wedding f-number

[derrycity]

i have been watching most postings on wedding photography and checking the exif of most shots from what i see most people shoot wide open ie f2.8
what is your choice on exposure on weddings ?

 

[Garry79]

Seriously?

 

[AliB]

Whatever the depth of field I want dictates with the light levels I'm working in.

Often below f2.8 if it's indoors and dull.

 

[snapzz]

Try shooting at f2.8 on a bright sunny summers afternoon!

 

[welly]

i have been watching most postings on wedding photography and checking the exif of most shots from what i see most people shoot wide open ie f2.8
what is your choice on exposure on weddings ?

Doesn't the lighting conditions dictate what aperture you're going to shoot at? And what result you're trying to achieve?

 

[DizMatt]

are you talking about cool modern candids of the bride getting ready and quirky shots of people....
or group shots and more traditional wedding shots

 

[DiddyDave]

Try shooting at f2.8 on a bright sunny summers afternoon!

I do shoot at f2.8 on bright sunny days - but I don't get camera shake when I do

It was fashionable quite a few years ago to shoot everything on f8 (unless you couldn't) for max image quality and front to back DoF sharpness

These days it's far more common to shoot wide open to have minimal DoF in your shots as a means of isolating your subjects from their background

But the short answer is... whatever f-stop is needed for the DoF I need is the right one

DD

 

[derrycity]

thanks DD you appear to understand what i'am saying, modern day wedding shots have alot of shallow dof unless it's a group photo then its best to use f8 etc
thanks

 

[POAH]

f2.8 1/60s

f1.4 1/250s

f8 1/10s

generally

i have been watching most postings on wedding photography and checking the exif of most shots from what i see most people shoot wide open ie f2.8
what is your choice on exposure on weddings ?

 

[swanseamale47]

There is a tendancy to use faster longer lens for the candids or the "nice" B+G pics, often a 70-200 ish 2.8 (or similar), mostly for the nice perspective and bokeh.
But it's not quite that simple, if you need fill flash for example, you'll need to keep the shutter speed under the max sync speed, so even at 100 iso you may have to up the apeture to F8 or whatever.
Theres no hard and fast rule, theres too many variables.

 

[DiddyDave]

There is a tendancy to use faster longer lens for the candids or the "nice" B+G pics, often a 70-200 ish 2.8 (or similar), mostly for the nice perspective and bokeh.
But it's not quite that simple, if you need fill flash for example, you'll need to keep the shutter speed under the max sync speed, so even at 100 iso you may have to up the apeture to F8 or whatever.
Theres no hard and fast rule, theres too many variables.

You can't have a Nikon then

I find high speed sync incredibly useful for fill flash outdoors with wide open apertures, often (as last Saturday) shooting at up to 1/4000th f2.8

DD

 

[snapzz]

I do shoot at f2.8 on bright sunny days - but I don't get camera shake when I do

I bet you dont!

It was fashionable quite a few years ago to shoot everything on f8 (unless you couldn't) for max image quality and front to back DoF sharpness

I used f5.6

These days it's far more common to shoot wide open to have minimal DoF in your shots as a means of isolating your subjects from their background

nothing changed there

But the short answer is... whatever f-stop is needed for the DoF I need is the right one
DD

Absolutely correct so you wouldnt be shooting everything at f2.8 which I think was the original question.

Personall I still stick to the same formula from my old film days which is f5.6 at a low a shutterspeed as possible with some fill flash to "lighten" up the shadow area's on the faces. This helps to balance the lighting better which digital helps to fine tune this far better than the "old film days".

However everyone has their own method of shooting based on what suits best to achieve the results they want.