jasonsmith

Kari - you got me thinking about how to use the PW if you have a Speedlight in the Hotshoe. You could connect your camera or flash (via PC socket) to the PW using a longer sync cord and dangle the pocket wizard from your belt.

Kari - check out http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/

I think it's a great rescourse for this type of shooting.

Kari, if you have your SB800 in the hotshoe you can connect the PW Transmitter via the PC connection on either the flash or camera (not sure if the S3 has a PC connection). You could attach it to the flash with velcro although the whole setup would be getting a little bulky. In this instance you would probably be using the Hotshoe mounted SB800 as a 'fill' with your second PW fired flash on a stand or held by an assistant. Bambi Cantrell describes a similiar setup for processionals and formals in her DVD.

The only speedlights I had were an SB800, and an SB24. I was experimenting with using them in Manual mode a two light setup so the only way I could think to fire the SB800 was from the built in flash, or a PC Sync cord. I was just working out what options I have. Ultimately I will probably buy another Pocket Wizard Reciever to fire other flashes. I have found firing the SB800 from the built in flash a little unreliable. It seems to be a little finicky depending on where the D200 and SB800 are positioned.

Thanks guys - some great shots posted which has motivated me to try this a little more often. Eric - love the portrait. I found using the D200s 'pop up' flash as a trigger for remote SB800s to be a little unreliable. There seems to be a slight delay in which the 'pop up' flash talks to the remotes.

 

I invested in a couple of 2nd hand Pocket Wizards which although expensive work really well.

After exploring the Strobist site posted here a month ago I got quite excited

about using off camera flash for weddings. I managed to pick up a couple of

pocket wizards and umbrella swivels from Ebay, and some lightweight Manfrotto

(Bogen) stands. Using 2 or more speedlights off camera can obviously give more

superior results but is time consuming and often doesnt suit the fast pace of

a wedding.

 

I have noticed that photographers in the US often seem to use off camera

strobes, Alien Bees and the like at weddings. I am based in Sydney, Australia

and have never seen a wedding photographer use anything but 'on camera' flash.

 

I am interested in seeing how many of you use off camera flash, and exactly

how you use it?

I purchased a pocket wizard kit and was experimenting today with a 2 flash

setup. I had the PW transmitter in the D200s hotshoe, and the reciever firing

a SB24. I decided to try and use my SB800 on another stand which I intended to

use in remote mode firing off the built in flash. What I found is that lifting

the built in flash seems to disable the hotshoe. Has anyone else had a

similiar experience.

Pro Show Gold from Photodex is very user friendly and gives good results. I mucked about with Adobe Premiere for a day or so before using Proshow and built a DVD Slideshow in about 5 minutes.

Lauren

 

Heres a link to an informal shoot I did of a friends Christening in March.

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=345335

 

As with a wedding I just tried to capture the essence of the day for them. I also made a slide show to music using Proshow Gold which they absololutely loved.

 

As with a wedding, try and get nice shots of all the important people - parents, godparents, grandparents and the priest.<div></div>

Cindy

 

Maybe purchase one of the many books available and work your way through it. Once you are comfortable with PS there are a myriad of tips and tricks on the web. It pays to have at least one good reference bookon the shelf IMO.

Thanks Sheldon - That should be "Select the Channels you want" using Shift+Click. I works.......cheers

I was playing around with the image below and like the effect I get when

combining the "Lightness" and "a" Channel in LAB Colour mode. The foreground

has lots of contrast with a tinge of blue in the sky. I have tried copying the

image with only these two Channels turned on but when I paste it to a new

layer it comes out in Greyscale.

 

Does anyone know how to make an image from the "Lightness" and "a" Channels

only.<div></div>

Thanks - they have a quite an expensive 16:9 Widescreen. The standard here in Australia is still 4:3 although many people have widescreens now. Looks like its back to the drawing board. I wonder if I can setup an action to convert all to the new Pixel ratio.

I have just put together a DVD slideshow for a recent wedding using Proshow

Gold. The slideshow plays Ok on my TV but I noted that the bride and groom

have a widescreen LCD set. I dont want to send them a presentation that wont

format on their screen. Should I use the "Fit to safe zone" option on all the

slides or will they play on any TV as is?

Not sure if she is going to produce a DVD version. I have the original DVD which I which I found quite useful.

Thanks guys - the reason I posted this is that the last three or four books I have purchased on wedding photography have been a little disappointing. They all seemed to be aimed a little low IMO. The latest book from Paul GERO is an example. The bulk of the advice and techniques seemed to be aimed at the novice shooting a wedding. IMO it certainly didnt come close to Bambi's first book in offering useful advice.

 

Jonathan - I am in Bondi Junction regularly so will check it out for myself.

Bambi Cantrell's latest book the Art of Digital Wedding Photography is now

available. Can anyone offer up a review.

Robert

 

I got the LS PJ II recently and to be honest was a little underwhelmed by it. I really dont think it is all that different to the Stofen Omni Bounce which is cheaper. Where possible I would try and find a large white surface to bounce your flash off such as a wall, ceiling etc. Yoy will get a much better result. When this is not possible you could revert the the LSPJ.

Amy - the obvious answer would be to avoid using direct flash, or direct sunlight. Can you post an example.

I mucked around for hours today using Adobe Premiere to produce a photo slideshow with music. The same slideshow took me 5 minutes to make in ProShow Gold.

I have a D200 / SB800 and looking to add a second flash to use with

the Nikon Creative Lighting System. Rather than buy another SB800, I

was wondering whether the SB600 will suffice as a second flash. It

seems to do everything the SB800 will do with the exception of

having the capability to be a Master flash. There is also the R200

which seems to be purely a remote flash.

 

Am I missing out on anything significant by getting the Sb600 as a

second flash.

Gup

 

You can use it via the PC Connection on the side of your D2X. This will just trigger the Metz which you can use in Auto Thyristor mode.

 

Set the Metz to ISO200 and whatever Aperture your lens is at for a starting point. The Auto light on the back of the flash should be on.

 

Using the PC Connection to fire the metz wont damage your camera.

My biggest fear in setting Custom WHite Balance during a wedding is that I will forget to change it when the light changes. I was shooting a wedding a few weeks ago and accidently put the White Balance setting to "Flourescent". This can happen on the D200 as the "WB" button is right next to the "ISO". I was shooting RAW so it wasnt a big issue but it did make me wonder how I would have fixed the images if shooting JPEG.

 

Has this happened to anyone else....?

I just picked up a Whibal which doesnt assist with setting Custom Balance at the time but allows you to quickly achieve good white balance post production in Camera Raw. You need to have the Whibal somwhere in your sequence. Its just a matter of clicking the white balance eyedropper on the gray part of your Whibal to achieve accurate White Balance.

It would be very irresponsible to shoot (Let along accept money for) shooting this wedding using equiepment you are not completely competant with. You did say that they are "hiring you". Use the money they give you to buy some film and hire a flash - you will need it.