Flash at weddings

FlyTVR

FlyTVR

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I was asked to take some candid shots at my mate's wedding back in the Summer. No real pressure on me as they'd also hired a pro tog.

During the day I stayed well out of his way and allowed him to get on with his job. I would have loved to ask him some questions but didnt for obvious reasons.

So, I'll fire away with some questions for any pro / experienced togs reading this.

When shooting at a wedding and using flash, what sort of settings would you personally favour? Would I be right in guessing something like ->

Mode: Manual / AV
Flash: ETTL with some FEC

From what I can see, there's little time to be inspecting shots and then making adjustments?

Personally I'm happy playing with DOF and shutter speed under pressure, but mixing flash settings at the same time would certainly max me out. The pro seemed to be popping away without pausing for adjustments.

Thoughts?

Cheers.

FlyTvr
 
It's hard to talk for the photographer who was there, but I think you'll find that a seasoned pro knows exactly what to do in which set of circumstances due to knowing precisely what the kit will do. So either the pro was someone who was just flashing to buggery (a very important technical term :lol: ) or they know their kit really well.

Like many pros, I can walk into a space and estimate pretty closely what the settings are that I require and I can adjust the camera with barely a look if necessary.

As for what the settings are, well that depends on the outcome I'm working towards, although I do shoot solely in manual.
 
Thanks ZoZo. You shoot in manual, but what about flash settings - manual too?
 
I shoot manual but use the flash's auto settings, altering the output as required...

Manual on the camera because I want full control over the ratio of ambient light to flash, as well as DoF...

Nikon have done an awful lot of work getting the SB900 to be as easy-to-use (Arkady-proof) as possible - until I find that it cannot cope with what I throw at it, I'll trust that the Nikon techs know what they're doing.
 
Well, it depends on what I'm using the flash for. There are times when I go for the flash to buggery technique because I'm not really looking for creativity, along with those times when I need to decide for the flash what I need it to do, so yes, manual on those occasions, but manual in the context of my manual control of the camera.
 
Arkady said:
I shoot manual but use the flash's auto settings, altering the output as required...

Manual on the camera because I want full control over the ratio of ambient light to flash, as well as DoF...

Nikon have done an awful lot of work getting the SB900 to be as easy-to-use (Arkady-proof) as possible - until I find that it cannot cope with what I throw at it, I'll trust that the Nikon techs know what they're doing.
Click to expand...


That makes a great deal of sense!
 
Canon Speedlights automatically apply FEC in bright conditions - so if he was shooting canon he was confident that the flash was providing fill only - as thats how it's designed to work. He can then choose Manual or Tv/Av modes depending on what he's trying to achieve without really worrying about what the flash is doing. The camera will then meter to ensure background exposure and set the appropriate shutter speed or aperture to achive this. The flash then ensures the subject it exposed correctly and in bright conditions will apply FEC to ensure this is really only a bit of fill. Thats how I understood it -- but I know Nikon is completely different in its behaviour.

Edit: May be a better explanation than mine here: http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/index2.html :)
 
Jchaplin said:
Canon Speedlights automatically apply FEC in bright conditions - so if he was shooting canon he was confident that the flash was providing fill only - as thats how it's designed to work. He can then choose Manual or Tv/Av modes depending on what he's trying to achieve without really worrying about what the flash is doing. The camera will then meter to ensure background exposure and set the appropriate shutter speed or aperture to achive this. The flash then ensures the subject it exposed correctly and in bright conditions will apply FEC to ensure this is really only a bit of fill. Thats how I understood it -- but I know Nikon is completely different in its behaviour.

Edit: May be a better explanation than mine here: http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/index2.html :)
Click to expand...

Seems like a very clever system. Just out of interest, how does the flash know what it is filling? Must be some clever software in there! Obviously you can help it along with FEL.

If the flash goes into 'fill' mode under brighter conditions, how does it behave in darker conditions?
 
The flash will aim to fill whatever is being focused on - I think the article I linked to says don't use the 'focus and recompose' method as this will confuse the hell out of the flash exposure system!
 
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