Bride and Father processional front

[bertonsierens]

<p>Hello,<br />What would be some techniques to ensure that the picture(s) taken in front of the bride and father coming into the church, turn out well. Image you have not had the chance to check out the church before, but you see that the light coming through the doors behind the couple are very harsh. I suspect there are many roads leading to Rome, but please share your experiences. I have done one wedding, and this shot haunts me because i underexposed it cause of the matrix metering and it turned out horrible. I guess that fill flash is a must? Manual setting of the flash to - 1 2/3 or the likes, and take the exposure on the brides face?<br />Thanks in advance for your welcome suggestions.</p>

[Marcus Ian]

<p>The exposure on the guests in the back row is likely in the range that the bride and fathers face will be. If you can not spot meter off their faces (FL too wide for the spot meter to encompass only their faces for example), than perhaps expose for the back row on M, and use those settings to shoot the beginning of the procession. Of course this technique will be <em>very</em> situationaly dependent, and won't work in all churches/ ceremony locations.</p>

<p>Alternatively, with your 70-200 mounted, zoom it in enough for your spot metering to meter for just the faces, lock exposure, and zoom out for your framing requirement and refocus and shoot. You should be able to do that in under a second.</p>

<p>Your only friend when shooting in this circumstance is your cameras ability to meter with the center (3% in my case) only aka spot metering. If your camera doesn't/can't spot meter (you should get one that does ;-)), you are going to be stuck w/ shooting a manual exposure. </p>

<p>The downside to using fill is that unless you manually set the power output, the flash relies on the camera to tell it how much flash to provide, so if your metering is exposing for the doorway (as opposed to the Bride), a negative FEC is not going to help at all. You'll need to positively bias the FEC. Of course I am not a Flash guru (I prefer to shoot w/o whenever possible), so perhaps other heads can offer more comprehensive flash advice.</p>

<p>But you are right to be worried about this particular shot. The Bride entering w/ her father on her arm surrounded by a halo of light is one that, when done right, can bring tears to their eyes. It's a deal maker.</p>

 

[William Michael]

<p>IF there’s harsh light coming through the Church Doors and directly behind the Bride and Dad, then walking backwards down the Aisle at a set distance and use manual Flash as Fill to balance with the Church Ambient. The Bride and Dad to fill most of the frame of the DOORWAY, to minimize Lens Flare.</p>

<p>Using E-TTL (or similar) on a regular basis, most experienced Wedding Photographers would be able to compute FEC for that particular shot taking into account the specific shooting scenario, but manual Flash Exposure by Distance / Aperture; and Shutter Speed for Ambient Balance, will be accurate as the general solution. </p>

<p>You need to be aware that various Churches / Locations do not allow the Photographer to be in the Aisle and/or in front of the Bride (i.e. between the Bride and the Altar).</p>

<p>Some Churches do not allow Flash during the Processional: in the case of NO FLASH ALLOWED, then the same procedure, but expose for correct skin tones on the faces and let the ambient behind the B&D expose as it will.</p>

<p>WW</p>

[bertonsierens]

<p>Here you see my shot of the bride and groom coming in. I took my shot vertically (not good i guess), with the 35mm 1.8 dx lens. It was matrix exposure, and the bride and groom were underexposed. I managed to get them back to acceptable in LR. No flash used.</p>

<p><img src="http://bertonsierensphotography.smugmug.com/Weddings/Weddings/i-f2nLsc5/0/M/smugmug-37-M.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>And the original one totally underexposed. Amazing actually I was able to pull that detail out of the shadows....</p>

<p><img src="http://bertonsierensphotography.smugmug.com/Weddings/Weddings/i-Lx6XtcW/0/M/review-1-M.jpg" alt="" /></p>

 

[William Michael]

<blockquote>

<p>It was matrix exposure, and the bride and groom were underexposed. I managed to get them back to acceptable in LR. No flash used.’</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Not arguing with you – I am analysing the errors that we might here.</p>

<p>The EXIF states:<br />Nikon D5100; 35mm F 1.8 Prime Lens.<br />Aperture Priority Mode; CENTRE WEIGHTED METERING Mode<br />SHOT - F/4 @ 1/60s @ ISO500</p>

<p>My experience (a while ago) is that Nikon’s SWA Metering is “really” centre biased – I doubt this has changed on their DSLRs.</p>

<p>My feedback on THAT PARTICULAR SHOT is:</p>

<ol>

<li>The CWA appears to have picked up on the WHITE GOWN and made an almost perfect exposure for ‘photographic grey’. In that shooting scenario one option would have been to use MATRIX METERING; Meter the AISLE (in the shadow in front of the B&D); Lock Exposure; Reframe; Focus and shot. The Aisle (in shadow) looks pretty close to ‘average Photographic Grey’ as the Nikon’s matrix metering would interpret it.</li>

<li>I would not be keen on Av Mode for that shot, especially as it occurs to me that you might not have been watching the Shutter Speed ‘all that closely’: 1/60s is skating on thin ice to pull that shot, sans flash.</li>

<li><strong>Did you drop down on one knee to make that shot?</strong></li>

<li>Should have been at about ISO1600, shooting without a Flash for thsoe Processional shots </li>

<li>I think you can squeeze a bit more out of the original – just a quick rough job, from the low res you posted:</li>

</ol>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/16853272-lg.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="600" /></p>

<p>WW</p>

[pete_s.]

<p>Manual mode is where it's at. Have the camera in spot metering mode and just keep the exposure so that the when you point the spot meter at the brides dress it register +2 EV.</p>

<p>If you use anything but manual the exposure will change anytime you zoom or compose differently or bright elements are included in the background. Exposure will also change depending on where you focus even with the same composition.</p>

<p>If you rely on automatic exposure modes alone you need to learn what works "well" and when you need to compensate. And you also need to accept that the exposure needs to be adjusted in lightroom for a lot of images as automatic will get you close but seldom absolutely right.</p>

<p>If you work in manual mode (and I'd say spot metering) you need at times work harder and faster but when you become good at it you will have almost perfect exposure on everything without it slowing you down. The D5100 unfortunately is not optimal for shooting in manual mode (lacks the second command wheel). </p>

<p>You can also do a combination and go into manual mode only when it get's tricky and stay in auto when it's easy for the camera to figure out the exposure.</p>

<p> </p>

[pete_s.]

<p>PS. Also keep in mind that one easy way to set the exposure before the bride enters is to set it on something else. For instance point the spot meter at the back of your own hand when you come in and put the exposure at +1EV or so, depending on your own skin brightness. When the bride comes through the door exposure will be close to perfect.</p>

<p>Also look around for the light and how bright it is in different places. If you shoot in manual it's pretty easy with experience to get a rough idea of how much you need to change the exposure just based on how it looks. </p>

 

[bertonsierens]

<p>Hi William<br>

Yes i kneeled before the bride. No pun intended. Intuitively actually.<br>

I definitely want to shoot at the right exposure, I dont like spending my nights fixing things that I could have shot right in the first place, and probably will not be recovered well.<br>

Yes it was centered metering indeed, and I get your logic on the metering. Next time I will definitely try manual, focus on my hand is a great idea and fast. In that sense, a D600 would be nice since it has 2 U modes that I could use e.g. one for manual and one for av.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

[William Michael]

<blockquote>

<p>“Yes i kneeled before the bride”</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Yes – thanks for confirming that.<br />I would not have done that.<br />The low camera angle accentuates the female’s hips and forces the viewer’s eye away from the faces – her face; it also forces an ‘up the nose’ view of the man, in this particular shot.<br />Kneeling, to make the shot from hip level, might be an interesting novelty employed by many photographers, but is very rarely necessary.</p>

<p>***</p>

<p>On the metering / shooting of that scene, note that I wrote:<br />“In that shooting scenario<strong><em> one option</em></strong> would have been to use MATRIX METERING; Meter the AISLE (in the shadow in front of the B&D); Lock Exposure; Reframe; Focus and shot. The Aisle (in shadow) looks pretty close to ‘average Photographic Grey’ as the Nikon’s matrix metering would interpret it.”</p>

<p>That describes one option – not necessarily the ‘correct’ option.</p>

<p>Metering the dress with SPOT METERING and opening up two stops would be another option.<br>

. . . or the metering the back of the hand technique .. . etc<br>

<br />Using Av Priority is not a sin – it is just that the SHUTTER SPEED needs to be monitored.<br />There are many ways to make any shot.</p>

<p>WW</p>

<p> </p>

[ejder]

Shoot manual, you should already know exactly the right exposure settings by the time the bride does her walk. I

would not be allowed to use flash for most church ceremonies so everything is ambient and manual. Much easier to

deal with that than fighting an easily confused ettl system anyway.

 

Yes churches in my area don't usually allow flash during ceremony. Others might allow it during processional only but

there is not much benefit from blasting a distant side wall of undetermined color and hoping for enough residual

bounce.

[marcsaint]

With the bridal party coming down the aisle prior to the bride you might have some time to fine tune the exposure on them.

[bertonsierens]

<p>Thanks for the much needed info all of you</p>

[Marcus Ian]

<p>Remember, a lot of it is situationally dependent, in a small church you have a short processional, and must get it right in the few seconds you have. Small churches are often easier if they have good windows. The difference in outside vs. inside lighting is sometimes lower than than you anticipate.</p>

<p>Larger churches are easier in the sense that they give you more time, and the 'flood' effect of the door is minimized by distance. I routinely experience the door being closed <em>during</em> the procession in larger churches. They are harder in the sense that they often obscenely dark.</p>

<p>The flash option is of course situationally dependent as well, more conservative/formal churches <em>often</em> restrict your (or at least mine anyway ;-) ) use even during the procession.</p>

[savagesax]

In this instance I don't use fill flash at all. I like to take 2 or 3 shots because they often look away from the camera, such as the aisles, looking at friends, blanks, anything else. Fill flash never covers, causing the images to be well under exposed. I use a pretty powerful flash unit, so I can set the flash to 1/2 power around 10 feet, then12 feet, then 10 feet, lastly 8 feet. The exposures will be off, but close enough to adjust them in RAW. The recycle time is fast with no delays.

 

The flash is aimed directly at them, no bounce or fill. Shutter 1/60, F 8. By the way I also pre focus aiming at the aisle. As they hit this aisle I fire. At F 8 the other 2 shots will still be in focus. This should help with future weddings.