www.withheart.ca

Sure will do!

Tom: What's the flash set to in your senario? TTL?

 

I think I understand what you mean. I take an ambient reading. Bump up the shutter to increase the flash to ambient ratio. Maybe by a stop or two. All the while boucing flash into an umbrella. Keeping it close to the subject for power's sake. (How close by the way do you generally keep it?)Did I get you right?

 

Well thanks for everyone's suggestions. I'm gonna go tinker and see what'll work best for me. Obivously I'd rather be shooting in window light. Or nice early morning light. But hey I don't always get what I want. ;)

 

Pretty glistening eyes here I come!

 

Thanks again to all!

These look intriguing. Is this the product you meant? (obviously the size is wrong but you know hat I mean)

 

http://www.larson-ent.com/products_detail.php?id=52

 

How's the adjusting of angles work? Do they keep their angles well?

Oh I should mention that I generally am shooting alone.

 

What are some good solutions for holding up the black flag (or roof)and reflectors?

 

thanks again!

Here's an sample outdoor picture.<div></div>

So I've been messing around with different lighting techniques and want to

improve the lighting of my outdoor portraits.

 

The sample picture of the girl wearing teal and black is taken with window

light only. Sometimes I'll change the angle and use reflectors and such with

this set-up. But what I love about it is the huge glistening eyes.

 

I want light in the eyes like that (for 1-2 people) outside in the following

situations:

 

1. Overcast day mid-morning no open shade (about 2-3 hours before sun is

directly overhead)

2. Sunny day mid-morning no open shade (again 2-3 hours before sun is directly

overhead)

 

I tend to shoot with my 85mm 1.8 lens on my nikon d200. I've got a SB-800,

lightstands, umbrellas, a 32" 5 in 1 reflector, Lumisphere (gary fong thingy).

 

I'll post a picture of my current outside photo lighting quality. I've been

shooting with my camera on manual, using a light meter and setting my flash

to -2. I also stick the lumisphere on it in an effort to soften the flash

light.

 

I'm thinking of purchasing a sunpak 120j to play around with and am also open

to purchasing/making a better reflector system. Don't be afraid to make

suggestions that include equipment I don't have or may not have mentioned

here.

 

Thanks again for any help! I always apreciate your responses :)<div></div>

I'm often shooting on my own and I love to use reflectors. The reflector

holder I have now, I find doesn't adjust easily nor stay when I adjust it. It

is driving me crazy!

 

I'm curious if y'all have a favorite reflector holder that you could

reccomend. I'm looking for something that I can use outdoors, holds a variety

of sized reflectors. Easy to adjust and stays put when I get the adjustment

right.

 

Bring it on! Thanks for your suggestions! :)

When they move away from the table you'll have to watch the flash behind them. Might be able to hide the "white blob" behind them; I dunno I've never tried it. But I'm with Al on the editing. Who wants to edit if they don't have to.

 

For some shots you could try shooting from above using the floor as your background (B&G first dance perhaps??).

 

Also you could use the ceiling sometimes if it isn't too high or a funny color.

 

Last idea, if you have an assistant get them to hold a large white cardborad and use the to bounce off of.

I like this post and am curious to see all the comments it will generate. :)

 

For me what I tend to do is to indentify a B&G's personality and use that as a starting place for the mood of the shots I take. (I make lots of notes at my pre-planning appointments and review them before the wedding to get my creative juices flowing.) This shooting style fits well with my personality, as I tend to like things to be thoughtful, real and personable. I'd also get bored shooting the same stuff all the time. I like to switch it up and play around.

 

From there I'll get creative with equipment, texture, color and light based on the personality of the couple. One thing I love about fixed lenses is that it forces you to use that lens in ways you might not have otherwise thought of if you'd just had a zoom lens on.

 

I don't do alot of weddings, max 2 per month, so that I never feel sick of them and can give my full creative passion to each one.

 

For me this wasn't "an aha!", it was something that I realized I was doing over time.

Thanks for all the good suggestions!

I'm looking to buy around 30 rechargeable AA nickel metal hydride batteries to

use primarily in my flashes. The more mAh the better! I bought some off of

Ebay but I am unhappy with the reliabilty/durability of them (Powerizers was

the brand). I only used them a handful of times and they are starting to die.

 

What brand can you recommmend from your experience? Where do you buy them from?

 

Thanks for you help! It is so appreciated. :)

Michelle

Rent? To try before you buy? Or for your shoots?

 

For your shoot: I used to rent lenses for weddings but everytime there seemed to be something wonky with the lens. I'd test it as much as I had time for beforehand (and that gets old really fast). I've just found that I prefer to have equipment that I really know with me on a wedding shoot. No time for dealing with a lens' personality. ;)

 

To try before you buy: If you feel like a road trip, Glazer's in Seattle, WA rents equipment. If you buy from them, they'll put the rental fee towards your purchase. Lenses are around $25 to rent for a weekend if you pick up on Friday night.

 

As for equipment, I also own the D200 and have been trying to decide which lens set-up to go with myself.

 

Prime Lens: Larger Apertures available, lighter, not as expensive and no distortion worries. But may miss shots due to the need to move/chg lenses to compose.

 

Zoom: Fast composing ability. 2.8 isn't bad but it isn't 1.4, however there is VR. The 70-200mm is HEAVY. Your arms/shoulders get so sore holding/carrying that thing. But it does look impressive on your camera.;)

 

I haven't used a 28-70, but I'm tempted by this lens. I think I would get the most use outta this zoom range.

 

From experience I find the 50mm 1.4 invaluable in low light situations and a nice portrait lens on the D200. I shoot with it the most for getting ready shots and ceremony shots. AND it's light!!

 

I purchased an 85mm 1.8 for formals more zoomed in and if I need something more zoomed in for a ceremony where I'm shooting from the back of a dark church.

 

I also own the 18-200mm which i know has distortion issues but I just keep people away from the edges. It is such a handy little lens if you have the light. My mom was married outside and I used this lens until we went inside. Then I promply put on my 50 mm. ;)

 

My only problem with this lens set-up is that I have no fast wide angle. Otherwise I love it. Hence why I'd been eyeing the 28-70. Could be handy. Then again you could purchase a fixed landscape.

 

Lots of people really enjoy the 28-70 and 70-200 set-up. I just felt that the 70-200 was just too heavy for the amount of use one would get with it. It's nice to zoom in at the ceremony on the fingers when they are giving each thier rings. Also you can be more stealthy with candids at the reception. However I noticed that I tended to use it more at the 70-80mm range. So I went with the 85mm instead.

 

Hope this helps!

Michelle

lol. I was wondering myself!

You should be able to find a lab that will print Tiffs.

 

HH does.

Mpix doesn't.

 

I know Labprints partners with many labs around the US and Canada. Perhaps they may know of some in the UK to reccommend? Just a thought.

 

Good luck my friend!

I also thought about using my own printer. I'm a quality control freak you see ;). I found out about a Lab called HH Color (www.hhcolorlab.com) and decided to use them for effiency.

 

I use a free verision of labprints that you can download from their site to order online and they ship everything to your door using Fed-ex. They bake the shipping into all their prices.

 

To order you upload the edited but uncropped (Tiff or Jpeg) pictures from a shoot into Lapprint's software, order all sorts of sizes and crop in the program. You can set-up your studio prices there and use this program with your client beside you. Saving you the extra time of ordering after they leave. Also that way you don't have the extra step of cropping 200+ images and saving them on your harddrive.

 

Also you can pay to set up with lapprints to do online ordering as well as they have wedding album software. I've tried the online ordering and like it so far. Don't know much about the wedding album software.

 

HH color does not have a color printer profile, which is the only thing I wish they had. However, if I color correct stuff myself it comes back consistent and looking good. They will do a test run with you; so you'll be able to see how your images will look. They also offer, for a price, to do color correction for you. This also is consistent and looks good. I was impressed! Still I wish they had a printer profile. :(

 

They have excellent customer service too which is nice!

 

I also use MPIX from time to time. Thier user interface is horrible and everything takes me much longer to do there. But they offer studio color corrected color/sepia prints for .19 each and print on the same paper that I pay $1.70 for at HH color. So I'll use them for proofing to save $$$. Thier larger sizes end up costing me about the same as hh color.

 

Hope this helps!

Michelle

I really like Kinesis's stuff: www.kgear.com. I found this company has a fublously designed stuff. I got a belt system for weddings. I use that and small carry on luggage on wheels for the stuff I don't need immediate access to. Their stuff is well thought out and very versatile. The belt system is easily customizable and very comfortable. (I found that think tank didn't fit very well on me.) The main camera bag on the belt system has a comfy shoulder strap you can get for it. Which is nice cause that allows me multi-purpose that bag. I'm all about multi-purposing stuff! I also appreciate the design of the lens bags. They made them with extra padding on the bottom for extra protection and the tops are easy to get into quickly.

WOW lots of ideas! Thanks to everyone who responded. :)

So I'm wanting a camera to come with me everywhere. I'm dreaming of a

tiny/small camera, Film is ok, great optics, and a fast 50 mm lens. The m

series leicas are too big and heavy. The contax G was close but still too big.

Is there hope for me? :)

OH my! The Bokeh on the 35mm drove me nutty!! I sadly returned the Contax G1 this afternoon. I'm having returners remorse a bit though and am tempted to march right back to the store and buy it back. It was a fun little camera. Only I think I would look around for a 45mm lens for it.

 

But I found that the contax really wasn't that much smaller than my film nikon SLR with its 50mm lens attatched and I already own those. :) So sadly, it has gone back to be an orphan at my local photo store.

 

What I really want is a tiny camera with a fast fixed 50mm lens and control over the exposure. Is there hope for me?

Thanks everyone for all your opinons and ideas! I look forward to researching some of the other cameras mentioned.

 

I took a roll of film with the 35mm lens and am curious to see the results. But I'd love to see images from 45mm someday!

 

Thanks again everyone!

Andrew I also feel that the Leica m's are too big. Mainly too Heavy ;). Anyway which Leica were you suggesting? I'd be curious to take a peek at its specs.

So I've gotten tired of lugging all my SLR gear around and have come across

the Contax G1 camera. ;)

 

So here's my question: If you could only bring one lens with you on your daily

adventures around life what would it be? I can't decide which one to settle

on. I'm tempted to do either 35mm F2 only or to go with 28mm & 90 mm set up.

Which lenses live on you cameras?

LOL great story!

 

BTW I was on your website and found thatyour link to pricing for senior pictures was broken. Just htought you might like to know. :)

Hey you guys!

 

I'm not sure of your technical knowledge level but I'll send this your way in case it helps. But who knows maybe you know all this stuff already. ;) These two websites have helped me alot to over come tricky lighting situations.

 

The first one teaches dragging the shutter: http://www.planetneil.com/faq/dragging-the-shutter.html. I think this technique could come in handy when you two want to mix the available light with some flash, but still keep some of the prettier available light.

 

The second website teaches about using off camera lighting set-ups. Which I think could be useful when you want to light a dance floor, gazebo or whatever but need to use mostly flash. Well even if you are just supplementing your ambient with flash this can be fun to use. http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html

 

 

Good luck and have fun!

I always do that with the spelling. Thanks for the reminder :)

 

And I was worried that $800 was too much to charge. Silly me, I guess I was way off there. WOW! $1000 huh?!

 

Do you all have many people who purchase these digital coffee table books or do most of your clients opt for the formal ablums?