Wedding Photographer Kent - Using flash

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Another good question that deserves a post of its own.

David,

When using flash in AV mode, but trying to capture ambient light in backgrounds, do you take your meter reading from the background (without the main subject) then recompose with the subject and let the flash balance itself? Or just meter the whole scene, and adjust EV?

Thanks!

When lighting for portraits, photographers talk specifically about key and fill lights. In the simplest scenario, the key light is the principle light source and determines shadow placement, and the fill light is used to reduce the contrast between highlight and shadow, by 'filling in' the shadow regions with light. A similar situation exists when you have to balance ambient and flash light - your flash can act as either the key or fill light. This is pertinent to the above question, since if you shoot in an automated flash mode, you have to be aware that the camera is making this decision for you, and can get it wrong.

90% of my shots are taken in aperture priority mode, with evaluative metering, and I use my flash in E-TTL II mode (the other 10% of the time I use manual mode). This requires me to make both exposure and flash exposure compensations and requires me to think about what I'm doing. In fact, although there is no best method for using your camera, to expose shots correctly in a wide range of lighting conditions will require you to think, whatever the process you use. Cameras are not yet clever enough to do it all for you, although I hope one day they will be. In the meantime, it's all about finding a reliable and efficient method that works for you.

So in the above example I would typically (alas, there are always exceptions) meter the whole scene and then apply exposure compensation to adjust the ambient light to the level I required, followed by flash exposure compensation to control the level of flash light. The ambient light is easiest to get right. Getting the right level of flash can occasionally be tricky, particularly when the camera has been fooled and is trying to use the flash as a key light rather than a fill light - it attempts to flash light the whole scene, resulting in your subject being massively over-exposed (nuked!). In this situation, you can either dial the flash right down (up to -3 stops) or use flash exposure lock on your subject.

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Fun with Photoshop

I was looking through some old photos last night and found this one from late 2007. It made me chuckle so thought I'd share it. A composite of 7 shots of my daughter Emily. There's never a dull moment with Photoshop!

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Wedding Photographer Kent - High ISO

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A few questions on the high ISO performance of the 5D Mark II:

Hi David,

How do manage noise at the higher ISOs? I recently bought a 5D mk II, a great camera but when I did a series of test shots at different ISOs I could clearly see noise (noticeable in blocks of even colour) from ISO 400 up. I am used to shooting for stock at ISO 100 so am I being overly picky? I shoot RAW and process through Lightroom v2.2. I understand the on camera noise reduction only applies to JPEGs. What should I be doing to get good photos at ISO 800 and up?

Duncan

Hi Duncan,

If you're used to shooting at ISO 100 then you'll find the noise quite offputting at high ISO. The 5D Mark II is about as good as it gets for low noise due to its large sensor - you should try using a compact at high ISO!

For cleaning up images I highly recommend NeatImage - an amazing piece of software!

Yours,

David

Hi David,

Thanks for posting.

Which format did you use when you compared the 5DmkII to the 5D? (iso 1250 vs. iso 6400). JPEG or RAW? If RAW which program did you use to convert the files?

Thanks,

Ivan

Hi Ivan,

I always shoot in RAW and convert with Adobe Lightroom 2.2.

Yours,

David

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Wedding Photographer Kent - 85mm f/1.2 L

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Hi David,

What are your thoughts on the 85mm f/1.2 L as a more general lens for weddings. Clearly it is fast enough for any environment and ideal for posed portraits, but what about guest shots and candids. Can it focus quickly or will it miss the shot - I keep reading that it is slow - but slow compared to what? Do they mean if switching focus from a close to a far object? Compared to a 24-70L what % are we talking about here?

Thank you

James

Hi James,

The 85mm f/1.2 L and 35mm f/1.4 L prime lenses find great favour amongst wedding photographers. You can use them in all scenarios but there is a learning curve with the 85mm lens.

The 85mm lens is slower to focus than most other AF lenses - I don't have hard figures for you on this though. It does take some getting used to, but if you want an aperture of f/1.2 and awesome optical quality (and I do) that's the price you have to pay! People need to learn how to shoot with this lens - it has a minimum focusing distance of 95cm for example! Focusing on objects between 1-2m is probably where people encounter most of their problems. Beyond this, focusing becomes much quicker. I use it for candids but you do need plenty of space.

Yours,

David

Sorry David,

If you have time, can you please expand on what the difficulties are with this lens and what the learning curve relates to? What also is the significance of the minimum focusing distance? I'm looking to buy one but don't want to make a very expensive mistake.

Thanks in advance!

James

Hi James,

The key points to be aware of:

Objects need to be more than 95cm from the focal plane for the lens to be able to focus on them - so you need to keep your distance.

You need to be aware that if you focus on an object between 1-2m away and then refocus on an object further away it can take the lens time to refocus.

Focusing technique needs to be very accurate with wide apertures.

It's not a steep learning curve but, as you can see from the above points, there is one nonetheless.

Yours,

David

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Wedding Photographer - Deal, Kent

1/125, f/4, ISO 1000, +2/3 EV, -1/3 FEC, 35mm (16-35)

1/80, f/2.8, ISO 1250, -1/3 EV, 85mm (85)

Light levels in the church were good but there were spotlights giving high contrast light. I had to frame shots very carefully to minimise flare.

1/100, f/2.2, ISO 1000, 0 EV, 35mm (35)

1/160, f/2.8, ISO 1000, 0 EV, 35mm (35)

1/60, f/4, ISO 800, +1/3 EV, -2/3 FEC, 35mm (16-35)

1/125, f/2.8, ISO 2000, 0 EV, 70mm (24-70)

The bride's reaction when the minister described her husband as "a bit of a geek". He does work in IT but nonetheless...

1/200, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, -2/3 FEC, 35mm (16-35)

1/160, f/2.8, ISO 1000, 0 EV, 200mm (70-200)

There was a small area of grass available for group shots and the bride and groom portraits. Unfortunately there were lots of distractions in the background so it was shallow depth of field time.

1/125, f/2.8, ISO 1000, -1/3 EV, 200mm (70-200)

1/250, f/1.2, ISO 500, -1/3 EV, 85mm (85)

1/320, f/1.2, ISO 500, -1/3 EV, 85mm (85)

1/320, f/5.6, ISO 2500, 0 EV, +1/3 FEC, 16mm (16-35)

The intimidating sight of live action role players!

1/100, f/5.6, ISO 2500, 0 EV, -2/3 FEC, 35mm (16-35)

One of the more unusual bride and groom portraits I've taken!

1/200, f/2.8, ISO 3200, 0 EV, 0 FEC, 35mm (16-35)

Lower light levels in the reception hall but with a 5D Mark II, it's not a problem.

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Kent Photographer - Lens Hoods

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Here's a good question:

Hi again David,

I always see pro photographers using their lens hoods indoors - is this needed for flash photography? Does it do any harm leaving it on?

Thank you

Jane

Hi Jane,

I always have my lens hoods on - both indoors and outdoors. They reduce the chance of stray light being reflected within the lens, which causes flare and reduces contrast, and also offer increased protection for your lens.

If your camera has an in-built pop-up flash unit then a lens hood will probably cast a shadow on to your subject, but so will most big lenses without a lens hood. This can be avoided by using an external flash unit.

Yours,

David

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Wedding Photography in Deal

My latest gallery - the wedding of Jules and Jono at Trinity Church, Deal - is now online. Since they're both into live action role playing you may notice some unusual pictures. Still, makes for a nice change!

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Kent Wedding Photographer - Enquiries

More blog posts will be coming soon! I've been answering comments and questions asap but haven't had time to post anything new due to the volume of wedding enquiries I've been receiving. January is a very busy month - I've even had an enquiry for 2011!

I've got some big topics lined up, including tips on group shots and what I think are the key skills for a wedding photographer.

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Kent Wedding Photography - wide angle lenses

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I received the following question earlier:

Hi David,

I notice you use the 35mm f/1.4 lens a lot for head and shoulders images - and they all look fantastic.

My understanding was that one should use 80mm + to avoid facial distortion in these kind of shots. What's your take?

Cheers

Geoff

Hi Geoff,

Thanks for your kind words.

Focal lengths of 80mm and above are typically used for portraiture since it forces you to stand further from your subject in order to fill the frame, giving a more flattering perspective to your subject's face. See my earlier post on perspective and portrait lenses.

The important thing to note is that perspective depends upon distance to subject. If I fill the frame with someone's face using a 35mm lens it probably won't look too flattering. Increasing the distance from the subject will diminish the distortion though. Some of my shots have probably been cropped making it appear that I was closer than I actually was.

Some portrait photographers might find some of my shots taken at 35mm unacceptable. It's all in the eye of the beholder!

Yours,

David

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Kent Wedding Photographer in Deal

I had the pleasure of photographing Jules and Jono's wedding yesterday at Trinity Church, Deal. Lovely light outside but also very, very cold!

My trusty EOS 5D stayed in my back-up bag and let my new EOS 5D Mark II take centre stage. The wedding gallery will appear in a few days.

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Wedding Photography Kent - Manual Mode

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If you struggle to understand what follows, I'd recommend you read the post on metering and exposure.

Exposure is determined by incident light. Cameras, however, measure reflected light. Therefore, to estimate the incident light from the reflected light measurement, cameras assume that a scene has an overall reflectance of 18% (equivalent to a tonality termed middle grey). In most cases this works very well, but when the overall tonality of a scene is not middle grey, a situation which occurs frequently at weddings, exposure inaccuracies result. Exposure compensation is one way of correcting for this and is a technique that photographers need to be familiar with. Under the correct circumstances though, an alternative approach is possible - using the manual mode of your camera.

Let's say you're shooting outside at a wedding reception. All the guests are standing in open ground, not shaded by trees or buildings. It's a lovely sunny day and there are no clouds in the sky. In this case all of the guests are being lit by the same amount of incident light and the exposure settings will therefore be identical for any shot you take under these conditions. Once you've found an exposure that you're happy with, using the camera's reflected-light meter and by checking the histogram, you can put these settings into your camera's manual mode and shoot away without worrying whether a scene's reflectance deviates from middle grey. If you keep an eye on your camera's light meter, you'll notice that when taking shots of the bride in her white dress the camera will think you're overexposing (which would have resulted in underexposure if left in an automatic mode such as aperture priority, requiring positive exposure compensation) and that with the groom in his dark suit the camera will think you're underexposing. You know, however, that your exposure is spot on and that it's the camera's reflected-light meter being fooled. If you do this, don't forget to regularly review your exposures, just in case a cloud has crept in front of the sun and reduced the amount of incident light!

Manual mode is also extremely useful when shooting indoors in low light. Let's say, for example, that the maximum ISO setting you're prepared to use on your camera is 1600, that the minimum shutter speed you're prepared to use when shooting people is 1/60 sec, and that the maximum aperture of your lens is f/2.8. These personal criteria determine the maximum amount of ambient light that you can capture.

Let's say you're in a dark wedding reception venue. To correctly expose for ambient light requires an exposure of 1/15 sec at f/2.8 and ISO 1600 - 2-stops lower than your exposure criteria. What you can do in this situation is to dial 1/60 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1600 into manual mode, underexposing for the ambient light, and then use flash to illuminate your subjects. You'll be capturing the maximum amount of ambient light allowed by your exposure criteria and not allowing your camera to give an unusably slow shutter speed, which would occur if it tried to correctly expose for ambient light.

manual, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, -1 FEC, 35mm

If you've not done this before you'll probably be surprised to see how much detail you capture in the background with this amount of underexposure. The image above was taken using this approach and the background is over two stops underexposed (and I've added a vignette).

1/25, f/2.8, ISO 6400, +1 EV, 16mm

If you have a DSLR which performs well at high ISO, and you're happy to use these settings, then you can expose correctly for just ambient light in very low light settings. Check out the shot above taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

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Wedding Photographer Kent - Light Reading

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We've been discussing the properties of light over the past few weeks. If you're hungry for more information, I thoroughly recommend that you read the book Light: Science and Magic, as shown above. Essential reading for a photographer.

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Using a StoFen omnibounce

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The StoFen omnibounce is a very useful piece of kit but many people don't use it correctly.

I've seen quite a few 'professional' wedding photographers with an omnibounce attached to their flash in the above manner shooting outdoors. I presume they imagine that passing light through the plastic results in it being softened but it doesn't make any difference to the quality of the light. Softness depends on the size of the light source and that is not being affected by the presence of the omnibounce. What it is doing though, is reducing the output of the flash, since a lot of light is being directed elsewhere by the other four sides of the unit. If your shot looks better when you use the omnibounce in this way, it's because your flash has reached the limit of its power output, and you're seeing less light than the camera thinks is required to expose the shot - the same effect as negative flash exposure compensation (FEC). If you take the omnibounce off the flash and dial in negative FEC you should get exactly the same result, whilst also saving your batteries and extending the life expectancy of your flash unit!

The StoFen omnibounce can't work in isolation. It needs surfaces to bounce light off - as illustrated by the above diagram (taken from StoFen's website - note that they recommend using your flash at 45 degrees if less than 15 feet from your subject so that front-lighting doesn't dominate the shot). Omni refers to the fact that light is sent out in all directions (well, almost) and bounce that it then needs to be bounced back. Use it indoors and, provided the room isin't too big, you'll see a huge difference to your shots. The light is now being softened as the effective size of the light source is increased by light being bounced back from all directions. Your flash unit is effectively transformed into a bare bulb - great for off-camera flash.

I also use a Lumiquest ultrabounce which does exactly the same thing, but folds up flat and can be more easily attached to flash units covered in velcro.

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Wedding Photographer Kent - Flash Gels

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A question on correcting the colour temperature of flash light today.


Hi David,

Do you use much gel correction in your work. I'm still trying to understand when to use it ideally. If your room has halogen bulbs, what do you use?

Andrew


First off, please read an earlier post on flash colour temperature. Flash light is balanced for noon daylight (5600K), so adding fill flash on a sunny day requires no correction. When shooting indoors, however, the ambient light you are most likely to encounter will be due to incandescent or fluorescent light bulbs. Incandescent bulbs generate light by passing an electrical current through a tungsten filament which then emits light as it becomes hot - the colour temperature of the light is related to the temperature of the filament, it is a black-body radiator. These bulbs contain either an inert gas (as in typical household bulbs with a colour temperature of 2500-2800K) or a halogen gas (as in halogen lamps, 3000-3200K). To correct for this you would typically use a colour temperature orange (CTO) flash gel - see one fitted to a Speedlite. They come in various strengths, but in my experience, the most useful is a full CTO gel.


Fluorescence is an entirely different process for light generation and it makes no sense to talk about colour temperature. The key thing for a photographer to know is that it gives your images a green tint - hence you attach a green gel to your flash to match this. In post-production you can then remove this green colour cast from the image.

Whether you balance the colour temperature of your light sources is a creative decision that you're free to make - there are no rules! A couple of examples:

In the shot above you can clearly see that the flash light is much cooler than the ambient lighting - no colour temperature correcting gel was used. It was a Xmas wedding, it was freezing outside and so I decided to give the shots a warm atmosphere - a 'cosy feel'.

In the shot above the flash light has been modified to match the ambient halogen lights - notice the blueness of the evening light coming through the sky light.

Hope this helps.

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Lastolite Micro Apollo plus flash gel

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I had a question today about how to use flash gels with a Lastolite Micro Apollo. As mentioned in the linked post, I replaced the strips of velcro supplied with the Apollo with smaller velcro dots, as can be seen in the image above. To attach a flash gel requires only one of these dots, leaving three to attach the Lastolite Micro Apollo. It works a treat.

More about flash gels in the next post.

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Lastolite Micro Apollo XL

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I've had quite a lot of questions over the past couple of days so it may take me a little longer than usual to answer them. Please bear with me - I'll get there!

David,

Your flash use is lovely and soft. Which size of the Lastolite Apollo do you use?

Your blog states the XL version, but at 16 x 10 inches I don't see how this would NOT block the Speedlite IR and metering sensors. Am I missing something - do you tilt it up?

I want to get one but feel it must be the smaller 10 X 7 unit.

Thanks!

Tony B

As the cliche says, a picture is worth a thousand words!

Any light-modifying attachment for a flash that was not designed to work with autofocus assist, or an external metering sensor, would have a very limited appeal. You can rest assured that the Lastolite Micro Apollo XL is not one of these. I used it at about 30 weddings last year with no problems at all - in particular, no issues focusing in low light. In the image above you can see why - the majority of the unit sits above the flash head.

The bottom of the softbox is also slightly V-shaped to ensure it does not limit any functionality. In the shot above I set the 580EX II as a slave. In this mode the AF-assist light is used to indicate the flash is ready to fire and is clearly visible above.

A couple of useful tips.

The shot above is from the first wedding at which I used the softbox. From the reflection in the subject's glasses you can see that the light is not evenly distributed - there is a hot spot. To get around this, pull down the built-in wide panel of your Speedlite. This sets flash coverage for a focal length of 14mm and strongly diffuses the light. This does not cause any loss of light, as the inside of the unit is reflective, but does give even lighting.

The unit is attached to the Speedlite using velcro. After a few weddings I found the velcro starting to detach from the flash body when I removed the softbox. I therefore replaced the large rectangular strips of velcro with small black velcro dots. These are still firmly attached six months later.

Hope this reassures you about the XL version of the Lastolite micro Apollo. A bigger softbox equals softer light (and the closer you get to the subject the softer the light becomes).

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Wedding Photographer Kent - NeatImage

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I'm a huge fan of NeatImage and it forms a key part of my digital workflow. To get the most out of the software it's worth creating a custom profile for your camera. You need to download a calibration target, either print it out (which I do) or display it on your monitor, set your lens with focus at infinity and then photograph the target all the ISO settings that your camera has available (giving images as shown above). NeatImage will then construct a noise profile for each of these ISO settings which it can call upon automatically (using the shot's EXIF data) for batch processing. Very convenient.

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Voice-activated light stands

This clever bit of technology allows you to position your lighting with pin-point accuracy. You don't even need to take them along in your kit bag - there are always plenty lying around at any wedding.

Happy New Year to all!

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