing points with images of the pretty young single girls unless of course they are bridesmaids :-)</p>

<p>You will need to use fill flash in the bright sun and if you are photographing scenes where there are important subjects both in the shade and sun. However, the latter is less successful outside in the bright sun because even top of the line flashes struggle against bright sun. Since you are not 'the official guy', I would avoid such scenes and shoot either all/mostly sun or all/mostly shade, and set the exposure accordingly. For instance, should the bride be standing in the sun and the groom in the shade, avoid shooting scenes where both are in the frame--concentrate on one or the other. Let the official photographer worry about getting those overall ones. Believe me, he will be worrying too--I've had this situation before.</p>

<p>To help with this kind of situation, you can use your camera's custom setting (not custom function), if you have it. This way, you can switch between settings instantly.</p>

<p>You may want to look up previous threads about shooting in bright sun/harsh lighting.</p>

<p>One thing to consider is when you have very mixed and varying outdoor light is to try and let the aperture be as constant as possible to help with the balance of flash. You don't mention your basic equipment, so you might be able to gain benefit by studying what settings give you the most consistant aperture while still being able to balance the fill flash. For example, if you are allowing the camera to go to f11 or 16 in daylight with say ISO 200, that flash is probably working hard to fill and may not be very effective at any distance over 8-10ft. If the aperture stays around 5.6 and maybe ISO 100 and the shutter has enough room to adjust properly to your sync speed, say between 1/60 in shade to 1/250 in sun at 5.6 is workable. If it's super bright and you get to f8-1/2 at 1/250 you still have a chanc at some OK fill. But f11-16 not too good unless you get into higher ISO then the shutter and aperture start to get out of range for the flash, if I'm making sense here. The weather could be anything that day, so if you try and find a middle setting using maybe aperture priority, or if you're comfortable manual, that will allow your camera the optimum operation, you can then just concentrate on the people and expressions. If you do shoot manual, you will have to change the shutter speed for the various overall light changes. Personally I would use A priority on my digi Nikons, but I have done this many times all manual on my Hasselblads with manual Lumedynes.</p>

<p>Thanks, Nadine. Even though I've shot at this venue before, I remain a relative newbie. Whilst pretty happy with what I did that day (the bride and groom loved the pics) I know I can do better. I think it's fair to say we judge our own efforts harshly, and even though the couple were content I saw too many examples of hasty p&s where I could have put a tad more thought into it. You are right about the sun/shade thing though. One or the other! The hard light is always a pain here at Skin Cancer Central, and having a strong "beach-culture" couples are often requesting shots on the beach with the sun GLARING off the ocean. Have fun lighting that! Mercifully that's not happening this time.</p>

<p>I've shot a few beach weddings with the sun glaring off the ocean. It isn't fun, for sure.</p>

<p>Dave has a good suggestion for you, if forced to deal with varying conditions, although in some cases, using f9, ISO 100 and 1/250th is still going to wipe out highlights. And the range of f9 @ 1/250th through 1/60th may still not be a wide enough range to cover both sun and shade. But I've done that before--used the f stop as a pivot point, changing the shutter speeds. It works well, if the conditions allow.</p>

<p>I did a fair amount at the NJ shore. After some less than desireable results on film, I experimented to find ways to control the light. My results for film use were Bronica SQa or Hasselblad normal or tele lens with Tiffen Polarizer and Cokin P mount with Grey graduated ND filter mounted in the nearest slot with two pieces of Cokin clip on hood and a piece of black cloth over the whole lens rig. I could rotate each filter as well a adjust the degree of ND as needed. If I used fill flash it was heavy duty, 400ws Lumedyne with silver reflector. This allowed my f stops down to f16. How this translates to digi, I haven't a clue, I'm just figuring out how to use it myself.</p>