Shutter Speed

[islington photographer]

I will be attending a wedding this Friday and would like to know what type of speed should I be shooting

at to capture the bride walking down the aisle.

I will be using a 5D with speedlite.

Lens wise I will have with me

70-200mm 2.8

24-105mm 4.0

16-35mm 2.8

 

I dont normally do weddings and as you only get one chance I need as much help as possible!

 

Colin

[KenPapai]

Experiment -- use a wife, friend, sibling and have them walk slowly. Shoot at ISO 400 and 800 and shutter speeds up to max synch speed (1/250).

 

1/125 with a Speedlite will probably work fine at focal lengths less than 100mm.

[alan_olander1664878205]

The flash will be your "shutter speed" and stop motion unless the ambient light is bright. As stated above, 1/125 should work in any case.

[cliff_henry]

Colin,

 

Alan has it correct - "The flash will be your "shutter speed" and stop motion unless the ambient light is bright."

 

Suggest you do a search here on "dragging the shutter".

 

I shoot indoor weddings in M mode with shutter set to 1/40 @f5.6. The flash will stop any movement. Meter the background and set shutter speed so background will not be too underexposed, usually -1 ~ -2.

 

Many pros like to set AF to one shot or manual focus and pre-focus on a zone. I use AI Servo and it works for me. Also suggest you do a search on "focusing during the processional". What ever method you use, I suggest you practice - preferably in the same venue and in same light conditions as the wedding.

 

Your 24-105 lens should work for about 80% of your shots.

 

Good luck.

 

Cliff

[digitalirony]

Until I found this site [http://planetneil.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/], I always had problems shooting social events (birthday parties, pub evenings, etc.), but since reading about how he uses flash I've found it a lot easier. Try some of the techniques out beforehand, they may be helpful.

 

I hope it is useful, good luck on Friday.

[digitalirony]

The URL in my post above should be http://planetneil.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/

 

I don't know why the bracket got included in the link, sorry.

[Ed_Ingold]

The duration of the flash is much shorter than that of the shutter (< 1/1000 sec). Consequently flash exposure is determined by the aperture only. You set the shutter speed to include as much or little of the ambient light as desired at that aperture. Using a longer shutter speed ("dragging" the shutter) lightens the background, but risks showing blurred or double images and a mismatched color temperature.