"INTERVIEW WITH JEFF ASCOUGH" Resumes Today

[jeffascough]

Hi Ariel

 

Photomechanic is a piece of software that I use for selecting pictures. It's not a noise

reduction app.

[glenn_mabbutt]

Hi, earlier you said: "If the light is really bad, I would shoot the image with a wide angle and make the subjects very small in the frame, but allow the rest of the frame to tell the story."

 

Can you post a sample or 2 of this? If the light is really bad throughout the wedding, do you end up resorting to flash for some tighter shots or would the whole shoot be wide angle?

[jeffascough]

Hi Glenn

 

I'm struggling a bit to find some shots that were relevent to the original question about the

processional in full sun. We don't have that situation over here :)) So I've got some shots that

show how I� deal with poor light....

[jeffascough]

Shot 1. Really poor shadowy lighting. Some dodging has been done in Photoshop to lighten

her face. The eyes are still quite dark, but the expression and the fact that �I am not on top of

them allow me to get away with it.<div></div>

[jeffascough]

Shot 2. Really strong full sun. This shot wasn't possible when the bride looked up, so I waited

until she looked down. That way the poor light doesn't affect her face.<div></div>

[jeffascough]

Shot 3. Full sun again. This time I've included a lot of the environment in order to 'hide' the

poor lighting on their faces<div></div>

[jeffascough]

Finally some really, really strong backlighting. The rim light is fine on the groom's face. I had

to wait for the expression from the bride. However the lighting isn't the greatest on her face.

So by including more of the environment, I've hidden the poor light on her face. Besides

which the expression more than makes up for it.<div></div>

[kari douma]

Hi Jeff, First of all let me thank you! This has been wonderful! I have a question about your use of available light. When I tend to photograph with only available light when the lighting conditions are dim, I have a lot more pictures that are technically "missed" for these reasons. My shutter was too slow to hand hold, or I could hand hold it but the subject was moving to fast for the shutter speed and created motion blur. The DOF is so narrow, that in a photojournalism style people are moving in and out of focus, because they are not holding still. You already talked about the high ISO, so I won't go into that. But, the other two problems I mentioned are things I struggle with the most when using all natural light when the lighting is not very bright.

 

Can you give some guidlines of how you acheive sharp pictures, and what you do to ensure them? Do you try to say within a certain guidline of shutter speed for certain situations? Or do you try to stay within a certain F stop for certain situations knowing that there is a possibility of them to move out of the focus range?

[jeffascough]

Hi Kari

 

The two things that you have to consider when shooting in dim light are your focus and

your shutter speed. Focus is fine as long as you can confirm it, and the camera has some

help. To this end I use a Canon EC-A microprism screen in all my cameras. It allows me to

judge whether or not the subject is sharp in low light. It also allows me to manually focus

if needs be. In really low light I use a Canon ST-E2 speedlite transmitter on its own. This

throws out a beam of light that helps the camera to focus.

 

I don't try to shoot subjects that are moving about in dim light. That I'm afraid is the

domain of the flashgun. If I can get a shutter speed of 1/30th of a sec I'm ok. I can

handhold a 35mm down to 1/8th sec without issue, but there will always be subject

movement.

 

I always squeeze off three frames at a time. I can guarantee the second one will be sharper

as I relax momentarily.

 

This shot was 1/40 sec @ 1.2 at 1600 iso. It has a little softness to it, but I think that is

part of the charm.<div></div>

[jeffascough]

Forgot to add. The lens is an 85mm. I'm braced against a wall, and this was the third shot in

a quick fire sequence.

[lee_ross]

Jeff,

 

When you say you always fire off 3 shots in succession, do you mean you quickly press the shutter 3 times, or that you keep you camera on burst mode...

 

Thank you, Lee.

[jeffascough]

Hi Lee

 

I press the shutter three times in quick succession. I don't use continuous drive mode at all in my photography.

[barry_davis___st._louis__m]

if this takes to long to answer then I understand and disregard. Your style is probably what most of us want to do, but it seems the bride/grooms still are very traditional with some candid moments captured between our formal photography...pre shots of br and mommma/whomever (posed)...switch to groom same thing..then Ceremony,,then formals afterward,,,maybe a park after that and the the drunk fest! Do you sorta help them plan their sequence or do just totally let it all happen. Most of us have a time sequence with even key shots needed, but how do you plan, if you do plan (respectively I ask) for the days events.

[jeffascough]

Hi Barry

 

I tend to let it all happen. I like them to know when I expect to do the formal images (if there are any) but that's about it.

 

I do get a schedule of the day from the event organiser or the bride, so that I know roughly where I need to be to get certain parts of the day, but like I said I just tend to go with the flow.

[barry_davis___st._louis__m]

still looking forward to that Album? :-)

[jeffascough]

Looks like this interview has caused a bit of a stir on DPReview...and the RAW v jpeg debate has raised its ugly head again...LOL

 

I'm going to give my reasons for shooting jpeg. There is also a bit on my blog concerning shooting RAW and jpeg

 

http://jeffascough.typepad.com/wpj_resource/2007/02/if_you_shoot_ra.html

 

OK a bit of background first of all. I shot RAW for the first year of being a wedding photographer. I've tried every RAW processing software on the market in that time. I understand how to get the best from a RAW file, and I understand the technical aspects of 8 bit vs 16 bit files.

 

I still shoot the odd job in RAW and process it in the latest software to see if there is any advantage *to me* in shooting RAW.

 

I prefer to shoot jpeg. I shoot the highest level jpeg my camera will give me. I use preset WB and back the contrast off in camera. I use no sharpening in camera.

 

Now then, the reasons behind what some people have said as being 'irresponsible' behavior for a pro photographer....:))

 

I do a lot of work on my images. I run a lot of actions on the files. The end result is nothing like what comes out of camera. All my images are seen as album ready images. I don't do proofs. The clients only see finished images.

 

So if I shot RAW I would have to do the corrections for WB, density etc. I would then have to convert those images to jpeg in order to take them into Photoshop to do my thing with the files. Err...hold on...I'm enhancing jpegs....so why not skip the RAW conversions and get straight on with enhancing the jpegs??

 

Ahh...I hear you say...but you can convert RAW files to 16-Bit Tiffs. You can...except processing tiffs is like walking in mud. It's sloooowwww. Everything takes too long.

 

But...you will get a higher quality image as you won't be throwing away all that extra data that RAW gives you. Well if that's true, its only on a theoretical level. In practice there is no 'real world' difference between a print from a jpeg and a print from a RAW file that has been converted to jpeg and then has undergone the same post processing.

 

I can't emphasise this enough. Because of the amount of post that I apply to my images, it makes no sense whatsoever to shoot in RAW to add three to four hours to my workflow in order to end up with the same quality of print as I would get from jpeg.

 

Hopefully that has cleared a few things up....

[russ_butner___portland__or]

Jeff

 

When you were burning film, I heard that you used Neopan 400CN. I too, love & use that film for my B/W wedding work. I was just curious as to why you chose it over Ilfords XP-2 or Kodaks B/W C-41 version?

 

Thanks

Russ

[don_hill]

Hi Jeff,

 

Have you had any resistance to your album only wedding services from clients?

 

I assume that most clients are sold before they book you, but what are the most common

concerns that your clients have regarding the album as the first and final product that they

receive from you?

 

Thanks in advance, this has been a great thread.

 

Don

[scottanderson]

Hey Jeff,

 

1st off, Many thanks for taking the time to give us your feedback.

I am curious if you ever run into weddings where lack of emotion and opportunity present themselves. If so, do you feel tempted to choreograph the moment in those situations as to ensure at least somewhat of decent turnout? I have been to a only a few where this existed but it will make me cringe. What do you do to look for moments went they aren't obvious? Thank you much Jeff.

 

-Scott

[gavin_cato1]

Hi Jeff,

 

Thanks for your time again. In my previous post I did not mean to sound like I was asking for posing ideas - rather I was trying to ask - how do you keep a photographic flow going the whole time? i.e. if there is really not an awful lot happening do you try to seek out things or do you just wait for the moment(s) to eventuate? How do you keep the creative juices flowing the whole time?

 

Also with the jorgensen album - do you sharpen your images *after* they have been resized to their intended print output or do you sharpen in photoshop, and then just let the jorgensen software resize for you and leave it at that? The reason I ask is at the moment I export my print selection as 5x7.5" sized jpegs from aperture, then use photoshop with a plugin called 'nik sharpener pro' which sharpens each image as it sees fit. I'm unsure where this type of step of sharpening for the intended print output fits into your workflow.

 

many thanks once again.

 

Gav

[jeffascough]

Hi Russ

 

I tended to use whatever my lab preferred to print. They were a Fuji lab and Fuji set them up

properly with the printer profiles for the Frontier system. So it made sense to shoot Fuji.

 

Before that I shot Kodak TCN for years but it was always a little flat in the midtones. Fuji had

more of a traditional film tonal range which suited me.

[jeffascough]

Hi Don

 

Some people have objected to having a completed album, but in all honesty they are very

few and far between. Once I explain my philosophy behind my approach they are quite

happy with it.

 

I shoot for the album, not to sell pictures after the event. The album is the vehicle for my

work and I shoot pictures accordingly. It makes a difference to me as an artist to have that

freedom, without having to work within the constraints of taking pictures which I have to

sell afterwards.

 

The clients get their albums within 6 weeks of the wedding and they don't need to visit

me, choose pictures, or even have to contact me again. With my client's busy lifestyles, I

think most of them appreciate this hassle free approach.

 

I also refer to the videographer. He has carte blanche to put together a DVD of the

wedding day as he sees fit, so why should photographers be any different?

 

Finally, if you proof your images you are saying to the client "I can't decide which are the

best pictures from your wedding. So I'm going to let you decide even though you haven't

any experience of looking at wedding photographs."

 

Furthermore, if a client has to choose a set number of images - how will she do it? Simple.

She'll look out for the pictures she doesn't like. That immediately says to the client that

there are pictures in the set that aren't very good. That's too negative a standpoint to take,

for me anyway.

[jeffascough]

Hi Scott

 

We do get some weddings that lack any kind of emotion, but there are always loads of

picture opportunities. There is so much going on at a wedding that it's impossible not to

get any pictures.

 

I think many photographers are too hung up on getting certain shots and if they don't

materialise, they panic into trying to stage them. For me, if something isn't happening I go

and look for something else to photograph. I don't come into a wedding with any pre-

conceived ideas on what to shoot. I tend to go with the flow. I think that attitude helps.

[jeffascough]

Hi Gavin

 

I think I've covered your first point in response to Scott's post.

 

Interestingly I have just changed the way I do the sharpening with Jorgensen pages.

Previously I always sharpened the images, then imported them into the software, designed

the album and exported the pages. Now I leave the files unsharpened until the pages are

exported, and then sharpen the whole page.

[scott_williams5]

Hi Jeff. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

 

I think you philosophy with the albums is brilliant, but I have a question. Do you offer a CD or online proofing? What if the parents want an 8x10 or something?

 

Thanks.

 

Scott.