first wedding tomorrow, lighting and blur issues

Hope someone can help me tonight. I went to the rehearsal today, i took pics of

the wedding party walking down the isle, BLURRY, I am using, and have at my

disposal, 40-150mm lens and the 14-42mm lens. I got home and was

horrified...took on auto mostly. which lens is the best to use? and I am thinking I

should use manual with flash (promaster), but i notice when using flash in manual

with a high shutter speed, i have to set the wb to "cloudy"....any advice...please?

lol....i need mega help

I hope you're not the "official" wedding photographer !

 

Try:

Setting the ISO at least 400.

Shoot in RAW.

Set the mode to "A" (aperture priority)

Set aperture to max (that's the smaller number, e.g. 3.5).

Use the internal flash (the camera should know how to deal with that).

Since this is a church wedding, I suggest you start praying pretty hard.

 

...Wayne

okay, which lens should i use?

...and by the way, in this situation choose the lens with the largest aperture at the focal length you need to shoot at for framing. In your case @40mm use the 40-150 as it has a larger aperture than the 14-42. However you will probably be better off to get closer to the wedding party if possible with the 14-42.

 

...Wayne

I'm not sure anyone can give a sufficient amount of advise to you at this point & time as to what you are about to go through if these guys are trusting you to be the photographer at the event.

 

Weddings are stressful enough for those who have done them from time to time and know their equipment and somewhat know what to expect during the event. I couldn't imagine being in your position this evening, knowing as little about your equipment as it sounds. Hopefully, you've made them fully aware of what they should or should not expect.

 

Assuming this flash can only be used in non-TTL auto here, I would set your camera in manual mode, ISO 400 or even 800, set your shutter speed to 1/125 sec and the f-stop to f5.6 and shoot all flash shots at these settings, making sure your flash is also set to f5.6 so it will give you a good exposure. For group pictures and the reception, I would stick to the 14-42 lens, which has a sufficient set of focal lengths to capture those shots. The fewer lens changes you make, the better off you will be.

 

During the ceremony, chances are, no flash will be allowed and you may be restricted to the back of the church. Set your camera to ISO 800 or even 1600 (make sure to shoot RAW!) and shoot using aperture priority mode from the back of church with your 40-150 set wide open (f5.6 at 150mm).

 

Once the ceremony is over, you'll need to make sure to get your flash back on and everything set back for the flash exposure noted above, which may also mean setting your ISO, f-stop and shutter speeds back. Once you've done this type stuff a few times, doing all of it becomes more automatic, but you are going to need to be very careful that you've always got the right settings dialed in at the right time to get the results, or your nightmares may only be starting!

the blur is probably being caused by low shutter speeds, you need more light so:

 

- use a flash

 

- use a wider aperture (be careful because wider apertures have a narrower depth

of field so be careful of what's in focus)

 

- bump up the ISO

 

Without flash, use the camera in Aperture priority and keep an eye on the shutter

speed, if it drops below 1/60 then don't take the photo handheld and don't take

action shots.

 

With flash, not sure how it works with your camera, but suggest aperture priority

with flash on TTL-Auto

 

White balance should be based on the type of lighting (ie. tungsten, fluro, daylight)

 

I reckon the 14-42 will be much more useful and probably a smaller lens and

easier to carry around. the 40-150 isn't wide enough for larger group shots and

you probably won't use anything beyond the 40-60mm (80-120mm equiv) range.

 

Suggest you read the manuals for the camera and the flash to figure out what

flash/exposure modes you need to set it to.

 

Also do not fire the flash at a faster shutter speed than 1/180 becuase it is the

sync speed of the camera and it won't work properly and could be causing you

some problems

Ummm.... there are multiple reasons that many wedding photographers still use 35mm cameras for the ceremony itself. Quietness and access to fast lenses being two major points. You probably really need a lens at f/2 or faster to shoot the ceremony hand-held and even then you will be pushing ISO 400 to get decent hand-held speeds. Ceremonies typically do not want flashes so you really need to be shooting hand-held the rule of thumb is hand-held speed = reciprocal of shutter speed, but with zoom lenses that is not always true because the lens can be much longer than it's effective focal length. You should probably practice up on some hand-holding techniques, like bracing and breathing patterns as well. Getting really good hand-held available-light photographs is a real art and there is no shortcut around it. The one ceremony I shot at as an audience member, not a paid photographer, I was shooting 400 speed film and an f/1.8 lens and the exposures were still 1/15th shutter speeds... basically too slow to really shoot freely, and required lots of bracing to get anything worth looking at.

Tough way to learn. A powerful off camera Olympus flash like the Fl 50 eventually if you are to planning to do enough of these jobs and where flash is permitted - (you can ask and sometimes it is ok in limited amounts. Sometimes. ).

 

And Patrick's comment on bracing is right on. I have got acceptable results with a monopod which is less obtrusive than tripod. Your comment on high shutter speed makes me wonder if you have done much experimenting with flash exposure. Use "chimping" right on the scene is a way to see if the environment has the light you need.wish you luck today. I am tempted to say I think you will need it. As always technique and experience trumps lenses and the gear. I give you credit for guts.

 

Them aisle shots are knuckle busters. I do wish you well.

So Kelly, how did it go ?

 

...Wayne

Wow...

 

I've turned down sooo many weddings because I'm terrified of mucking it up.

 

I'm really curious to know how things went?

I keep coming back to see the answer here.......the silence is deafening, and probably a good indication of what happened.

"I keep coming back to see the answer here......."

 

Yeah, me too. I think the advise was pretty good, it'd be good to get some feedback.

 

...Wayne

Oops, apologies - that should have been "advice" !

 

...Wayne

Really, it was wrong of this guy not to update us after all the advice that was given.

 

Dude... cmon.. fill us in.