Which formal do you like?

[allen_d.]

I started using a 550ex on a stand shooting thru a Halo umbrella,

but on the lcd the mixed lighting looked awful. On the computer it

looks ok now, could have used some fill light. Shot the rest with a

580ex on camera with a stofen gold diffuser to mix with ambient

light. Which look should I be shooting for? Please no comments on

the crotch grabbing, I will be on top of that next time.<div></div>

[allen_d.]

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[ben_rubinstein___mancheste]

I've been working on colouring the flash to balance ambient and flash. A problem I've found when the whole picture is balanced very heavily over to tungsten or whatever, correcting in RAW can make some colours, especially the reds, look somewhat other than natural. As faces have a lot of the red spectrum in them this can be pretty problematic if very subtle.

 

Canon advise that their chips are optimised for daylight and although you can use the raw converter to balance the picture, for optimum colour fidelity the lens should be filtered as well.

 

I have a specific hall where the lighting is a mix of flourecent and halogen, the walls and floor are a light brown which comes out a horrible orange on film/sensor when you use flash as your main light, i.e. the walls are lit by tungsten. I tried fitering the flash but encountered the problems above.

 

To answer your question the 2nd looks better though the first with a proper WB and brightening it up a bit would not look so far off.

[derek_c.]

They are all good.<br>

I didn't notice crotch grabbing, it looks good to me.<br>

But, if I have to pick one I like?<br>

It will be the first one.<br>

I'm not a big fan of the B&G being the smallest in the group shot.<br>

Also, I'm not a big fan of group shots where people stand in some kind of funky formation. Just not my style<br>

I have never assisted anyone nor did I take a lesson.<br>

I rely on my common sense and my own style, so take it for what it's worth.

[david_schilling___chicago_]

Allen, I prefer the first one and I'm glad you're on top of the "crotch grabbing"("fig-leaf"pose). Just another thought on the bridal party formal. I like that you were going for the "A-Frame" or "pyramid" but you might consider bringing the B/G up front on the floor along with the kids but then flatten the distance between your front and last row. There used to be an old traditional rule that no one should be higher (taller) than the B/G, but by brining them front/center you keep the primary focus on them....this gives you an inverted pyramid something like: /v\ Hope this is helpful.

[allen_d.]

Yeah, the white balance in here was crazy. It had tungsten lights, with blue stained glass windows all over at 2 in the afternoon, so there was quite a bit of blue throughout the rest of the church. I shot raw of course and white balanced manually. So what looks better now, accurate colors as far as the actual lighting of the room at the time of exposure (although that is heavily influenced by flash now), or accurate colors (whites) on the subject? Here's what the auto mode in ACR showed. The blue cast is probably pretty accurate now that I think about it from the stained glass.<div></div>

[think27]

Allen - In future - just post one image and direct people to your folder to see the rest...

 

I prefer the tungsten glo to the bluish of the corrected post above. Warmer.

[jlemire]

what was the true color of the bridesmaid dresses? Gray? Light Blue?

 

Just curious. Though getting those colors right might help with the whole scene??

[think27]

Jim - Interesting. I see light blue in the first image and periwinkle (almost purple) in the second "corrected" image.

[allen_d.]

The bridesmaids dresses were a lilac, light purple color. But shouldn't I be trying to get the bride's dress white, or am I mistaken?

[female_photog]

Definately make sure the bride's dress leans toward some shade of white! But then, we're talking color cast here, right, so white can have bluish tint or warm.

[jlemire]

couldn't resist playing a little...here's my version...white dress, black tuxes, lilac bridesmaid dresses. A little desauturation and selective color balance.<div></div>