 BetterPhoto Member |
How to set Nikon D80 for low light situations Ok So I am a wedding photographer, and I hate flash when the bride and groom are dancing. So for in this low light type of situations what is the best way to set my camera? I am about to buy a 50 mm f/1.4 lens to help me out but how do I manually set my nikon d80 for this type of situation? When I went to school for photography I was using film and a Canon so things arent the same! HELP ME!
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Pete H |
So you're the one that skipped town with my Uncle Henry's wedding pics. _______________________ "When I went to school for photography I was using film and a Canon so things arent the same! HELP ME!" _______________________ No prob. The D-80, unlike film must be used on the third Thurday of the month. The 50mm must be rotated right to left during installation unless you are in the southern hemisphere. Ok so far? Good. To capture the image in low light, you must first integrate all prime numbers. As a potential customer, make sure you withdraw the octane from the 3rd valve from the cracking tower. This way, I have premium gasoline for my car. This is necessary so I have maximum combustion when I start my car and run as fast as is possible from you. Other than that, it's pretty easy. OMG!
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Scott McCord |
Pete, That's the BEST answer I've ever read to a question on this forum! Man, I'm still laughing.
If that doesn't work, try actually using the flash you hate, but use it on rear-curtain sync if it allows. Take a photo and then the flash will fire at the end of the exposure, giving you a feel of movement while providing illumination. But basically, just simply turn up your ISO.
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Kai Eiselein |
This is why people should be very wary of craigslist wedding photographers.
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BetterPhoto Member |
Ok you know what... today my bride says you know what I've interviewed1 0 photographers for my wedding and they all have 30 years of experience in the field but there personalities suck! They say I on the other hand do amazing work and they actually call me a friend afterwards. You people who chastise me for asking one simple freaking question are jerks and are the reason why people after there weddings say dang I should have gone with someone else!
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W. |
In 30 years time, when the couple take a trip down memory lane, it's the photos that matter. Not the personable tog they never saw again.
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Kai Eiselein |
Ashley, the question you asked is something you SHOULD have learned in photo school. Setting your camera for various lighting situations is a BASIC SKILL. Additionaly, while you may hate using flash, it IS a tool you should have learned to use creatively in photography school. There will be times when you MUST use it, or miss the shot.) There are a lot of pros on this site, myself included, (Although I'm a journalist who sidelines weddings), they are moe than willing to give advice. As long as you are not trying to blow smoke. If you are new, fine, say so and you'll get more advice than what you'll know what to do with. They way you came off with your question is like walking into an L.A. restaurant where every waitress says she's an actress just because she was in a play her senior year of high school back in Brownwater, Alabama.
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Pete H |
Ashley, Maybe you are right in one regard. To several people,well; I better speak for myself here, a professional shooter..your question is almost beyond belief!...If you want to succeed in the world of (art) you had best be prepared for some unsavory critism. Perhaps you would have been on safer ground had you said "as a amateur wedding photographer" as this is what you obviously are. I can not for the life of me recall ANYONE who came from the film ranks as a wedding shooter or a photographer in general, and did NOT understand ISO, faster lenses, rear curtain sync, basic stabilization techniques or camera operation etc...The latter comes under RTFM! Your question is one of a rank amateur who should probably not be undertaking a wedding shoot. Insert analogy here: It's like hiring a unskilled person to assemble cars on the assembly line..The quality of the car goes down. Now we have car owners everywhere saying what a piece of crap this car is; when in fact it has nothing to do with the auto itself. ..or better yet, the college football player who is drafted to the pros and then asks, "how to I put my shoulder pads on?" I no longer shoot weddings; stopped about 8 yrs ago...You are one (I said one) of the reasons I don't. Yes, it still irks me that people like you, uncle Charlie and auntie Ann who believe they can buy a digital camera with all the latest gadgets, blast away and call themselves a wedding photographer. Yeesh! Fortunetly, what I do now in photography, you never could as evidenced by your total lack of photographic knowledge. The people I work for would not even look at your work; nor should they. Calling your self "a wedding photographer" does not make you one. Look at your opening line...I'm sure many did,had a good laugh and went on to the next question. "Ok So I am a wedding photographer" You say it with oh such ease as though we should just accept that? C'mon! I don't even own a D-80, but I bet I could tell anyone how to set one up. What does that tell you? It should tell you good photographers try to educate themselves and stay on top of the market offerings. Pretty arrogant huh? Well guess what? Ya know, the difference betwen myself and many others here is that I am happy to set straight a photographer who is walking down a poor path choice. You emailed me and quoted from my bio where I say I am willing to help budding photographers. I am. But you as a "wedding" photographer should not be asking a question as you did. Eat some humble pie and move on..If that doesn't work..RTFM!
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Pete H |
"and they all have 30 years of experience in the field but there personalities suck!" No..what they were saying is "I can't afford a real pro!"
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BetterPhoto Member |
And you couldn't even put that in an email you had to put it in a response to a question I already had awnsered by a real pro who said you know what your work looks great but if I can help you improve it, I'd love to! I've done tons of weddings, and found out in photography school that the opinions of others in my field didn't matter, it was the client I was shooting for. And I've been doing photography for going on ten years and I am only 22. I do have a lot to learn and that is why I asked a question. Excuse me but I am now done with this and moving on. Thanks for the one person who gave me helpful knowledge... it just goes to show that you don't ask for help on a photography forum, you call up a pro in your area and ask them. People are always friendlier here in the south!
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BetterPhoto Member |
Pete, get real! Every time I think I know all there is to know, I've had something thrown at me that I've never encountered before. At 22, I was in college earning my Bachelor of science. I've since had digital thrown at me. Tell me Pete, what is the best temp for solutions to develop Iso 100 slide film? What does the term "Dodge and Burn" mean? What doed the term "Film Latitude" mean? Can a dedicated flash for a 35mm camera be used with a digital SLR? What is the major problem when pushing the ISO on a digital? If you know all there is to know about photography, these questions should be easy for you. If they are not easy for you, then you have a lot to learn.
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W. |
"People are always friendlier here in the south!" Famous last words.
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Kai Eiselein |
Mark, Agfachrome, Fujichrome or Kodachrome? Dodging and burning is the art of making specific areas of a print lighter or darker. Dodging = lighter, burning = darker. It was especially useful in B/W printing for deeper blacks, cleaner white and better shade variations of grey. Ansel Adams was a master at it. Film latitude is the number of stops, + or -, that a particular film could handle while still rendering an acceptable print with details in the highlights and shadows. Journalists prefered films with wider latitudes, because of the vary environments they work in. B/W films could be worked over in the darkroom, dodged and burned, to extend the range a bit more. Portrait shooters generally prefered narrow latitude films because they could control the light to a fine degree, and narrow latitude films tended to have less grain and, in the case of color, color variation from roll to roll. Narrow latitude films were also more tempurature sensitive than wide latitude films and were often refrigerated to maintain quality. Chrome films had notoriously narrow latitude, while print films were more varied. About flash: The answer is "maybe". Pushing ISO on digital has the same problem as with film... grain/noise. While there are differences between digital and film, the basics are the same.
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BetterPhoto Member |
I'm very impressed there Kai, but the question was aimed at Pete. One question for you though. Do you think that a person can know all there is to know about photography? I know that if I know all there is to know, it will stop being fun since there will be no new challenges. In answer to your question Ashley, I would have to suggest that you experiment. Maybe you can go to a club and offer free pictures in exchange for practice. Try the settings on your camera. Play with it. The best friend for you is practice. Each camera is different, and going from film to digital can be a whole new ball game. I wouldn't just rush in. Learn your camera inside and out before taking on paid gigs with it. Practice is the name of the game. Practice, practice, practice. Have fun and keep shooting,
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Kai Eiselein |
Of course not,Mark, it is always evolving and there are so many different "types" of shooting that it is impssible to kow everything. However, the basics to all types remain the same. That includes knowing how to adjust for lighting, use of flash and use of ISO whether it be film or digital. I wouldn't even attempt to claim I know everything, and I started in this biz when I was eight years old when I would help my grandparents in their commercial lab. Where Ashley came off on the wrong foot was by stating she was a wedding shooter, with schooling, and then asking a "Photography 101" question. I agree with Pete that adavnced/pro shooters can/should be able to pick up nearly any camera and operate it. I've used cameras other than my own brand and have been able to use them within a few minutes, albeit not as comfortably as with my own.
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W. |
"Where Ashley came off on the wrong foot was by stating she was a wedding shooter, with schooling, and then asking a "Photography 101" question." Yeah... that was REALLY funny! LOL!
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Pete H |
Mark... Your joking yes? Other than the temp of developer, all the rest are BASIC photography 101 knowledge questions. Anyone who can't answer those basic questions is a budding photographer. You may want to go back and look at what I wrote...Let me quote it for you here... "Do I know everything about what (I) shoot and how to shoot it? Pretty damn close." Notice Mark I said what I, I, I shoot; being the product line I shoot most often..The lighting setups needed for what I shoot etc... Yes Mark, in MY field of photography I am an expert; that is why I am hired.
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Scott McCord |
Ashley, In response to your initial question...one other technique you may try since you dislike flash during dances would be to move your flash off-camera with radio slaves like pocketwizards. With your shoe-mount flash on a stand off-axis from the camera, you could provide a nicer side lighting rather than that unflattering straight-on lighting. You might also try bouncing the flash as well to give a somewhat softer look. Pocketwizards are pricey, but well-worth the money. However, they don't transmit TTL info, so you would have to manually set the flash power for camera exposure. Not sure, but Nikon may make a wireless system that sends TTL info that would regulate flash power based on your exposure settings. And, should you decide to try that rear-curtain sync, you may have to use a tripod to eliminate bluring from camera shake. Rear-curtain sync is usually what produces light trails on moving objects like those night photos we've all seen from street scenes. Could produce a neat effect, especially if there are lights from a DJ. However, I tend to use this effect mainly for fast dances, giving a feeling of motion and excitement. And I hope my response to Pete's answer didn't offend you. I just thought he had an extremely creative non-sensical response that sent a very clear message. I would honestly may have been a little peeved if I had received an answer like that to one of my questions, but on the other hand, it would have made me think about how I word my questions from then on. And you may capture beautiful memories for your clients. I've not seen any examples because you don't have anything in your gallery, but I would advise that if you do actually have questions on basic photo techniques like the one you asked here, please address those as soon as possible. You may be able to capture 75% of the wedding day with no problem, but there may be an important moment in that other 25% where you didn't know the techniques for capturing that. That might make for some unhappy clients that would tell others. For instance, at a wedding a while back a little girl I was knelt down next to turned the dial on my camera back to my fully-manual settings for inside the church while I was just starting to shoot the bride and groom outside walking through bubbles. The moment happened quickly and without looking, I thought I quickly turned the dial back, but I didn't get it turned back. I had tremendously overexposed all the shots of just one moment beyond rescue. Although I just missed that one moment all day, the bride was very disappointed because nobody else had captured that moment either...and that was one moment she had always dreamed of as a little girl. So my point is, if you are unsure of what to do in certain situations and you're being paid for it, make sure you obtain solutions prior so you won't end up with disappointed clients. That situation is very hard to clean up after the fact. And your question definitely was not out of line - next time just leave the whole "wedding photographer" reference out and you'll avoid all these responses.
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W. |
Ashley, if you discover how to use this board's search function, it may have all been worth it. Good luck.
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