# EOS 5D3 - shooting first wedding on Saturday



## Scott_McPhee (Aug 28, 2012)

Hi,

I recently upgraded to a 5D mark 3 and I am shooting my cousin's wedding this Saturday.

I plan on using the 5D3 with my 24-70mm f2.8L and 70-200mm f2.8L lenses.
For flash it will be my 580EX2 with a Lightsphere Universal (cloud).

I don't usually do weddings so any tips or advice guys out there using the 5D3 at weddings can give me?

Use auto ISO? Use aperture priority mode or leave it to post?


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## bdunbar79 (Aug 28, 2012)

Don't use auto ISO on the bride. You gotta shoot to the right or the dress won't look white. I did a few bride shots as high as +1.7 EV. Meter for the dress, shoot to the right. You can't miss.


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## Scott_McPhee (Aug 28, 2012)

Wedding dresses are a nightmare to get exposed properly.

I was going to use auto ISO as the light will be changing constantly and it's one less thing to keep an eye on.


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## RLPhoto (Aug 28, 2012)

Scott_McPhee said:


> Hi,
> 
> I recently upgraded to a 5D mark 3 and I am shooting my cousin's wedding this Saturday.
> 
> ...



Scout your locations first, find the good light, and keep a cool head. Weddings can get hectic quick.


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## Scott_McPhee (Aug 28, 2012)

Locations already scouted and I know the route to the altar.
It's being held in a hotel so it may be easier......
I will have the usual problems keeping in front of the bride.


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## MarkB (Aug 28, 2012)

I shot my first wedding a few weeks ago. Had a 5d3 which I used a 24-105L and the 70-200mm 2.8 ii time most of the time. 2nd camera was a 60D with the 10-22mm on it for group shots and 60 mm macro for detail shots. Also had a 50mm f1.4 for when I had to use ambient indoors. Usable shots on the 60d only went up to about iso 3200, noisy even then. Had a number of useful shots as high as 25600 ISo on the 5d3, but had to use Nik DFine to noise reduce most shots above 10000 iso. 

The 580exii was in the shoe most of the time. I gelled with a 1/2 Cts because when I scouted the location it was a dark interior lit with only incadescents. The gel stayed on during out door shots. Added a nice warming when I dialed back with FEC. I would ditch the lightsphere and go with a Rogue lightbender. More versatile IMO. Great for bounce, flagging, and quick snoot.

I tried shooting mostly in manual, but dropped that quickly as there was just too much happening most of the time. Went back to manual for tricky shots, but mostly went Av with auto iso and used flash with FEC. 

I learned the hard way to take a little more time chimping. Had some nasty tree branches in the background of many of my group shots. Had to spend a LOT of time in post getting rid of them. I was more focused on setting up the groups and dealing with dappled light near the edge of the shade.


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## Scott_McPhee (Aug 28, 2012)

MarkB said:


> I shot my first wedding a few weeks ago. Had a 5d3 which I used a 24-105L and the 70-200mm 2.8 ii time most of the time. 2nd camera was a 60D with the 10-22mm on it for group shots and 60 mm macro for detail shots. Also had a 50mm f1.4 for when I had to use ambient indoors. Usable shots on the 60d only went up to about iso 3200, noisy even then. Had a number of useful shots as high as 25600 ISo on the 5d3, but had to use Nik DFine to noise reduce most shots above 10000 iso.
> 
> The 580exii was in the shoe most of the time. I gelled with a 1/2 Cts because when I scouted the location it was a dark interior lit with only incadescents. The gel stayed on during out door shots. Added a nice warming when I dialed back with FEC. I would ditch the lightsphere and go with a Rogue lightbender. More versatile IMO. Great for bounce, flagging, and quick snoot.
> 
> ...



Some great points there - I am stuck with the Lightsphere for the weekend - I really like it - gives lovely soft flash but it does make you look like a fud with a tupperware dish on your flashgun.
(People always ask, "What the **** is that?!")

I just want to keep the camera settings to a minimum - not mess around with things too much and concentrate on getting the shots - any fancy processing stuff can be done in post.

I need to decide whether to use fill-in flash on my close ups - indoors and out - as the 5D3 can do some great high ISO low noise shots without having to resort to using flash.


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## bdunbar79 (Aug 28, 2012)

I don't think I'd view it as "resorting to flash." You should use fill flash if need be. No matter what you do in post, if you needed fill flash and you didn't use it, the photo isn't going to come out good. I use a ton of flash, but I always bounce it; never direct. If you're going to continue to do weddings in the future, I would get really comfortable using fill flash.


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## Stephen Melvin (Aug 28, 2012)

Ditch the Tupperware and use bounce flash instead. Don't be afraid to raise the ISO; the Mk III can handle it. Up to 12800 is a no brainer. Shoot RAW. Balance your ambient and flash exposure. You have excellent gear (except for the Tupperware) that's pretty much state-of-the-art. Don't be afraid to push it.


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## Jakontil (Aug 28, 2012)

I shoot weeding with AV mode and during reception, i set iso at 5000 and it's still safe... Dont worry


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## Tcapp (Aug 28, 2012)

Stephen Melvin said:


> Ditch the Tupperware and use bounce flash instead. Don't be afraid to raise the ISO; the Mk III can handle it. Up to 12800 is a no brainer. Shoot RAW. Balance your ambient and flash exposure. You have excellent gear (except for the Tupperware) that's pretty much state-of-the-art. Don't be afraid to push it.



I have to disagree. Keep that lightsphere on there. It DOES bounce the flash. In every direction. Much better than a bare speedlight. But yes, balance your flash and ambient. Also, gel your flash indoors unless you want the background to be orange (under tungsten light). Also, get yourself a fast prime. I recommend the 50 1.4 on a budget, or the sigma 85 1.4 if you have a few bucks more to spend. I shoot weddings almost exclusively on primes with the only exception being the 70-200 2.8 is L II for the ceremony. The siggy 85 lives on my camera for large receptions or the 50 1.4 for tighter receptions. 

So yea, at a fairly dark reception, keep your iso at 3200, shoot with a prime at about f2, and use gelled bounce flash with your GF Lightspere. On your 5d3, it will look great! 

Never plan to fix something in post. Get it right in camera. And shoot to the right. I always overexpose by 1/3 to 2/3 stop depending on the scene. But keep your blinkies on in the camera and be careful not to shoot TOO far to the right and blow out the dress. 

Oh, and even though its your cousin, still get a contract that limits your legal liability should things turn out badly. NEVER do a wedding under any circumstance without a contract. 

Just my 2 and a half cents.


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## sb (Aug 28, 2012)

Tcapp said:


> I have to disagree. Keep that lightsphere on there. It DOES bounce the flash. In every direction. Much better than a bare speedlight.



And I will have to disagree with you  Any kind of Gary Fong-ish attachement is nothing but a WASTE OF BATTERY LIFE. Instead of using the battery power to hit the ceiling as hard as you can, you are dispersing the light all over the place for no reason. 

It is the ceiling that will make your light source nice and big, and thus beautiful. Other flash related comments:

- Gel the flash with orange filter and cool down everything via WB so it's nice and even
- Use SHORT lenses when bouncing flash. If you are bouncing from across the room with 85mm on your camera, flash will look flat and ugly. To get the "I can't believe it's not softbox" look, you have to be close to the subject. I only use 35mm when bouncing flash. In fact I shoot my entire reception with 35mm. 

- When it comes to walking down the aisle shot, there are 2 camps : some people prefer long lens (70-200) while camping at the altar as the bride approaches, but I prefer shorter lens while walking in sync with the bride down the aisle. The reason is - I can generally shoot wide open and still nail the focus because I'm keeping pace with the subject. If I camp, I gotta either pre-focus on a certain spot, or shoot slightly stopped down to make sure I nail it. You may think servo will help you here, but I advise you not to rely on servo for what is probably the single most important shot during the wedding.

Good luck, I'm sure you'll do fine.


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## Tcapp (Aug 28, 2012)

sb said:


> Tcapp said:
> 
> 
> > I have to disagree. Keep that lightsphere on there. It DOES bounce the flash. In every direction. Much better than a bare speedlight.
> ...



I guess we have to agree to disagree on the flash subject. The lightsphere bounces off the ceiling, and directly on the subject. It works fine at 85 mm, but you are absolutely right, the closer you are the softer and nicer its going to look. 35mm is an awesome focal length. 

And I agree, I wouldn't trust servo for the bride coming down the isle. What I do is camp at the end of the isle, then one shot focus over and over on the bride. But I focus on a spot that is slightly ahead of her face, like the flowers , so as she walks and i lock focus, by the time i release the shutter, her face has moved into the plane of focus. I do this all at 2.8 with my 70-200 II. Different strokes for different folks I guess!


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## vitaminj08 (Aug 28, 2012)

While 2nd shooting for some incredible photogs in my city, I learned that bouncing flash off of the ceiling can be nice, but bouncing behind and to the side of you will produce the most attractive light. Look for white/neutral colored objects to bounce off of. However, since this is your first wedding, it may just be easier to shoot the ceiling and not have to think twice about it. I wouldn't recommend using auto ISO with flash. As you probably know, it will alter how lit your background is, so decide early on what you want and keep your ISO there (like during the reception).

As for shooting mode, I would recommend using Manual. This is where attending the rehearsal dinner will come in handy. It enables you to really dial in your settings and view it larger on your computer later that night. Since it's indoors, the lighting won't change during the ceremony... Manual will make another thing that you won't have to worry about (until the location/lighting changes). Typically, I shoot in manual when there's consistent lighting, and when we're on the move, i change to Av with +2/3 or +1 stop EC.

For my 5D3, I changed the DoF button to One-Shot/Ai-Servo. It's super handy for weddings because if you ever need servo, just reach your ring finger forward and hold down the button, then your focus will track. One thing to keep in mind, servo seems to constantly bounce a little in front and a little behind the subject, so takes a lot of extra pics when in servo to ensure you've nailed focus.


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## MarkB (Aug 28, 2012)

> I wouldn't recommend using auto ISO with flash



Original poster : Watch out for that!. The 5D3 defaults to locking the iso at 400-1600 when flash is engaged. I lost a couple shots at the reception because I was trying to be too subtle with fill/bounce flash and my ambient just got lost. At 400 iso indoors...it is pretty dark if you are bounce flashing at -1-0 FEC.

I suppose there is a way to change that, but I just went manual Iso when I realized my mistake.


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## bdunbar79 (Aug 28, 2012)

vitaminj08 said:


> While 2nd shooting for some incredible photogs in my city, I learned that bouncing flash off of the ceiling can be nice, but bouncing behind and to the side of you will produce the most attractive light. Look for white/neutral colored objects to bounce off of. However, since this is your first wedding, it may just be easier to shoot the ceiling and not have to think twice about it. I wouldn't recommend using auto ISO with flash. As you probably know, it will alter how lit your background is, so decide early on what you want and keep your ISO there (like during the reception).
> 
> As for shooting mode, I would recommend using Manual. This is where attending the rehearsal dinner will come in handy. It enables you to really dial in your settings and view it larger on your computer later that night. Since it's indoors, the lighting won't change during the ceremony... Manual will make another thing that you won't have to worry about (until the location/lighting changes). Typically, I shoot in manual when there's consistent lighting, and when we're on the move, i change to Av with +2/3 or +1 stop EC.
> 
> For my 5D3, I changed the DoF button to One-Shot/Ai-Servo. It's super handy for weddings because if you ever need servo, just reach your ring finger forward and hold down the button, then your focus will track. One thing to keep in mind, servo seems to constantly bounce a little in front and a little behind the subject, so takes a lot of extra pics when in servo to ensure you've nailed focus.



Thank you. You must shoot to the right.


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## Stephen Melvin (Aug 28, 2012)

Stephen Melvin said:


> Ditch the Tupperware and use bounce flash instead. Don't be afraid to raise the ISO; the Mk III can handle it. Up to 12800 is a no brainer. Shoot RAW. Balance your ambient and flash exposure. You have excellent gear (except for the Tupperware) that's pretty much state-of-the-art. Don't be afraid to push it.





Tcapp said:


> I have to disagree. Keep that lightsphere on there. It DOES bounce the flash. In every direction. Much better than a bare speedlight.



It doesn't bounce the flash, it scatters the light. It seriously eats up your flash power and has pretty much zero benefit unless you happen to be in a very small room with a low ceiling. Better to have a 580EX and point the flash head at a convenient surface to bounce off of. You'll have much more control and the quality of light will be a whole lot nicer. 



Tcapp said:


> But yes, balance your flash and ambient. Also, gel your flash indoors unless you want the background to be orange (under tungsten light). Also, get yourself a fast prime. I recommend the 50 1.4 on a budget, or the sigma 85 1.4 if you have a few bucks more to spend. I shoot weddings almost exclusively on primes with the only exception being the 70-200 2.8 is L II for the ceremony. The siggy 85 lives on my camera for large receptions or the 50 1.4 for tighter receptions.



He has some pretty good lenses for weddings as it is. While I, too, also like to shoot primes at weddings, I know I'm more of the exception than the rule. My favorite is the 24L II. 



Tcapp said:


> So yea, at a fairly dark reception, keep your iso at 3200, shoot with a prime at about f2, and use gelled bounce flash with your GF Lightspere. On your 5d3, it will look great!
> 
> Never plan to fix something in post. Get it right in camera. And shoot to the right. I always overexpose by 1/3 to 2/3 stop depending on the scene. But keep your blinkies on in the camera and be careful not to shoot TOO far to the right and blow out the dress.
> 
> ...



Some good advice here, though with the Mk III, I'd be absolutely fearless with the ISO settings. 3200 is conservative on this camera.


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## Tcapp (Aug 28, 2012)

Stephen Melvin said:


> Some good advice here, though with the Mk III, I'd be absolutely fearless with the ISO settings. 3200 is conservative on this camera.



Yes, be as fearless with ISO as you like. I only suggest 3200 because I find that it is a sweet spot with an f2 lens and about 1/60 - 1/100 to balance ambient and flash. But don't hesitate to jump to 6400 or higher if need be.


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## Tcapp (Aug 28, 2012)

Oh and about the lightsphere eating up power. I've never had to change batteries at a reception with it on. As long as your iso is high enough, you'll be shooting at or below 1/64th power the whole time. SO you have to take 64 photos to use up one flash charge. And on full batteries, a flash is good for a couple hundred full power shots.


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## kennephoto (Aug 29, 2012)

I have a wedding coming up in 1 month and I have been going round and round in my head about 5d3 and 5d2. I dont have either camera yet but I sure want one of the two. I see a lot of you have been saying not to be fearless with ISO on 5d3 but what about 5d2? Is the 5d3 a ISO beast compared to 5d2? Basically can you be a bit fearless with 5d2 still?


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## ScottyP (Aug 29, 2012)

kennephoto said:


> I have a wedding coming up in 1 month and I have been going round and round in my head about 5d3 and 5d2. I dont have either camera yet but I sure want one of the two. I see a lot of you have been saying not to be fearless with ISO on 5d3 but what about 5d2? Is the 5d3 a ISO beast compared to 5d2? Basically can you be a bit fearless with 5d2 still?



http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Canon_EOS_5D_Mark_III/high_ISO_noise.shtml

I found this ISO comparison between 5D2 and 5D3 compelling. It is side-by-side shots of a church interior, and not test patterns or whatnot, so you may find it illuminating. (photography pun intended)


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## Tcapp (Aug 29, 2012)

kennephoto said:


> I have a wedding coming up in 1 month and I have been going round and round in my head about 5d3 and 5d2. I dont have either camera yet but I sure want one of the two. I see a lot of you have been saying not to be fearless with ISO on 5d3 but what about 5d2? Is the 5d3 a ISO beast compared to 5d2? Basically can you be a bit fearless with 5d2 still?



The two cameras are very similar with noise, but the reason you want to be a little more careful with the 5d2 is color fidelity and dynamic range. The 5d2 goes purple and the files become harder to work with, while the 5d3 holds up pretty well.


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## Jamesy (Aug 29, 2012)

MarkB said:


> > I wouldn't recommend using auto ISO with flash
> 
> 
> 
> Original poster : Watch out for that!. The 5D3 defaults to locking the iso at 400-1600 when flash is engaged.


I was going to mention the 400 ISO in auto-ISO the moment you stick a flash on top of the camera.

What do you mean by "The 5D3 defaults to locking the iso at 400-1600"? My experience has been that it locks at ISO 400 - it does not go up to 1600. Am I missing something on my end?


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## Stephen Melvin (Aug 29, 2012)

kennephoto said:


> I have a wedding coming up in 1 month and I have been going round and round in my head about 5d3 and 5d2. I dont have either camera yet but I sure want one of the two. I see a lot of you have been saying not to be fearless with ISO on 5d3 but what about 5d2? Is the 5d3 a ISO beast compared to 5d2? Basically can you be a bit fearless with 5d2 still?




Up to 3200. 6400 is usable if you take some care with exposure and processing. 12800 is useless.

On the Mk III, 12800 is a walk in the park. 16000 looks good. 25800 is usable. 51600 works in a pinch, if you understand what to expect and don't mind taking some time in Lightroom to coax the best out of what you've got. 

I'd consider the Mk III to be 2-3 stops better on the high end. I'm someone who's been shooting in the dark for a very long time; the capabilities of the Mk III are nothing short of astonishing. The Mk II is better than film ever was, mind you. But the Mk III is in a whole other league.


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## Stephen Melvin (Aug 29, 2012)

Tcapp said:


> The two cameras are very similar with noise, but the reason you want to be a little more careful with the 5d2 is color fidelity and dynamic range. The 5d2 goes purple and the files become harder to work with, while the 5d3 holds up pretty well.



The larger issue is pattern noise. It starts to show up at 6400 on the Mk II, and it's dominant at 12800. It's pretty much unfixable at that point, short of heavy duty NR software. That's where I get my "speed limit" from. Noise doesn't bother me, as long as it's random or appears so. If it looks like film, or can be made to look like film, I'm fine with it. 

Others will have a lower tolerance. I suspect most of them never shot high speed photographic film like I have.


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## benherman (Aug 29, 2012)

Anyone shooting a wedding for the first time should really have some experience behind them first, owning some gear doesn't really qualify you to do a good service to a couple. Most of the advise here is not going to help. Go out there and shoot some events. Learn what works. Even better, shoot with a professional and learn firsthand how to approach things. It's funny how many posts like this end up on various forum sites. What you need to shoot a wedding isn't gear, it's skill and knowing how your gear works in various situations, and even more - what are you capturing - what many call the best day of their life. If you don't know how to do it, should you?

I shot my first wedding with my wife for free, because the couple didn't have a budget for photography. We did a good job considering we were new to weddings, but we were also far out of our depth. You really need to be a second shooter to get some experience.


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## kennephoto (Aug 29, 2012)

benherman said:


> Anyone shooting a wedding for the first time should really have some experience behind them first, owning some gear doesn't really qualify you to do a good service to a couple. Most of the advise here is not going to help. Go out there and shoot some events. Learn what works. Even better, shoot with a professional and learn firsthand how to approach things. It's funny how many posts like this end up on various forum sites. What you need to shoot a wedding isn't gear, it's skill and knowing how your gear works in various situations, and even more - what are you capturing - what many call the best day of their life. If you don't know how to do it, should you?
> 
> I shot my first wedding with my wife for free, because the couple didn't have a budget for photography. We did a good job considering we were new to weddings, but we were also far out of our depth. You really need to be a second shooter to get some experience.



What better experience than actually shooting a wedding. Sure anyone can grab a camera and take a picture but good photos come from someone thats creative with a camera. My first wedding I shot was for my girlfriends best friend, I really had no clue what to expect the day of the wedding and every single wedding is different. So I took my camera and the lenses I had and gave it my best! Everyone loved the photos that I got and sure it was a small wedding and I felt very under geared but I did it and the photos turned out great in everyones eyes. Thats all that counts as far as I am concerned. Also the bride was almost considering not having a photographer because of money so I offered because who wouldnt want pictures of that day! I would love to tag along with a wedding photographer I think that would be one heck of a trip! Make sure batteries are charged and memory cards arent full!


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## gary (Aug 29, 2012)

Set your shutter to silent mode. I usually set an upper limit on the ISO dependent upon the light. Have plenty of batteries for the flash and keep the flash on the camera. If the lighting is poor inside the reception see the organizer and see if their is a chance to raise the lighting. Don't be afraid of getting in the way of guests to get the shot as the bride won't thank you later. Absolutely check out the church and reception area and a place for shots of the couple. My last wedding with the help of the hotel we found a garden which was both empty and beautiful which made for some really nice shots of the couple. As its your first do a list of the important events during the wedding and reception and don't be conservative with the number of shots you take, you can always delete it but never retake. Take more than enough high speed memory cards. I hope thats enough to be getting on with.


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## sach100 (Aug 29, 2012)

Appreciate the tips shared by members here. Techniques defer but i am sure people have seen success which is why they even care to share.


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## Scott_McPhee (Aug 29, 2012)

bdunbar79 said:


> vitaminj08 said:
> 
> 
> > While 2nd shooting for some incredible photogs in my city, I learned that bouncing flash off of the ceiling can be nice, but bouncing behind and to the side of you will produce the most attractive light. Look for white/neutral colored objects to bounce off of. However, since this is your first wedding, it may just be easier to shoot the ceiling and not have to think twice about it. I wouldn't recommend using auto ISO with flash. As you probably know, it will alter how lit your background is, so decide early on what you want and keep your ISO there (like during the reception).
> ...



What do you mean by shooting to the right?


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## nikosap (Aug 29, 2012)

I´m not sure but I think you have to overexposure your pictures

"change to Av with +2/3 or +1 stop EC"


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## kaihp (Aug 29, 2012)

Scott_McPhee said:


> bdunbar79 said:
> 
> 
> > Thank you. You must shoot to the right.
> ...



"Expose to the right", meaning that you should try to expose as close to maximum, without getting (large) burnouts. This is the area which is to the right in the histogram when you chimp.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml


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## cpsico (Aug 29, 2012)

1. Shoot raw
2.watch for expression
3. Yes ettl can under expose a bride shot by herself, but a bride and groom right next to each other will be fine. For just shooting bride dial just the flash up one stop, use spot meter and preflash off dress with back button, you will need to preflash every time you check picture. I have autoplay set to off and only chimp when I need too.
4. Do not use auto ISO, practice before hand with settings and ISO
5. A tripod is a must for formal pictures in church after ceremony.
6. Have an assistant to help you


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## Scott_McPhee (Aug 29, 2012)

So - I should shoot +1 stop over for all shots?
(And not blow the highlights!)


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## bdunbar79 (Aug 29, 2012)

Scott_McPhee said:


> So - I should shoot +1 stop over for all shots?
> (And not blow the highlights!)



Most of them. Just watch your flash, fill flash, I usually set negative FEC on those, but still slightly overexpose for the ambient light. If you're not using flash, I'd shoot right, yes. Experiment before you go. You'll quickly see what we mean. Practice on white shirts.


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## prestonpalmer (Aug 29, 2012)

Hey Scott,

Let us know how it goes! Have you considered an apprentice program for more specific wedding training?

http://www.brovadoweddings.com/blog/photography-apprentice/


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## cpsico (Aug 29, 2012)

Scott_McPhee said:


> So - I should shoot +1 stop over for all shots?
> (And not blow the highlights!)


No only for the bride by herself, and only if you spot meter off the dress, if you shoot in only raw you will be able to correct any exposure issues


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## brianleighty (Aug 30, 2012)

MarkB said:


> I shot my first wedding a few weeks ago. Had a 5d3 which I used a 24-105L and the 70-200mm 2.8 ii time most of the time. 2nd camera was a 60D with the 10-22mm on it for group shots and 60 mm macro for detail shots. Also had a 50mm f1.4 for when I had to use ambient indoors. Usable shots on the 60d only went up to about iso 3200, noisy even then. Had a number of useful shots as high as 25600 ISo on the 5d3, but had to use Nik DFine to noise reduce most shots above 10000 iso.
> 
> The 580exii was in the shoe most of the time. I gelled with a 1/2 Cts because when I scouted the location it was a dark interior lit with only incadescents. The gel stayed on during out door shots. Added a nice warming when I dialed back with FEC. I would ditch the lightsphere and go with a Rogue lightbender. More versatile IMO. Great for bounce, flagging, and quick snoot.
> 
> ...


MarkB, does the 5D Mark iii let you do auto iso when you're using a flash? That's one feature I'd love to have both my 5D mark ii and 50D immediately go to ISO 400 if they detect you have an external flash.


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## bdunbar79 (Aug 30, 2012)

cpsico said:


> Scott_McPhee said:
> 
> 
> > So - I should shoot +1 stop over for all shots?
> ...





Your statement is correct.

It's not too easy fixing a gray dress in photoshop or LR. Better to get the color correct. I just meter for the scene, then dial in about +1.7EC. You can practice this beforehand on a white shirt. Auto ISO will get it gray. I'd rather fix overexposed background than a gray dress, which cpsico is getting at. I'd be careful not to blow the highlight on the face out of course, but if her face is brighter than her dress, then you're probably in the wrong lighting anyways.


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## Jamesy (Aug 30, 2012)

brianleighty said:


> MarkB, does the 5D Mark iii let you do auto iso when you're using a flash? That's one feature I'd love to have both my 5D mark ii and 50D immediately go to ISO 400 if they detect you have an external flash.


My experience with AutoISO and my 580EXII's is the %d3 stays at 400 ISO when in AutoISO mode.


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## Scott_McPhee (Aug 30, 2012)

Auto ISO is good for me as its one less thing to worry about on the day.
I can shoot indoors without flash and not worry about shutter speed settings.

Any of you guys had problems with flash lens shadow shooting with the 24-70 f2.8L or 70-200mm f2.8L?

Lens hood on or off when using these?


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## MarkB (Aug 30, 2012)

My experience is that the auto iso locks at 400 when the flash is attached. I put 400-1600 when I posted earlier because I thought you could set it to that, but I haven't figured that out yet. This stinks IMO. I forgot to go manual with the iso and lost some shots.


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## Jamesy (Aug 30, 2012)

MarkB said:


> My experience is that the auto iso locks at 400 when the flash is attached. I put 400-1600 when I posted earlier because I thought you could set it to that, but I haven't figured that out yet. This stinks IMO. I forgot to go manual with the iso and lost some shots.


Cool - I thought I was missing something. I think it locks at 400 - I wish they would add more latitude in that regard - it would be easy as a firmware update.


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## rhommel (Aug 30, 2012)

Stephen Melvin said:


> The larger issue is pattern noise. It starts to show up at 6400 on the Mk II, and it's dominant at 12800. It's pretty much unfixable at that point, short of heavy duty NR software. That's where I get my "speed limit" from. Noise doesn't bother me, as long as it's random or appears so. If it looks like film, or can be made to look like film, I'm fine with it.
> 
> Others will have a lower tolerance. I suspect most of them never shot high speed photographic film like I have.



12,800 is still usable... I think 

following photos were taken at ISO 12,800 with 5D3...


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## Brendon (Aug 30, 2012)

rhommel said:


> Stephen Melvin said:
> 
> 
> > The larger issue is pattern noise. It starts to show up at 6400 on the Mk II, and it's dominant at 12800. It's pretty much unfixable at that point, short of heavy duty NR software. That's where I get my "speed limit" from. Noise doesn't bother me, as long as it's random or appears so. If it looks like film, or can be made to look like film, I'm fine with it.
> ...



rhommel - What NR software did you use? Did you purposely desaturated and reduce contrast? Might be the crappy monitor I'm using right now too! I personally (not be critical just backing up my point below) would have pulled the exposure up a bit on the top image. This gets very iffy if you shoot at 12800.

I shot my first wedding with the 5Diii two weeks ago and found that 3200 was my comfortable limit because with flash and low light photography I find the need to pull the exposure and shadows up on a regular basis. You could argue that this is my fault and I should be exposing farther the to right but shooting manual and trying to keep the camera ready to swing around to any angle in the reception hall keeps me from pushing things too far on the manual settings. If you clip highlights, they are gone and that can happen easily at these ISOs and the changing lighting from the DJ's and videographers. Don't get me wrong, I shot a decent number of 6400 shots of people dancing so that I could speed up the shutting but keep the background bright but these shots tend to be forgiving in the sense that they have a lot of variation in them (light and dark). I would hold important shots like the first dance and cake cutting to 3200 and below to make sure that you can recover a little in post. 

The fact that Auto ISO locks the camera at 400 when a flash is turned on is a death nail in my opinion. Personally, I like flash subjects to balance more with the background which usually means ISO 1600 and up for wedding receptions. Lots of manual set remote flashes can get the background exposure up as well but that is very dependent on the venue and how many flashes and flash stands you can afford!


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## Northstar (Aug 30, 2012)

kennephoto said:


> I have a wedding coming up in 1 month and I have been going round and round in my head about 5d3 and 5d2. I dont have either camera yet but I sure want one of the two. I see a lot of you have been saying not to be fearless with ISO on 5d3 but what about 5d2? Is the 5d3 a ISO beast compared to 5d2? Basically can you be a bit fearless with 5d2 still?



no brainer - get the 5d3 - better high iso...much better AF...6fps when needed..quiet shutter is so helpful at times...several other small advantages. also important, in 3-5 years when you're itch'n to upgrade again to the 5d4, the 5d3 will be worth about $1500 more than the 5d2 if you sell it or trade it in.


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## rhommel (Aug 30, 2012)

brendon, no worries, i just used Adobe Raw's NR for these ones and didn't do much processing. the desaturated look can be blamed from the fog machine... they used it heavily during the first dance (the 2nd image) and the last dance (about 5 minutes before i took the 1st photo)

I am just saying that the 12,800 is still good enough for web posts where the couple (b&g) can post online (facebook, twitter, etc).

this was my first wedding using the 5D3 and wanted to test out the ISO capabilities of the 5D3... 

Here are Ryan Benizer's photos using the 5D3 at 12,800






Rest of his 5D3 photos are here: 
http://www.ryanbrenizer.com/2012/03/a-nikon-users-review-of-the-canon-5d-mark-iii/


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## Scott_McPhee (Sep 2, 2012)

What do you guys recommend for removing digital noise?
Some of the late interior shots are quite noisy - despite not being shot at "very" high ISO settings.


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## bdunbar79 (Sep 2, 2012)

How of ISO's are we talking? There are a variety of ways to reduce digital noise. I use ACR or LR, but when I did weddings I used NoiseNinja. I hope others have more suggestions because right now noise removal hasn't been a huge issue for me. Stay tuned.


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## Richard Lane (Sep 2, 2012)

Scott_McPhee said:


> What do you guys recommend for removing digital noise?


Noise Ninja and Topaz Labs DeNoise are both great!

They both do an excellent job, however after doing a free demo of each (hint-hint), I purchased Topaz Denoise because I preferred it's user interface better.

http://www.topazlabs.com/denoise/


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## Richard Lane (Sep 2, 2012)

Double Post.


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## bdunbar79 (Sep 2, 2012)

Thanks Richard.


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## Scott_McPhee (Sep 4, 2012)

A couple of shots from the wedding shoot.




O73C9512_S by Scott_McPhee, on Flickr



O73C9462_S by Scott_McPhee, on Flickr


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## Tcapp (Sep 5, 2012)

Scott_McPhee said:


> A couple of shots from the wedding shoot.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Looks great! Though I would have liked a bit more light on both their faces in the top pic, but thats just me.


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## Scott_McPhee (Sep 5, 2012)

I only had a few mimutes to shoot these shots and no reflector or assistant on hand to help.
The light coming in the window to the left was beautiful.

....and I did have to put up with another photographer trying to get shots too.


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## Chuck Alaimo (Sep 5, 2012)

benherman said:


> Anyone shooting a wedding for the first time should really have some experience behind them first, owning some gear doesn't really qualify you to do a good service to a couple. Most of the advise here is not going to help. Go out there and shoot some events. Learn what works. Even better, shoot with a professional and learn firsthand how to approach things. It's funny how many posts like this end up on various forum sites. What you need to shoot a wedding isn't gear, it's skill and knowing how your gear works in various situations, and even more - what are you capturing - what many call the best day of their life. If you don't know how to do it, should you?
> 
> I shot my first wedding with my wife for free, because the couple didn't have a budget for photography. We did a good job considering we were new to weddings, but we were also far out of our depth. You really need to be a second shooter to get some experience.



i agree and disagree with this for various reasons. Where I agree - yes, shooting more makes a difference, learning ,putting yourswelf in hard lighting situations --- all that helps gain experience, with experience comes more comfort, then you can really start working on technique. But as far as second shooting, this is hit or miss. While yes, you always learn a thing or 2, it really depends on the primary shooter. Some primary shooters are very comfortable with themselves and their business and have no issues with teaching. But many see you as a threat and treat you as such. One big issue is files. Yes, how you shoot and what you shoot at a wedding is important, but, you need to have some time in PP on those shots to ever consider yourself a primary shooter. Some primary shooters can be freaky with that, and I get that, they are hiring you to work for them, they aren't hiring you to train you to go out on your own. Sometimes the primary shooter won't even let you come with on the formal shots (for me and my learning, setting up shots like that, guiding people, that's more than just shooting and does require learning!) - the good old, why don't you just get candid shots from coctail hour while I handle the formals. 

Not every primary shooter is like this --- and I aqm not saying don't second shooter, but, be careful choosing who you work with and if the intention is to learn - then try shooting with a few. Seeing different techniques does help a lot. And more times than not, if you second shoot you get to see some larger scale productions which is valuable learning!!!

As to the whole, don't ever take on a wedding with no experience thing. We all gotta start somewhere. If you are honest with the client and charge them accordingly to your skill level, this shouldn't be a problem I think. (remember, some primary shooters don't take on totally green second shooters, or if they do, have fun earning $50 on the day)


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## Scott_McPhee (Sep 6, 2012)

I was doing this for free for my cousin as money was tight - I am reasonably experienced or I would not have taken on the job at all.

I got some great shots and in most situations the 5D3 performed perfectly.
Metering/exposure was very impressive - on the mark 99% of the time.

I did have to put up with another (Nikon user) photographer trying to shoot the wedding as well and this was really starting to piss me off until I met a retired wedding pro who was there.
We got rid of the Nikon guy and he was excellent help setting up poses and shots - I learned a lot from him over the rest of the day.

It was hard work but I really enjoyed it - and after a wee bit of Lightroom magic we will have some great shots.
5D3 is a dream to use in this situation.


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## cpsico (Sep 12, 2012)

I use denoise from topaz labs, also i set sharpening to 0, run denoise then i use unsharp mask. I find using sharpening before eliminating image noise is a loosing battle in IQ


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## cpsico (Sep 12, 2012)

Scott_McPhee said:


> I was doing this for free for my cousin as money was tight - I am reasonably experienced or I would not have taken on the job at all.
> 
> I got some great shots and in most situations the 5D3 performed perfectly.
> Metering/exposure was very impressive - on the mark 99% of the time.
> ...


Your shots look good, I prefer to use DPP to convert raws mainly becuase i like the quality over lightrooms conversion of canon raws, granted lightroom is far better from a work flow perspective. But then again your shots look perfectly fine as is.The curve tool in lightroom, photoshop could help brighten midtones


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