who said on shoe flash cant create creative flash?

Shooting wedding is not like shooting in studio where you have time to setup the lightings, pose the model and have the option to retake. All the moments happen only once. No matter how good the ambient light of the location is, it is still not good enough. You will surely get blurred photo due to low shutter speed since everyone will be moving around all the time. Just try to shoot in a brightly lighted room, with and without flash and you will know the differences.

I shot events before and after I got my flash, and it is a hell lot better with flash

well.. I think I haven't touch wedding too much, so I have nothing to say from the experience. again those are if I were you
decent 2.8 + decent flash + decent prime can bright up your day.

because with a wider aperture you can balance the ambient and the fill flash. the case will be quite different if you are using pretty small aperture such as 5.6

the picture tend to be filled by fill flash all the way.
again those opinion might be just me hahaha..
it will be best if you can learn your flash in a short period of time. so you can master it before the actual wedding itself.

best luck for you dude!

Talking about flash. I've been missing my flash lately, my last photo shooting is lacking of flash definitely.
well budget constraint makes me not to be able to do much.
instead I am using fill flash function of lightroom

thanks for the comment bro

thanks for the comment bro, still learning how to PP

This post has been edited by xbbshampoo: May 24 2011, 08:10 AM

^
as u can see, I'm pretty much a learner still, too

lets keep posting then

Can anyone tell me the portrait shot and landscape camera settings for d7000 ?

there is no such thing as camera settings for specific camera.

if you were talking about ISO, Shutter and Aperture those things are depends on the situation and light.
if you are talking about picture control. it depends on user preference, saturated, sharpness, etc etc..
if you are talking about white balance. it depends on mood that you want to show in the image.
if you are talking about focusing. it pretty much depends on your shooting style, and what are you shooting.

best luck ahead pal!

here you go for the better understanding


This post has been edited by aldosoesilo: May 24 2011, 06:31 PM

I agree with you. Wedding photography is not a testing ground for you to experiment. The pressure to get good pictures are 10x more than normal portraiture shooting. Every moments, do count.

To me, I think basic foundation of understanding towards different kinds of light source is very important, not just ambient light but also flash photography. The more you understand them, the more you have control over the lighting to shape the picture you want. Sometimes, ambient light alone won't do you any good but it can backfire. Lighting is just one thing, havent even come to those times where white balance is damn tricky that it sometimes could be hard to be recovered during PP even if shooting RAW.

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Added on May 24, 2011, 6:35 pmAs you go deeper in photography, you'll realize that there will always be tradeoffs that you need to take. When you take one you have to give another. That's just the nature of it.

This post has been edited by geekster129: May 24 2011, 06:35 PM

WTA: How much the cost and the waiting time for servicing 1 lens at Nikon Centre??
i just got an old lens, thinking need to do that..
the lens still ok but got 1 dust inside the lens and kacau the pictar..i cant do it with the blower..
cos i saw many complaint for the service centre, kinda scare now..
so needed some help and advice.
thank you in advance..

Well, this isn't going to be a paid shooting. I'm doing it in favor for one of my best buddy. Since I'll need it (the flashgun) in future, it only affects my decision and not changing my decision which is purchasing the flashgun months earlier than expected. Although D7000 ISO performance is great as mentioned by many others, I still find the noise unbearable much at 2000 and above, I try to fit myself below 1600 if possible.

Wide aperture may be handy, but it's totally awesome-less when all lights off which typically popular for Chinese wedding dinner.

Hi stsh90, thanks lot for your feedback. That gonna be a +1 for me to immediate getting my flashgun.

Yes Andy214, it's Chinese wedding and I do understand during the ceremony of wedding dinner when the couple walks in. It gonna be dim lights or totally off, not to mention the first serving of dishes. Pretty popular these days.

Says I purchasing my flashgun now, what practice do I need to go through for delivering the photos with my kit lens this coming weekend? I'm clueless adjusting the flashgun or adding accessories such as diffuser etc.

Care to share couple of tips and guidance please?

Thanks aldosoesilo !

Yeah, I do understand the pressure in delivering photos for wedding photography. However, this occasion is different than most wedding photography as I was invited in favor instead of paid shooting. The person that invite do understand my level in photography now as he started at the same level with me.

It gonna be rush, but I wanna strive for what I can do the best to deliver since they did not appoint OP for the day. What should I practice and read for these few days about flashgun before the actual day?

Please do feel free to share and shove your guidance, tips and recommendation altogether

Lots and I mean like really alot of practice. Reading can go as far as just for understanding but practice can make perfect.

SPAM

New 50mm 1.8G

If they off the lights, I will definitely refrain from shooting anything, since in total darkness, your AF will definitely fail to work, MF is out of question.

I am expecting the spotlights to shine over the couples during the march in.

Some things to look at:

1. Be aware of the scene, make sure you shutter speed is adequate as there will be a lot of actions. If your couple is moving about, low shutter speed will cause motion blur, and has nothing to do with your hands steady or not.
2. If you're not confident on your exposure, use Aperture priority mode if you need to control your aperture for depth-of-field, Shutter priority if you need to shoot motion or panning shots (following couple's car), matrix metering mode. Aperture/Shutter priority mode can let you ensure that the exposure will always be consistent because you might be shooting indoors and outdoors interchangeably during Actual Day. Sometimes, beginners usually have common mistakes of forgetting to set to correct exposure when using M mode.
3. When shooting group photos, try if possible use a smaller aperture to have a larger depth of field so that everyone's in focus. Don't be afraid to spam a few shutter clicks because sometimes, your guests may blink their eyes.




This post has been edited by geekster129: May 24 2011, 09:13 PM

D700 Micro website gone?

http://nikonrumors.com/2011/05/23/nikon-d7...e-is-gone.aspx/

Reading is totally different than actual shooting. You may think you can do such shot after some reading or seen some photos, but once you're looking through your viewfinder, everything feels totally different.

hi guys, new and first time Nikon user. Just bough the D90 VR kit.

Just tested with few shots. Below are a few of them. Kindly give any tips or comment or critics so i can improve and learn from all the shifu shifu here.tq


the second was testing to see how far it can zoom. that is from my room to the house across...

This post has been edited by sillysu: May 24 2011, 10:06 PM

My noob attempt

I'm no professional, but just sharing some information and experience; Hope it can useful to you.

During the March In, there should be spot light; Not the tricky part, the spot light may mess with your settings and you can still use flash if you want. Try to expose for the background or environment as well instead of leaving the background dark; It makes a difference to the whole picture quality, and stands out from typical point and shoot. Another tricky part is the spot light may not directed to the couple "properly", I've experience the spotlight shine on one of them only... Keep your shutter speed fast enough to capture the movement in low lights. When of stage, the spotlights may mess with the couple face causing shadows, you will need to use flash to fill-in those shadows (you might want to practice this).

If you're using Aperture Priority mode, remember to set the minimum shutter speed and max ISO. Don't put your max ISO too low though...
Try to becareful with focus-lock technique especially when using wider aperture. You can use wider aperture to get the effects you want for special shots, but most of them time, you might not want to use big aperture, especially group shots; The couple will love to take photos with groups of people and so on.
You can consider using continuous shooting mode so you can capture few shots (especially for group photo), it's hard to get everyone looking at their best.

For day time, you might need to be careful when outdoor under the sun, then going to the house porch playing games (this part you need to be fast and try to capture all the best moments), then moving into the house, then to the bride's room, etc. The lighting available changes dramatically from each area.

As for Flash practice, well, not sure how can I explain, you need to buy it and experience it first. The most basic technique is bouncing off the ceiling, but this gives "OK" or "normal" quality, you may try to bounce off wall and you will get much more natural lightings and professional too. Most probably you will enjoy it especially as you can use lower ISO and be amazed with the difference in terms of sharpness and overall image quality produced. You can play around with bouncing off different direction, etc. But during actual event, you might not have much time to adjust the position as you also need to move around or if you're taking in portrait mode, there's more limitation.
As for diffuser, you need to try it,... it gives again, a different output all together, it gives bright lightings, but again, it's just "OK" or "normal" quality, sometimes worst; You need to play around and see.
You can buy SB700 or SB900, both these comes with the diffuser and also color gel; there's also built-in flash/bounce card which is small and you can actually DIY bigger flash/bounce card for more flexibility and soften the light more. These are useful when there is no wall or ceiling.

When you're practicing, you can also play around with off the camera flash to create more creative and professional lighting effects; Of course, when you're shooting on the event day, it's not really an option; BUT, you can do it during certain times (e.g. taking picture with the couple in the room; try to create more creative shots).

Above are some of my sharing, it's kinda messy actually, not so good in writing or putting down in words; hope it's beneficial to you.

My cheap 2 shutter clicks...