Wedding Photography - Low Light, movement Issues

[dnpayne]

Hey everyone. I just have a couple questions I was hoping to get some direction on. I am completely new to photography (about 3 months into it). I have a Canon 5d with a canon 85mm f1.8 lens and a 430 ex II flash. I've done a few engagement and family shots for people and recently shot a wedding. With the wedding, I ran into some issues. Low lighting and fast movements. While all the angles and shot framing turned out really well, I couldn't overcome some blurring and grainy photos. Needless to say I've been working in photoshop the past few days adjusting and processing.

To be honest, I was given 3 days notice on the wedding and given my limited knowledge of the technical aspects of making the shots work, things turned out pretty well. I have the creativity and artistic eye, but need to bring my knowledge of composition settings, etc... up to the same level. I strive for perfection and not knowing how to fix the blurring or low light issue is annoying me.

The lens does fantastic in low light. However, I kept getting blowout when using the flash (still trying to figure it out) and blurring when I dropped the shutter speed. I upped the ISO and ended up with grainy photos.

Any tips on taking a better photo under the circumstances of a wedding (low light, fast movements, etc...)? What about applying the flash? I guess I'm still really new and need some direction so I can practice with different settings, etc...

Thanks all for your assistance. I'm very anxious to learn this stuff and improve.

PS: I have two more weddings scheduled already for the end of summer. I must be doing something right, but like I said... I'm a perfectionist and need to get better.

[autofocus]

The only way to really stop action in dim light is by using flash. So, between now and your next wedding you need to learn how to use your flash in those situations. Read, look at tutorials...and practice. Learn how and when to bounce, where to bounce, and of what to bounce off. Remember, when using flash your shutter speed will control the ambient light, and your aperture will influence your flash. You may want to practice by setting your shutter at the camera's sync speed (believe the 5D is 1/200th), leave your flash in E-TTL mode and let the camera do the rest for you. I'd also recommend getting a flash diffuser if you don't already own one. You also can bump up or down your flash output as needed...use your histogram as a guide. Also remember bouncing flash off a colored wall or ceiling will color your light...so, bouncing off a puke green wall is not advised.

[Markdr]

Dnpayne;

I agree with Autofocus. Read and practice, practice and more practice. I also are wondering if you have a spare camera, flash, batteries and memory with you for to the wedding shoot.

If you don't I would strongly advise you to have all that backup. Because sooner or later something will crap out on you and the bride and groom will not have those memories because you couldn't go to your backup. Just a little advise for you. But I know that everybody out there that does weddings will agree with me on this.

Good luck.

Mark

[derval]

I will add some tips which will add the beauty to your images.

1. Shoot during the dusk: shoot when the sky isn't completely dark, it will add more color and beauty. It requires fast shutter speed
2. Use High ISO
3. Keep it steady: during night low shutter speed is recommended and so use a tripod or mono-pod to avoid the blur in the images
4. Freeze the couple: Freeze the couple at night, and combine flash (will freeze the foreground) with a long exposure will reveal the background.

[BigFuzzy]

Yeah, in the end, your issues stem from not knowing how to use flash. Your images are blown out because you allow the camera to do everything.
So, in the end, it's a short (and sorry if it sounds harsh) answer, but you need to learn the basics of both exposure and said exposure when using flash.

Lots of good resources out there. Light: Science and Magic is my bible of understanding ligh (whether natural or flash) and strobist is where I learned how to control flash.
And the Zach Arias One Light dvd is a great resource
Zack Arias' OneLight Workshop & DVD

Good luck.

[pricephoto]

I've only had my camera a couple of months. I have a Nikon D5000 and two days after getting it I used my neice's dance recital as a good excuse to try it out in low light, without a flash and fast movement. I took a notebook with me and made sure I wrote down what settings I was on, what worked, what didn't work, etc. Towards the end of my "testing" I managed to find what I was looking for. Surprisingly, having it set on 'auto' proved to be my best ally. However, a fast shutter speed and high ISO were my best friends. This is what I got from that recital without a flash and having only spotlights on stage as a light source:


55-200 mm lens
1/125s - F/4.5
ISO 2500
Auto
Exp 0.0
This photo has already been through processing for an artistic flare, but you should be able to see that it's a pretty awesome action shot and alot clearer than I had hoped for given the lack of light and pretty wet behind the ears using the camera. As for a wedding? I just did my second wedding a couple of weeks ago. I had asked the bride if I could tag along to the rehearsal so I could get a feel for the natural light in the church and to get a feel on where to position myself for the best angle and best light...and like I did for the recital, I took note on camera settings. THAT helped ALOT!!! Auto was not my friend that day, but the flash bouncer and tripod were. I still used a fairly high ISO (about 800)during the ceremony where movement was fast, lower (200-250) when posed and still. To eliminate blown out photos I had to adjust the flash accordingly going down a few notches after some trial and error. Also you will want to be sure when you're programing your white balance that you've got it on the "flash" setting when you use the flash...that might help with blow out too. I'm not an expert, but this is all what i've just recently taught myself about my camera. You have an awesome camera and I hope to someday have one of those...the photos they produce are amazing. Read your manual and put yourself in test and experiement mode and just play! I don't know if it's against the rules but I'm attaching another photo from the wedding I just did.

f/8
4.5
18-200 mm lens
1/60
ISO 250
flash with bouncer
flash exp -0.3