Tips Needed Please

[Carl in Louisiana]

Ok, Sorry it took so long have been busy. After some trial and error I went with manual mode and adjusted settings as needed. I did go early enough to find what I wanted to do with the camera settings. I did not use flash as most of the time I was too far away to make any difference. It was a fun filled day and a day of learning. Some harsh sun during the day and later in the afternoon was much better. During PP I did use fill light to help out and then adjusted the contrast, clarity and vibrancy. This was a first time for this event and it was a great success. I came away with photographs that I am very pleased with and so was many others that have viewed them. However I did have lots of throw a ways for various reasons.

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[Saorsa]

I think aperture mode will work for you outdoors for day events, DOF becomes a problem with unintended backgrounds and you can control that better with Av using a wider aperture.

I would recommend using fill flash outdoors because my guess is there will be a lot of guys wearing ball caps from various services and units. If you have a flip bracket for the flash, put it to the side (vertical) position so that the light is at the same level of the lens for those hats. On camera on top of the flash is an invitation to brim shadows on the eyes. (or just shoot vertical)

I shoot Nikon and my flash has a high speed sync mode that means shutter sync speed isn't a problem.

Get there early for a few practice shots.

[Carl in Louisiana]

Thanks Brian! Will give it a good try.

I think aperture mode will work for you outdoors for day events, DOF becomes a problem with unintended backgrounds and you can control that better with Av using a wider aperture.

I would recommend using fill flash outdoors because my guess is there will be a lot of guys wearing ball caps from various services and units. If you have a flip bracket for the flash, put it to the side (vertical) position so that the light is at the same level of the lens for those hats. On camera on top of the flash is an invitation to brim shadows on the eyes. (or just shoot vertical)

I shoot Nikon and my flash has a high speed sync mode that means shutter sync speed isn't a problem.

Get there early for a few practice shots.

[Shadowman]

10AM to 10PM, choose your locations wisely and divide your time between indoor and outdoors. How much time do you think you'll spend outside between 7-10PM?

[Carl in Louisiana]

Thanks John, I am going out at 6:30am and will stay as long as I can. Two of the people that helped to set all of this up are very good friends of mine. I plan on getting some good shots of everyone getting set up and then on into the day. It will also allow me to see for myself just how the main stage it set up and then set up accordingly. If it is as they say the sun will be behind me in the AM for the main Ceremony. Bands will be playing after that until.

10AM to 10PM, choose your locations wisely and divide your time between indoor and outdoors. How much time do you think you'll spend outside between 7-10PM?

[skilsaw]

There is no single "BEST" selection of mode for all photographers for a specific event.
The key is to stay with the mode you are most familiar and comfortable with.
Trying something new at an all day and evening event is a recipe for failure.

Here are the rookie settings I would use.
If I was there, depending on the light outside during the day, I would go with Shutter priority at a speed no slower than 1/250 to avoid blurr due to motion of the subject. I would aim for the smallest aperture (highest aperture number) to get a deep depth of field and have the ISO on Auto. When it comes to shooting indoors I would use a flash and Aperture priority set between 4 and 5.6. Depending on the amount of jostling by the crowd, I would keep the shutter speed at 1/80 and above. Once again, the ISO would be Auto.

I believe these settings would provide me, (an amature) reasonable results. You will probably have reasonable opportunity to get specific shots more than once. In that case, experiment with your settings, but always start again at the settings I have suggested for each new shot.

Have a great time at the party tomorrow! It should be good.

[Carl in Louisiana]

Thanks David, I have been use to shooting in manual mode but things were always on the slower side than this will be, thus the reason to reach out and see what others would do. The lighting, the forecast is for bright sunshine all day.

There is no single "BEST" selection of mode for all photographers for a specific event.
The key is to stay with the mode you are most familiar and comfortable with.
Trying something new at an all day and evening event is a recipe for failure.

Here are the rookie settings I would use.
If I was there, depending on the light outside during the day, I would go with Shutter priority at a speed no slower than 1/250 to avoid blurr due to motion of the subject. I would aim for the smallest aperture (highest aperture number) to get a deep depth of field and have the ISO on Auto. When it comes to shooting indoors I would use a flash and Aperture priority set between 4 and 5.6. Depending on the amount of jostling by the crowd, I would keep the shutter speed at 1/80 and above. Once again, the ISO would be Auto.

I believe these settings would provide me, (an amature) reasonable results. You will probably have reasonable opportunity to get specific shots more than once. In that case, experiment with your settings, but always start again at the settings I have suggested for each new shot.

Have a great time at the party tomorrow! It should be good.

[William W]

Debrief please -

What did you do and how did you go?

WW

[Carl in Louisiana]

All images were captured handheld.

[William W]

Thanks for the debrief and also for posting those images.

I think that you managed the ‘Dappled Light Subjects’ and the ‘Subjects in Shade and Sunny Backgrounds’ well. These images certainly covey the spirit and fun of the day – that’s obvious. It seems that you learnt a lot doing this: and that’s good.

*

One suggestion for next time, shooting in Manual Mode - I think that your Shutter Speeds were a bit slow and the Apertures were un-necessarily small for some shots: for example, the Portrait of the Biker sitting down: F/18 @ 1/40s @ ISO 125. I think that 1/40s is nearer the ‘unsafe’ region to get Subject Movement and/or Camera Movement (if the camera does not have stabilization) – and you had a bit of latitude in the Aperture and certainly a lot of latitude in the ISO to bump the Shutter Speed to the 1/200s region.

Shooting under pressure of time or outside one's comfort zone, in M Mode, I have noticed that it is easy for many Photographers to lose their concentration on the SHUTTER SPEED - at least that is very common error with beginner Wedding Photographers: I don't know why but my theory is that most Photographers have predisposition to making sure they have enough DoF and or they shoot in Aperture Priority Mode often and these facts add to them loosing concentration on the Shutter Speed. Anyway just something for you to consider, I'd have a close look at the typical shutter speeds that you were using.

*

A suggestion about Post Processing that you might consider:
When using a ‘fill light’ or similar option in Post Production, I have the main aim to increase the levels of shadows, especially the faces and also mid-tone contrast to get some guts back into the whole of main Subject(s), if the main Subject is in shadow against a bright background.

For example the ‘flags shot’. There are many methods. In PS I often use “shadow / highlights" control and I use many small adjustments, typically one 1% or 2%. Also subtle dodging on the face often assists, and finally a slight increase in mid tone contrast and then a slight adjustment in the input black point and grey point, using the levels slider.

Here are two quick sample indicative reworks for your consideration using the above described method, firstly using "shadow/highlights" by eight corrections of only 2% for each increase in the shadow area.

In each sample, the original is on the top and I suggest that you view them at full size:



DETAIL:


*

The Portrait of the Biker is a good shot.
Bravo.

WW

[Shadowman]

Nice series and follow up.

[Carl in Louisiana]

Bill your welcome and thank you for the encouraging words and such a detailed critique, it is just what I need. When I started PP of the images I noticed the SS and thought to myself wow I completely forgot to keep an eye on it. You were right on the money on that and the aperture. I got caught up in the moment and and was making small adjustments without really looking at everything. For some of the shots I was able to prop on something or on my knee as I sat down some of the time. I felt most comfortable using manual mode after I got started and would do it the same way all over again. The biker, I used a table that was in front of him to prop on. Some, not all of the slower SS was to capture movement to give a feel of action and I did not remember to re-adjust. The hardest for me was all the white tents scattered around the grounds and the bright sunlight reflecting off of them, you can see two of them behind the stage. It was a first and a very good learning experience for me. However I think I will feel more confident the next time out and hopefully I'll remember some of what I learned.
Thanks for the examples of PP Wow so much better than what I had done. Thank you for posting them along with an explanation of what you did! I think I have an idea of where to go with it along with the software I have but will have to play around a bit to see for sure. What software did you use? I have LR5 and Nik Complete.

Thanks for the debrief and also for posting those images.

I think that you managed the ‘Dappled Light Subjects’ and the ‘Subjects in Shade and Sunny Backgrounds’ well. These images certainly covey the spirit and fun of the day – that’s obvious. It seems that you learnt a lot doing this: and that’s good.

*

One suggestion for next time, shooting in Manual Mode - I think that your Shutter Speeds were a bit slow and the Apertures were un-necessarily small for some shots: for example, the Portrait of the Biker sitting down: F/18 @ 1/40s @ ISO 125. I think that 1/40s is nearer the ‘unsafe’ region to get Subject Movement and/or Camera Movement (if the camera does not have stabilization) – and you had a bit of latitude in the Aperture and certainly a lot of latitude in the ISO to bump the Shutter Speed to the 1/200s region.

Shooting under pressure of time or outside one's comfort zone, in M Mode, I have noticed that it is easy for many Photographers to lose their concentration on the SHUTTER SPEED - at least that is very common error with beginner Wedding Photographers: I don't know why but my theory is that most Photographers have predisposition to making sure they have enough DoF and or they shoot in Aperture Priority Mode often and these facts add to them loosing concentration on the Shutter Speed. Anyway just something for you to consider, I'd have a close look at the typical shutter speeds that you were using.

*

A suggestion about Post Processing that you might consider:
When using a ‘fill light’ or similar option in Post Production, I have the main aim to increase the levels of shadows, especially the faces and also mid-tone contrast to get some guts back into the whole of main Subject(s), if the main Subject is in shadow against a bright background.

For example the ‘flags shot’. There are many methods. In PS I often use “shadow / highlights" control and I use many small adjustments, typically one 1% or 2%. Also subtle dodging on the face often assists, and finally a slight increase in mid tone contrast and then a slight adjustment in the input black point and grey point, using the levels slider.

Here are two quick sample indicative reworks for your consideration using the above described method, firstly using "shadow/highlights" by eight corrections of only 2% for each increase in the shadow area.

In each sample, the original is on the top and I suggest that you view them at full size:



DETAIL:


*

The Portrait of the Biker is a good shot.
Bravo.

WW

[Carl in Louisiana]

Thank You John!

Nice series and follow up.

[William W]

. . . I used an old version of Photoshop to do those quick corrections. Version 2. I am working on site using my laptop at the moment.

The function I used first was "Image" > "Adjustements" > "Shadow / Hightlight" and I started by increasing the highlights ONLY 2% and I did that FOUR times. That renders a different result to making one correction at 8%. All my alterations in "Shadow / Highlight" were INDIVIDUALLY very small. If I needed more, I would then do the same again.

WW

[Carl in Louisiana]

Thank you Bill, I should be able to do the same in either LR5 or Nik Color Efex Pro 4. I will give it a good try as I like the way your edits looked very much.
I am not sure how to increase the mid tone contrast but will google and see what I can find for LR5 or Nik.

. . . I used an old version of Photoshop to do those quick corrections. Either version 2 or 3. I am working on site using my laptop at the moment. The function is "Shadow / Hightlight" and I started by increasing the highlights ONLY 2% and I did that eight times. Then I dodged the faces and then increased the mid tone contrast of the whil image. All my alterations were INDIVIDUALLY very small. If I needed more, I would then do the same again.

WW

[William W]

Addendum:

It initially fooled me that you had edited your Original Post to make it the feedback and debrief - I couldn’t understand why my asking you how it all went, was placed in the thread after your post with the sample images.

I thought that I was going (more) crazy than I usually am . . . it made me laugh out loud when I worked out what you had done!

WW

[William W]

Boost to Mid Tone Contrast is in the "Shadow / Highlight" section of CS2. I have forgotten how to do that in LR at the moment and I don’t have it loaded on this laptop.

You can do a similar boosting with "levels" if you can access the input levels. Just tweak the black point to the right a little bit and move the grey point to the left a little bit.

Again I suggest that you make very small increments and then have a look at about 100%, especially at the faces - and then have a look at the whole image – if you need more do it again.

WW

[William W]

PS --- . . . I am not knowedgeable in 'Nik Complete' - sorry I cannot comment on how to use that software.

[Carl in Louisiana]

HA! HA! Welcome to my crazy world. lol

Addendum:

It initially fooled me that you had edited your Original Post to make it the feedback and debrief - I couldn’t understand why my asking you how it all went, was placed in the thread after your post with the sample images.

I thought that I was going (more) crazy than I usually am . . . it made me laugh out loud when I worked out what you had done!

WW

[Carl in Louisiana]

I did a quick google and found this on LR5 http://www.slrlounge.com/school/how-...video-tutorial Well I'm off to bed now and will give it a try sometime tomorrow when I get the time. Again thanks for all your help. Will do on the very small increments. I have started learning that little is much...one of Donald's sayings or at least that is where I remember it from.

Boost to Mid Tone Contrast is in the "Shadow / Highlight" section of CS2. I have forgotten how to do that in LR at the moment and I don’t have it loaded on this laptop.

You can do a similar boosting with "levels" if you can access the input levels. Just tweak the black point to the right a little bit and move the grey point to the left a little bit.

Again I suggest that you make very small increments and then have a look at about 100%, especially at the faces - and then have a look at the whole image – if you need more do it again.

WW