Help needed. Failed at an attempt recently ):

[theshooter]

Hi guys,

i've been trying very hard to get those professional feel for wedding photos but i cant seem to get it. My exposure is out, the bokeh is not there etc etc.

unfortunately i am unable to show you the pics due to the couple's requests.

i am extremely distraught now and would like the advice of some experts here.

what are your settings for wedding shots? how do you achieve those damn nice bokeh? i cant seem to get much bokeh. and do you always change your focal point? or do you just recompose with just 1 focal point?

my gear fyi:
5dm2
24-105 f4L

 

[kaylan2000]

Many people will kill me with comments like "Person behind the camera is MORE important"!! .. I personally do not buy that theory, I believe both are "EQUALLY important"

However, I would say, a 24-70 f/2.8 + 70-200 f/2.8 will be a better choice than your 24-105. My personal experience, you need a very very fast lens, specially for those indoor shoot, where light is not good. Primes are even better choice provided you have so many bodies... as you will not get much time to change lenses. I still enjoy my 85mm, you will enjoy 135mm as u r in FF.

And of course a 580 EXII. Learn to use flash, especially effect of angles, bouncing, diffuser and reflectors!!

I would suggest you to loan the above and try out. Hope I added a bit value

 

[theshooter]

Many people will kill me with comments like "Person behind the camera is MORE important"!! .. I personally do not buy that theory, I believe both are "EQUALLY important"

However, I would say, a 24-70 f/2.8 + 70-200 f/2.8 will be a better choice than your 24-105. My personal experience, you need a very very fast lens, specially for those indoor shoot, where light is not good. Primes are even better choice provided you have so many bodies... as you will not get much time to change lenses. I still enjoy my 85mm, you will enjoy 135mm as u r in FF.

And of course a 580 EXII. Learn to use flash, especially effect of angles, bouncing, diffuser and reflectors!!

I would suggest you to loan the above and try out. Hope I added a bit value

Hi bro kaylan, thanks for your very valuable insight.

i've stuck to 24-105 cos its a damn good travel lens. but i found it to be very limited when i wanna take portraits or events. yup, i'm still new to events and i cant seem to get that feel i want, esp that of a wedding photog.

will try your suggestion

 

[kaylan2000]

I do understand.

I am also looking for a 24-70 in near future. I do not really have any lens for events, I am more on landscape.

But your friends, colleagues, office will not understand that... so they will invite you to cover their events and will expect great professional photos... since you have BIG camera

I some how use my 17-40 and 85mm for casual events... of course my friends or office will not complain as it is FREE ... but you yourself will feel that you are not doing a great job.

So there is a need for the right equipment!!

 

[photoart]

For a start than you will need to relook your lenses.

24-105 is an F4, lenses with f2.8 and below might give you better DOF(not to be confused with bokeh)

do a search on lenses that gives nice creamy bokehs and maybe you want to consider getting them

 

[hotwork77]

Hi guys,

i've been trying very hard to get those professional feel for wedding photos but i cant seem to get it. My exposure is out, the bokeh is not there etc etc.

unfortunately i am unable to show you the pics due to the couple's requests.

i am extremely distraught now and would like the advice of some experts here.

what are your settings for wedding shots? how do you achieve those damn nice bokeh? i cant seem to get much bokeh. and do you always change your focal point? or do you just recompose with just 1 focal point?

my gear fyi:
5dm2
24-105 f4L

Different people have their own unique way to take the same snap shot. Unless you want badly to copy somebody's style, I would seriously suggest that you create your own style that would be your signature. There's the famous Ken Rockwell who likes to take pictures in saturated vivid colours. There's Ben who takes very candid wedding shots that looks natural. And there's "The Goat" who takes everyday photos which looked so good that it wants to jump at you.

Since you don't post an example of your shots, we are unable to comment objectively other than give you a very general advise which have been repeated again and again in this forum.

Examples: Review your shots on the LCD monitor. Reduce/increase your exposure after taking a test shot.

To get a nice bokeh, you got to understand the theory of dof. i.e. your aperture is open wide, your iso is low, your ratio of subject vs background distance etc etc. All these needs practise. It is not so simple as to charge into the ballroom and start pressing the trigger. In the end it is no different from a pns snapshot.

Don't be distraught...go out and shoot more. 5Dm2 is a good camera with excellent dynamic range. With practise, you will be a good photographer. Apologies for being blunt here: If a hobby gives you stress, then it's a wrong hobby for you. :angel:

 

[driveanegg]

Hard to comment.

The setup, assuming you do have an external flash, is more than good enough for general purposes. On dpreview / fredmiranda, there are ppl using 17-85 and flash and getting absolutely nice results.

However, besides gear, there is always aspects of photographer experience, skills in getting people to relax to get nicer shots, skills in anticipation / positioning, usage of flash, post-processing that are absolutely critical getting THE SHOT.

Cheers and have fun while learning

 

[Radiant]

Buy the Canon EF50mm f/1.4 USM, get a decent flash and read up on the Sunny 16 rule. Hope this helps.

And keep shooting

 

[night86mare]

i've been trying very hard to get those professional feel for wedding photos but i cant seem to get it. My exposure is out, the bokeh is not there etc etc.


what are your settings for wedding shots? how do you achieve those damn nice bokeh? i cant seem to get much bokeh. and do you always change your focal point? or do you just recompose with just 1 focal point?

exposure out is photographer problem.

bokeh not there, 24-105 f/4, what did you expect?

settings for wedding shots, there are no magic settings, i suspect most photographers will use aperture priority in bright light, and shutter priority in low light to ensure non-blur shots.

changing focal point, that depends on one's style.

 

[cutecdo]

Experiment, practise and shoot more.

 

[Hewland]

Hi guys,

i've been trying very hard to get those professional feel for wedding photos but i cant seem to get it. My exposure is out, the bokeh is not there etc etc.

unfortunately i am unable to show you the pics due to the couple's requests.

i am extremely distraught now and would like the advice of some experts here.

what are your settings for wedding shots? how do you achieve those damn nice bokeh? i cant seem to get much bokeh. and do you always change your focal point? or do you just recompose with just 1 focal point?

my gear fyi:
5dm2
24-105 f4L

Hi theshooter,

You have great equipment and I understand your frustration.

I suggest you read books or go online and read up on the basic stuff of camera operation, different lens types, etc. These are things which you should know. Invest time to do that and you'll be a better photographer. Look at other people's portfolios, look at fashion magazines or anything that has photos.

With digital, it's very easy and tempting to simply shoot because you can simply delete. Try not to.

hewland

 

[allenleonhart]

exposure out is photographer problem.

bokeh not there, 24-105 f/4, what did you expect?

settings for wedding shots, there are no magic settings, i suspect most photographers will use aperture priority in bright light, and shutter priority in low light to ensure non-blur shots.

changing focal point, that depends on one's style.

i'm surprised. one he is he running on a 5dmk2, 2 he is using a f4.0 lens

exposure its like 100% no prob. its ur own problem if u dun get it right. ur camera has an iso range of up to 12800, adn i find ur iso 1600 is noiseless. even if its EXTREME low light, ur lens and ur iso covers almost a huge range. cant be camera fault. do u bother to compensate when u shoot? and depending on wad metering u use it changes a lot.

bokeh not enough?

tats the same lens at wide open. i believe its sufficient. ur taking wedding photos and too shallow dof will screw ur image of the person.u want the person to be sharp. not out of focus. be happy with f4. i dun usually drop more than 5.6 for this kind of shots unless needed.

changing focal point? shoot up down left right center. zoom in and dun shoot pointblanks.
shoot more and practise. read and see other ppl photo more. u will get the feel some how.

 

[night86mare]

tats the same lens at wide open. i believe its sufficient. ur taking wedding photos and too shallow dof will screw ur image of the person.u want the person to be sharp. not out of focus. be happy with f4. i dun usually drop more than 5.6 for this kind of shots unless needed.

i will not assume that his wedding photographs are taken in a bright open outdoor space.

there is every possibility that it is taken in a cramped church, a small hdb flat, all these will limit the subject-background distance.

 

[RezzShaz]

by ur'e post, i sense that u are serious into taking and wanting to achieve good photos. By your equipment i can see that
u're willing to invest in equipment.....so why not invest in a fast lens? U can only get better......

 

[Reportage]

settings for wedding shots? usually portrait mode to see what the camera thinks is best setting for exposure and then Av or Tv depending on the environment.

bokeh/blur? either fork up for very large aperture lens, take the picture from long range with telephoto or digitally create the bokeh by using layers.

focal point? depends what lens and how much space you have to work with.

The best thing to do before you accepted the assignment is that the couple knows just what you are able to do so that after the shoot they know more or less the photos they will get.

 

[raccoon80]

I do understand.

I am also looking for a 24-70 in near future. I do not really have any lens for events, I am more on landscape.

But your friends, colleagues, office will not understand that... so they will invite you to cover their events and will expect great professional photos... since you have BIG camera

I some how use my 17-40 and 85mm for casual events... of course my friends or office will not complain as it is FREE ... but you yourself will feel that you are not doing a great job.

So there is a need for the right equipment!!

Hi..do u think 17-55 will be able to do a gd job in wedding event? I just got my set last Sat and tried some indoor shots..seems gd...

 

[coolthought]

Hi guys,

I am not anywhere even near expert...

i've been trying very hard to get those professional feel for wedding photos but i cant seem to get it. My exposure is out, the bokeh is not there etc etc.

unfortunately i am unable to show you the pics due to the couple's requests.

i am extremely distraught now and would like the advice of some experts here.

what are your settings for wedding shots? how do you achieve those damn nice bokeh? i cant seem to get much bokeh. and do you always change your focal point? or do you just recompose with just 1 focal point?

my gear fyi:
5dm2
24-105 f4L

You probably won't get all the answer here simply by reading all the posts. Probably just to get an idea what went wrong and this won't get you into it without practice and experience. Good equipment does not equal to good photos.... and you probably seems to be lacking in a good external flash (with a good diffuser)

I am assuming....probably your fundamentals aren't really there. If you really into taking really good wedding photos.... get yourself enrolled in one of the "Actual Day Wedding Workshop".

If the photos aren't too overexposed with enough details, photoshop may help to salvage them.

PS. Why so obsessed with bokeh? Good bokeh does not equal to good photo.
PPS. Aren't capturing the mood, details, happening...etc...during the actual day is more important? (good fundamentals.... still have to be there...)
PPPS. I am still practicing my fundamentals.....every failed attempt is an impetus for working even harder.... (but don't fail the couple on their big day. )

 

[daredevil123]

Thin DoF is not necessary a good thing. Look at my recent failed attempt due to thin DoF...

Shot at F2.8

 

[pinholecam]

You don't need a new whizbang (well.. :think: ..maybe you'd need a flash).
http://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/

and by Gosh! you already have a 5DmkII


For shallow DOF shots, you need to understand DOF (affected by aperture, focus distance and focal length). Simple way of thinking how to get it; Go in close; Use your widest aperture; Use your longest possible focal length.

Practice more. Gd luck!

 

[sherchoo]

Personally, I've used my Tammy 17-50mm f2.8 for the whole event. Started from 6am to ran till the end of dinner. I think it worked out fine and the couple was pretty satisfied. I think the key difference could be the flash.

With this config it just means that I need to get nearer to the action which is ok for most chinese weddings. Church weddings on the other hand need to have a fast zoom lens as most won't tolerate photographers disrupting such an solemn event. That means flash is also prohibited. Agian this depends on situation.

TS, maybe you can share how the scenario of the event was... indoor/ourdoor, timing, size of area etc....