Camera Labs

I recently started working with this photographer in my area, who does weddings, baptisms etc. I go along to the baptisms and stuff ( as well as helping out at the store with retouching, and taking peoples passport photos etc). He has two photographers he uses already, but I take photos to gain experience. Taking photos at an event really is a totally different ballgame to hobby photography, and I'm not even the 'headlining' photographer. The first baptism I attended was last saturday, and pretty much all the shots I took were garbage. The framing was all wrong on them, the photos I used my flash on came out blown out, I ended up using Iso 800 and such and so on (when Iso 320 is more than enough for this sort of lighting and the SB-800 using Apertures of F5.6 to F8 and shutter speeds of 1/100 to around 1/250-give or take). This sunday that passed was the second baptism I attended, I think I have definetly improved on my framing. I don't really like the look of flash photography, and prefer higher Iso to using flash, but anyway, I guess it's all part of the learning curve, and I'll get more used to using my SB-800 and in due time maybe have a change of heart.

To top things off, my 18-70DX started not wanting to lock onto my D80 body again, so I've had to take my D80 to get serviced. It turns out it was the body at fault, and not the lens, or at least thats what they said. I think the AF motor might have got damaged by me when I forgot that there isn't any AF Override on the 35mmF2 like there is on the AF-S lenses, and let my fingers grip the lens lightly. At least thats my only guess as to why this fault appeared. So I was able to use the lens at the baptism, but took my D80 to get serviced on monday. I'm picking it up tomorow (looks like the bill is gonna be 80 euros or so). Anyway, here are some of my shots, CC welcome;

My main lens used was the 18-70 DX (all the shots here except for the bottom two), and the 35mm F2 D. Manual mode was used. The shots here are all candids, in that I wasn't the headlining photographer, but on the whole I didnt think I did too badly for my second baptism shoot.





60mm
F4.5
1/60
Iso500
no flash



46mm
F4.5
Iso 500
1/60
no flash



50mm
F 4.5
1/60
Iso 500
no flash



35mm
F2.2
1/50
Iso 640
no flash



35mm
F 3.5
1/40
Iso 500
no flash

A few more on my flickr if anyones interested. CC welcome.

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I've upped my Iso, now up yours.
Nikon D700, Nikon D80, Micro Nikkor 105 f2.8 AI-S,Nikon 85mm 1.8D, Nikon 50mm 1.8D, Nikon 35mm F2D, Nikon 16-35 f4 VR, Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 AF-S, Nikon 70-200VRII, Nikon 70-300mm VR, 300mm f2.8 AI IF ED, SB-800, SB-900. Noiseware pro,NIK Dfine, Nik Colour Effex, Nik Sharpener Pro

maybe i'm the last one that should give you advice, but I think that if you want to do this professionally you should pay a bit more attention to the shadows. The shadow on the face of the second guy in the first pictures was the first thing that caught my eye. This is something you would have less or none at all if you used a flash.

Love the concept on the last one. (maybe push up contrast and convert to B&W ?)

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Nikon D80 - Nikon 18-70mm - Nikon 70-300mm - Nikon 85mm - SB-600

Kevin Verelst Travel Photography

I'm not sure it would have eliminated the shadow as it might have created a shadow behind the god father.I appreciate any input though and I see where you're coming from.

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I've upped my Iso, now up yours.
Nikon D700, Nikon D80, Micro Nikkor 105 f2.8 AI-S,Nikon 85mm 1.8D, Nikon 50mm 1.8D, Nikon 35mm F2D, Nikon 16-35 f4 VR, Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 AF-S, Nikon 70-200VRII, Nikon 70-300mm VR, 300mm f2.8 AI IF ED, SB-800, SB-900. Noiseware pro,NIK Dfine, Nik Colour Effex, Nik Sharpener Pro

Using a flash would just ruin the great avaliable light, making it look flat.

Using a flash in professional photos isn't as simple as lobbing on a sb-800 or 580EX and letting it rip - unfortunately lol.

Thought they looked really nice =)

Shadow didn't catch my attention at all.

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Canon 17-40 F/4L USM + Canon 24-70 F/2.8L USM + Canon 28mm F/1.8 USM + Canon 70-200 F/2.8L USM IS + Canon 85mm F/1.8 USM
Canon Speedlite 580EX II + Canon Speedlite 540EZ + 2 x Nikon SB-80DX
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MY FLICKR!

i think the interesting shadows contribute to the mood of the event. Ur seeing like it is and i think that's the best way to do photography, especially kandid photography...you dont want it to look unnatural and in most cases, (unless there is already alot of light from the sun and you need flash to fill in ugly shadows), flash makes situations look unnatural.

Greg,

Nice work, and I think that using an on camera flash would in fact ruin the ambient light, but perhaps maybe in time you could begin experimenting with some off camera with umbrellas and brolly's. I think overall you did a great job though. Congrats on your new job.

Jake

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Jake O'Connell, 40D Crew
Canon EOS 40D | 28-135mm IS | 50mm f/1.8 |Vivitar DF 383 | Vivitar 285hv
My Flickr
my Blog
"Photography isn't so much about the results as it is the collective experience, your interactions with people and with the world"

Nice job Greg!

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Graham
Flickr

Thanks man, yeah, one of the two photographers that were there had professional lighting, something like four or five strobes with diffusing bowl shaped things, all syncd wirelessly to a commander thing that was on his D2X. All his shots had very even lighting and really did look the dogs bollocks. No wonder he was able to just shoot and not worry about settings too much, nearly all his shots are F5.6 or 6, Iso 320, and 1/100, all because he had the same consistent lighting shot after shot with his lighting system. I'll post the odd example shot to show the difference between his studio style lighting setup and sb-800 on camera flash later .



Thanks, the guy who owns the photography studio, who hires these other two photographers, was telling me I should buy studio flash, and I'm like no money, no studio flash of my own . I'm going to be shadowing another baptism this coming saturday so will ask the Russian guy how much his set up would set me back.


On an o/t note, my D80's slotted screw drive AF motor got buggered somehow, and I had to take my D80 to get serviced. I took it there on monday, and it was fixed by wednesday. Fast turn-around eh? Set me back 80 euros, am really glad to have my camera back.

The guy won't be paying me for any of the photos I take because they are not really commercial enough with ambient lighting, and a proper studio flash set-up really is needed. No biggie though, I'm getting experience for free. I'm going to be going to the studio though from 10 till 2ish every day, taking the passport photos, doing odd jobs like scanning in old photos and touching them up and so on.

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I've upped my Iso, now up yours.
Nikon D700, Nikon D80, Micro Nikkor 105 f2.8 AI-S,Nikon 85mm 1.8D, Nikon 50mm 1.8D, Nikon 35mm F2D, Nikon 16-35 f4 VR, Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 AF-S, Nikon 70-200VRII, Nikon 70-300mm VR, 300mm f2.8 AI IF ED, SB-800, SB-900. Noiseware pro,NIK Dfine, Nik Colour Effex, Nik Sharpener Pro