Metering and flash use in Wedding photography

Joined: 12 Sep 2006 Posts: 14 Location: New Zealand

Im doing a wedding in a few months. And I have just brought a 430ex.
I've had no experience with external flashes, but have been doing lots of reading about them, and keen to learn more.

I'v been told to use my flash regardless on all my wedding shots..agree or disagree?

I've found with experience that the camera overexposes if metered on the black tux, and under exposes on metering on brides dress.
Is metering on the skin the best for consistant exposures without messing around with exposure compensation on the camera?

What metering is best use with external flash? spot metering on skin or just plain matrix/evaluative on the whole frame?

I would be greatful for some experienced help.
I'm a bit nervous with flash because my expeience with the use of interal flash has created some nasty photos. My first wedding shots I did were done with only natural light, and they turned out good.

Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:31 am

youngbev wrote:

Im doing a wedding in a few months. And I have just brought a 430ex.
I've had no experience with external flashes, but have been doing lots of reading about them, and keen to learn more.

I'v been told to use my flash regardless on all my wedding shots..agree or disagree?

Disagree. You really only want to use the flash to help you out

I use the flash for fill in when there's a strong back light, signing the register shots as the rooms are usually small and dark, walking down the aisle of a church (again quite dark), during the speeches at the Wedding breakfast (all mine have been indoors, so ignore this if outside) and for the nighttime, especially the first dance.

For everything else, I ignore. You probably won't be allowed to use flash during the service itself anyway and outdoor shots look more natural without it

Quote:

I've found with experience that the camera overexposes if metered on the black tux, and under exposes on metering on brides dress.
Is metering on the skin the best for consistant exposures without messing around with exposure compensation on the camera?

Short answer, yes. The camera is trying to achieve a mid grey tone, hence if you read off the black it will lighten the black and if you meter off white it will darken it. Skin is likely to be the closest mid tone you will get in your shots (and most important anyway, as Packard always says)

Quote:

What metering is best use with external flash? spot metering on skin or just plain matrix/evaluative on the whole frame?

I use matrix on the Nikon but try them and see what results you get before the big day

Quote:

I would be greatful for some experienced help.
I'm a bit nervous with flash because my expeience with the use of interal flash has created some nasty photos. My first wedding shots I did were done with only natural light, and they turned out good.

Don't be nervous. Practice loads b4 the day.

For outdoor shots (fill in) knock the power back on the flash 1 or 2 stops, indoors bounce it off walls and ceilings to diffuse it and make it look more natural. Just watch the colours on the walls etc, cos if they're not white you'll get a colour cast and in the end, try to recognise when you do need to use flash and when you don't

PRB
B-)

Joined: 12 Sep 2006 Posts: 14 Location: New Zealand

Hey thanks for that :)

PeterRoweBlackman wrote:

I use matrix on the Nikon but try them and see what results you get before the big day

What about for natural light? spot meter on skin or just matrix/evaluative the full frame?

Joined: 09 Sep 2006 Posts: 114 Location: Boston, MA

There is no reason why you should or shouldnt use your speedlite for any or all shots. Granted, some shots just need to be taken with the available light, but you can use your flash in conjunction with the existing light to make a very natural looking image...that is also sharp.

Get used to using the flash exposure compensation for outdoor fill flash, and get used to knowing what your flash coverage is at a given aperature..

Flash is an apertures worth of light.....it has nothing to do with Shutterspeed. You can control your flash exposure and DOF field with your f/stops and your available light exposure with Shuterspeed.

This is very eficient outdoors when you want to lower the contrast of the scene....thats what fill does...lowers the contrast...DOES NOT ELIMINATE SHADOWS!!!!!.... also you can underexpose your ambient light exposure by 1-2 stops and use your speedlite to illuminate your subjects...this will make them pop out and really kicks up the saturation of the backround ambient light exposure......

There are alot of people that will tell you not to use your speedite unless your in a low light situation...this is nonsense...and the people that tell you this either have never tried using it to exhance their existing light exposures..or have tried and failed........U might also want to practice in the place where the wedding is so that you know the light and can be prepared for what amount of flash you may want to use.........

A direct flash only exposure is going to look flat...because the light is frontal and light falls off with distance which is why backgrounds go black......if you use your speedlite witht he existing light you very truly enhance the overall exposure and bring the scene to life...

Look at any image from an ad....do you think the outdoor bikini model on the beach is exisitng light only.....you better believe those scenes are lit with strobes as well as using the ambient.

As far as metering goes....yes your meter is going to see anything in front of it as mid toned...approx 18% gray......your flash meter inside the 430 ex is going to do the same thing.

for a totally white subject you need to compensate by giving 1-2 stops more light....just move your exposure compensation dial 1-2 stops on the + side....if your subject is black you need to stop down by 1-2 stops..so move the dial 1-2 stops to - side....If you meter of your hand...open up 1 stop....green grass, red brick, blue sky on the opposite side of the sky as the sun are all about 18% grey....so when in doubt..point your meter at one of these and lock the exposure in.....

Use your spot or partial metering modes....evaluative is going to throw off your exposures if you dont pay attention to what is within the meters area of measurment....spot will be best anyway since you are having trouble finding the right spot to meter from.

pay attention to your Whit balance if your using a digital......Your speedlite is daylight balanced...so if you change the WB to say tungsten for the indoor shots....your going to end up with alot of blue pics with correct backgrounds.... leave it on daylight...the mix with tungsten can give a very romantic mood....or if your going black and white it doesnt much matter.

practice practice practice

Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 4:18 pm

I figure you will get ton of varying advise on the use of flash, so let me suggest a few pointers that I learned when I was assisting my cousin many years ago.

1. Avoid direct flash indoors whenever possible. He was one of the first people that I actually saw bounce flash in some of the weirdest was - with stellar results. The most famous of his tricks was bouncing the flash up and behind his left shoulder, while metering for ambient light. This is an example of that technique that I recently used at a wedding

looking at this shot it is hard to see a flash was used, but it was. Absent are all the telltale shadows.

2. Use flash to lift shadows when shooting outdoors. In this example I shot with the flash set at -1 EV (Canon 430), always metering for available light.

3. Experiment with a model using different settings/scenarios. Practice will help you immensely before the shoot. Use the model indoors, with dim light, with bright light, outside, in the shade...etc. Practice so you won't be surprised.

Joined: 23 Jun 2004 Posts: 57 Location: Phoenix AZ

Ok. You have a TTL flash this is a good thing.
You will want to set your camera to manual.
Set the shutter speed to what ever you camera sync speed is if you don't know then set it to 1/125 sec.
set your apeture to whatever you think you want based on the desirred effect.
Leave the flash in auto mode.

The flash will do all of the work for you.

I would recommend getting some kind defusion for that flash because weddings are generally about soft light. one of those little translucent boxes that goes on the end of the flash work great.

Good luck.

Joined: 23 Jun 2004 Posts: 57 Location: Phoenix AZ

Ok. You have a TTL flash this is a good thing.
You will want to set your camera to manual.
Set the shutter speed to what ever you camera sync speed is if you don't know then set it to 1/125 sec.
set your apeture to whatever you think you want based on the desirred effect.
Leave the flash in auto mode.

The flash will do all of the work for you.

I would recommend getting some kind defusion for that flash because weddings are generally about soft light. one of those little translucent boxes that goes on the end of the flash work great.

Good luck.

Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 64 Location: Northeast, IA

Another option instead of difussion or to add to it, would be to bounce your flash off the ceiling, or with the 430, you can swivel the head so it bounces off a nearby wall. This has become one of my favorite techniques when I need to get a shot without a lot of hassle.

Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 140

i know this post is really old...but i was really looking into how to do fill flash

when everyone is talking about bouncing the flash off the ceiling...where is the flash? on the camera? off the camera? i don't have a light stand yet...can i still do the fill flash if the light is on the camera?

Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 64 Location: Northeast, IA

Traditionally the flash would be on the camera, or you could put the flash and camera on a bracket and tilt the flash head that way as well.

Hope this helps

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 9:54 am

I can't recommend this diffuser enough, http://www.garyfong.com/ I use it for even/rounded fill in most situations now. Costs a bit though. There is a demo on the site you can have a look at.

Mike.

Joined: 18 Feb 2006 Posts: 268

I love the Gary Fong lightsphere as well.

Something to keep in mind, not all churches allow flash photography inside the church, even for weddings. So be prepared.