What settings do you start at for boquet/garter toss?

[photochick]

Hi there!

 

I have had weddings where I get a blur when the flowers are thrown, but it

allows me to capture more light. I would like to get a shot with flowers in

the air, crisp, but the lights are usually very dim for the toss. Just

wondering how you go about capturing the boquet toss. Do you stand on a

chair? Where do you stand in relation to the bride and waiting women? Do you

ask for a count-down 1-2-3-throw? Thanks.....

[dave_powell2]

Hi Kate!

 

Based on your criteria (probable dim lighting... crisp in-air image) you'll probably need to either use a flash or a fast film (or high-ISO digital setting). If you use flash, that will somewhat dictate the distance at which you will want to stand (some tests with the flash are advisable before the wedding).

 

A countdown is good. And if your camera allows, I'd set it to shoot a rapid sequence of images just as the garter is thrown.

 

Sincerely,

 

Dave

[sal ali]

Sounds like a situation to "drag the shutter". Someone recently posted this link <a href="http://www.planetneil.com/faq/dragging-the-shutter.html"> dragging the shutter - balancing flash with available light</a> and I found it very helpful in demystifying flash.

[Gary Naka]

Tough question, and here's why

 

If you want a nice clear flower in mid-air, I think you need flash.

 

If you stand so the bride is in front of you and the girls behind her. There will be a distance difference which will play heck on direct flash. Either she will be OVERexposed or the girls will be UNDERexposed. The only way I can think of making this work is to bounce off the ceiling, so the light is more even.

 

If you are on the side, you don't have the above issue, because you only have 1 subject.

 

Because this could be a mid-air shot, I shoot this one MANUAL, as the mid-air position could mess up the auto or TTL exposure.

 

Where you stand depends on what kind of shot you want, and how fast your flash will recycle. I've done both in front and on the side of the tosser (bride or groom). The reason for being on the side is you will have a better shot at the catch. If you are in front of the bride, she could be in your way for the catch, the toss many times will not go where you think it will.

 

If you are on the side, you do NOT want to be on a chair. If you rotate too fast you could fall :-( I prefer on the ground and kneeling, to give the toss more visual height.

 

Yes you want the DJ or MC to do a count. The count also adds to the drama.

[picturesque]

If you want the flowers crisp, you either use a fast enough shutter speed without flash or use flash to freeze the motion, making sure you are underexposing the ambient enough (dragging the shutter) in relation to the bouquet. Also, to freeze motion, you must have enough flash on the subject, which is difficult if you are using flash while standing to an angle to the bride and catchers, since the flash will probably light up the bride (nearest object) but underexpose the bouquet and catchers.

 

I shoot the toss different ways depending on the circumstances. If I'm using an off camera flash, I use that to light the catchers while my on-camera lights the bride. If you do this, the flowers will be sharp, especially if you wait until the bouquet gets closer to the catchers. If I don't have an off-camera flash, I bounce but accept that the catchers will still be somewhat underexposed by the flash and that the flowers may have motion blur. Or, I do it in two parts, the bride framed tight on the fake toss (I tell her not to turn her head), and the catchers framed to include the flowers in the second shot. I like it when the bouquet is just above the hands and the catchers are jumping to catch it. Doing it in two parts, you don't have the flash fall off problem.

 

I don't stand on a chair or kneel, but the count down helps because you can ready yourself. I frame and set focus through the viewfinder but then take my eye away from the viewfinder and just watch the arc of the bouquet, pressing the shutter button when I want.

[dennis lee]

Nadine, I like your idea of 'framing up' and then watching for the moment outside of the

camera. Timing is always better that way. That is one of the beauties of range-finder days.

No big mirror blocking the view.

 

Another trick I used to use shooting basketball was to keep the non-camera eye open and

with a little practice you can switch between the two (provided the focal lengths aren't too

different).

 

Ooops, gotta brush a little man's teeth here, later.

[ellery_chua___singapore]

Kate,

 

Unless the ambient is really bright unlikely unless its a gazabo on a nice bright day with some nice wall bouncing in light to give you nice soft but bright lighting - you will need to use flash. To aviod the flashed look you need to finesse the use of the flash(s) - direct is simple but give you terrible lighting but you know that. Something in the way of bounced light ala difusion dome of the SB8800 and a reasonable ceiling, or what ever flash modifier you have on hand would give you reasonable light to work with. The shutter speed should not be too slow either - there is so much that a flash can do to stop motion nor should it be too fash - the frozen moment look unless you planned for this to have an effect. My guess is from 1/30 to 1/200 would be a safe range for iso 400.

 

Dig up a picture I did on this on 31/12/2005 when I get back to home base.

[kari douma]

Check out this post: (I hate to bring up my bad stuff!)

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00F4A6

 

Here is my last bouquet toss with an extra flash pointed at the crowd.<div></div>

[Gary Naka]

To follow up what Nadine and Dennis said...shoot with BOTH eyes open. If you only look thru the viewfinder, you can only see so much. It is harder to anticipate action or to track the arc of the bouquet...unless you use a wide setting on the zoom. With both eyes in use, you can use a tighter setting, because the other eye can see a LOT more than what is visible in the viewfinder, and help guide the shot.

 

Shooting with both eyes may be difficult at first, but keep at it and soon you will get the hang of it.

 

gud luk, Gary

[wigwam jones]

My last was horrible for that. The bride stood on a chair - and the place had suspended ceilings that she could reach up and touch while she was on the chair. She didn't toss a bouquet, she tossed a single flower. And her band did the count-down. With a half-dozen fakes. In spanish. I got the shot - it stunk.

[Gary Naka]

Looks like Kari had a low ceiling as well. I saw one where the bride tossed UP. The bouquet hit the low ceiling and dropped straight down, a few feet from her. They had to do a re-toss.

 

I shot one where the garter did not make it to the group of guys and landed on the floor. They looked at it for a second, then there was a bunch of guys diving for the floor. Unless you were towards the side the groom was blocking the shot of the scramble on the floor.

[rich_dutchman1]

20mm 1/60, f/4, 800 - flash bounced off ceiling & flash comp based on ceiling height. Stand at a 45 degree to the group with a focus point on the bride.

 

This is where a good DJ comes in. He'll tell the bride to do a "fake throw" first -- just to be entertaining. It's a corny move on the DJ's part, but you will get the bouquet at the top of the throw. The second one is real, so shoot with both eyes open. When you see the girls reaching out, it means the bouquet is in front of them, so press the button.

 

You're left with two great shots.