Tornadoes and Weddings...CC Please

I'm sure most people in the US have heard about the severe thunderstorms andtornadoes that passed though Mississippi on Saturday the 24th. Ten people were killed when a tornado passedless thanforty milesto the north of where I'm sitting right now.


Well, on that same day I had an outdoor wedding to shoot. My sister wanted itoutdoors under some trees, but it got moved to a cover but still an open outdoor setting. We were supposed to start taking pictures at noon, and the wedding was to be at 3:00 pm. Well, to say the elements put a kibosh on that would be a slightunderstatement. I was the only one ready to go at 12:30 pm. The wind and rain were tough until about 2:30 pm. I couldn't get any posed shots until after the weddingwhich did kick off within a few minutes of 3:00 pm.


The posed shots were rushed just after the ceremony. I'm aware that my flashes failed to compensate for the powerful back lighting in severalshots. This has turned me against relying on ETTL. I am just telling you this so you mightkeep that in mind as you rip me apart [:P].


<span style="color: #800080;"]Jason &amp; Christie Phillips' Wedding

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Originally Posted by Jarhead5811

I'm aware that my flashes failed to compensate for the powerful back lighting in severalshots.

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If you use lightroom, you can try the healing brush and bump up the exposure on the bride to help compensate.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jarhead5811

The posed shots were rushed just after the ceremony. I'm aware that my flashes failed to compensate for the powerful back lighting in severalshots. This has turned me against relying on ETTL.

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On-camera or off-camera? If on-camera, I suspect you could have been outside the working ability of the flash. One, 70mm but cropped of three people, clearly was taken from a decent distance. A 580 can do 58m at ISO 100, f/1. The one shot I checked is at ISO 400 (two stops better) but f/9 (6 1/3 stops worse), 4 1/3 stops less than 58m. I'm not good at the math, but I think it'd be marginal for what you were shooting, and anything less than a 580 would have even less range.


If off-camera, what triggers? I'd immediately be thinking of the new PocketWizards, as they can get more oomph out of your flash in a variety of ways (and boost the pre-flash to help the camera's meter see the pre-flash and better judge the correct level to fire).

<span>I was using a Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2andtwo of my threeCanon Speedlite 430EX Flashs. The posed shots took like fiveto ten minutes. I've since decided that if I'd been using my flashes in manual I'd havecome out better.

Let me start this by saying I am new to DLSR photography and have certainly never shot a wedding.


Maybe your site was just a sample of the photos, but my first thought was there wasn't a large number of photos. At a wedding, for the Bride/Groom and family, almost everything is important. Making photos of everything important. Rings, garter, flowers, guests, location, scenery, kisses, interactions (before and after ceremony), hands, etc.

There are 710 photos but they haven't been uploaded (upload still in progress) and most won't be but I will be giving them to my sister on DVD.

Also with E-TTL; if you flashes are a further distance from your subject than the camera, the flash will be under exposed. Same if they are closer they will be over exposed because the flash power is based on the distance of the lens from subject. So if they are going to be a different range you will have to adjust them with the cameras flash exposure compensation.


Remember light values are squared, so if 2X your distance you have to 4X the light power.