need help with "foggy" spot in pics

[Brit_Ladner]

Ok, this is a shot from a wedding I did last Saturday. The whole back wall of the church was windows. My initial thought was, "Great. We have some natural light to work with." Well, since it was where everyone gathered before the walk down the aisle. Many of my shots were in this area. Most of them have this foggy appearance that you can see on the little boy. It's not as noticeable on the woman, but its still not the clear shots I'm used to when using natural light. I have noticed it's only when the windows are in the frame. What is going on to cause that? And how can I make sure it doesn't happen again?

Also, it was very challenging shooting at the altar for the ceremony because the lighting was so low. I set my aperture at 5.0 (as wide as my camera would let me), my ISO at 800, and still had to use a 1/25 shutter speed. Most of them came out well (thank God for a lens with an image stabilizer). However, even the slightest movement of the bride and groom resulted in a blurry picture of course. So, my other question is does anyone have any tips for shooting in low light? (By the way, the pastor instructed me I couldn't use a flash during the ceremony).

Any help would be greatly appreciated. However, I would appreciate constructive criticism. If you're just going to comment because you feel like being mean, please don't waste your time. Thanks so much!

[Brit_Ladner]

Sorry. I forgot to list the information for the pic. I shoot the wedding with my Canon 60D with my 18-135 mm IS lens. The data for this pic is: ISO 800, focal length 28 mm, shutter speed 1/50, and f/5 aperture.

[SusanH1970]

That's haze from sunflare - from shooting into the light. Positioning your subjects so you weren't shooting directly into the light would have avoided that. Hope this helps.

[Niresangwa]

That 'foggy' spot is a lack of contrast due to the bright light of the outside. Your camera metered for the subject which is fine, but the sunlight is bleeding overexposure. There isn't really a trick to avoid it, just be careful of how you position people against strong light sources, such as large bright windows. The good news is you can see these things in your viewfinder, if you're aware enough to look for it.

As far as your question about low light, you're not going to like the answer. Basically, your gear isn't up to par, and shooting with a lens that only goes as wide as f5 isn't even close to being fast enough to handle the job.

I don't know how well the 60D handles high ISO, but 800 isn't going to be enough in dim indoor conditions. You simply cannot get away with shooting events at such low shutter speeds, which your gear is going to limit you to.

Ultimately, conditions that wedding photographers shoot in qualify as fairly extreme, and there's a reason that you need not only experience, but also higher grade gear.

Your cheapest option for doing this is going to use a prime lens, something around 85mm 1.8 or whatever Canon offers there, or a 50mm prime. Unfortunately that focal length is going to limit you at weddings, but I'm going to guess you're not willing to pay the money for a constant 2.8 zoom.

If you're not willing to invest in your gear, it's going to be a short and hard road for you as a wedding photographer.

I'd also suggest you don't try and qualify what kind of criticism you want to receive. Unfortunately, no matter how you pretty it up, the advice you need to hear probably isn't going to feel good.

[Doug Sundseth]

If you have to be at 1/25th, you'll need to time your shooting for moments of stillness. For an excellent article on shooting in low light, see this article by David Ziser.

Basically, push your ISO and deal with the noise in post, use faster glass, and time the shots for moments of stillness in the ceremony.

For the sun flare shot, as noted, you don't want to shoot directly into the sun if you can help it. But even if you're using sunlight as a sidelight there are times when you're going to have too much contrast from sunlit to shadowed side. In those situations, you need to add light on the shadow side of the faces. This will allow you to reduce your exposure to reduce the flare.

Finally, as Niresangwa noted, your last 'graph is unlikely to get you the result you want. This community is generally very supportive and helpful. If anything, it is sometimes too kind in its criticisms. That sort of comment is unlikely to stop nasty people from being nasty and it feels demanding and insulting for those who are likely to be constructive.

[Tzetsin]

your Canon 60D is a VERY GOOD CAMERA.

But the opinions of the other posters is absolutely on the mark. The ISO performance of the 60D, while is good vs the lower end cameras, sucks huge vs the better ones. I absolutely will NOT go more than 640 iso on my 60D where i will happily go up to 1250 on my 5DmkII.

I would say that the 60D would make an "ok" backup camera for a wedding, but not the main shooter.

What you see in that shot is actually pretty easily corrected provided you shot those pictures in RAW. If you DIDNT shoot in RAW, find that setting on your camera and set it to RAW and NEVER TAKE IT OFF RAW AGAIN. Only an idiot would shoot in jpg when their camera is capable of raw. Do it now.

If you did shoot it in raw, get yourself a copy of lightroom 3. Pay the money for it, if you want to do any serious work with a camera you need to have AT LEAST lightroom 3. Photoshop is also a good one to have, but both is recommended by me. Lightroom first if money is an issue.

once you have your RAW shot imported into Lightroom 3, click on the develop tab, then find the gradient tool which is under the histogram on the right, then draw the tool on the angle that best reflects the angle of the sun through the window. ust the exposure or brightness slider to reduce the haze effect of the flare untill the entire photo is normalized.

thats it. once your all set up like that, repairing those photos, and any like it is a snap.

[Brit_Ladner]

I just wanted to say thank you for all the advice. Every bit of it was helpful and greatly appreciated. It was very different from the type of responses I received last time I asked for help. I hope that I will soon get the money to invest more in my business. I have been considering taking out a small business loan or possibly looking into getting some kind of grant.

If yall had a choice, which do u feel would be the wiser investment if I had to pick one: A new lens like those suggested, and upgraded body, or upgraded software such as Lightroom?

[Tzetsin]

It seems to me that your pretty new to your camera. I'm going to make a suggestion to you that will change the way you look at your camera/lenses/photography forever. If you take my advice you will grow exponentially in your ability to understand your camera, how it works, and also lenses, how they operate, how they work, and how they influence the image your camera takes. If you dont follow this advice, you will just have to be content to stumble along as you have been.

I know that sounded pompous, but its absolutely the truth.

The first thing you need to do is grab your credit card. this is going to cost you about the same amount as taking your family to McDo for lunch.

Credit card in hand, go to lynda.com

SUBSCRIBE. For a one month sub it costs 25 bucks or so, this gives you access to every video for every subject that they offer.

Watch EVERY video they have in their "Foundations for photography" series.

If you have lightroom, or are planning on getting lightroom, or photoshop, or both, or use a different editor, they have tutorials on how to use these programs, and how they're "actually" ment to be used as well.

After watching all the videos you can, watch the most important ones twice if you have to, you can either un subscribe or continue your subscription after the month is up. Go through the site though, it's got A-LOT more than you think it does. Its absolutely the cheapest useful education you'll ever buy. I guarantee it.

I'm not affiliated with lynda.com in anyway. I AM an AVID user though. I swear it is the Internet's best kept secret.

KelbyTraining.com is another site, similar to lynda.com, but IMO lynda.com is much more "instructive". I find I come away with a fair amount of inspiration from kelby, but lynda provides alot more practical knowledge.

[Tzetsin]

Originally Posted by Brit_Ladner

If yall had a choice, which do u feel would be the wiser investment if I had to pick one: A new lens like those suggested, and upgraded body, or upgraded software such as Lightroom?

I'm going to be absolutely brutal here, and its going to hurt.

I applaud your enthusiasm, and I wish to take no wind from the sails as it were, but honestly... if you have to ask this question, you are in no way ready to be in business as a photographer. Least of all a Wedding photographer.

your lens is not up to the task of wedding photography.

Your camera is good, but not for wedding photography.

If you are not using lightroom, or at least absolutely proficient in a "similar" post program. You are not ready.

i recommend upgrading EVERYTHING before you are ready to do weddings. New lenses. New body, new software. Even with all the upgraded equipment, weddings are pretty much where you go when your already an ace. Not someplace you start.

Watch those videos at lynda.com. when your done i'm sure you'll realise that what you think you know about photography could fit in a thimble vs what you NEED to know about photography to run it as a business.



But to answer your question....

Get lightroom first.

then get an EX430 II flash. The 60D body can control this flash "off camera" so you'll be able to take nice outdoor shots with a helper holding the flash for you (provided its not too bright to overpower the IR needed to fire it) Its not the best setup, but its on the cheap without buying anything you wont need when you upgrade your body. A couple good reflectors will probably be better for you in this case. It will also make your indoor shots sharper, and allow you to use a lower ISO when your able to use it.

Then get the canon 50mm 1.8. Its pretty cheap, but its FAST and sharp which is what your going to need to shoot in the church. the 50mm lens is going to actually be about 70mm on your 60D body, which is good because even at 70mm your going to have to get pretty close to the action to frame it. You might want to consider stepping back a bit and framing loosely and cropping out your frame later in post. You wont get quite so high resolution images this way, but you'll get your shots without stepping on toes.

Then get the Canon 24-70 2.8L lens. its going to cost you ALOT. but thats the cheapest lens you need for weddings. This lens will actually be about 37-100mm on your 60D wich is great because now you'll be able to properly frame your shots from a good distance away.


Then after you've made your millions, get the 5Dmk2, or 3 if its out by this time... Remember however that on the 5D body your 50mm lens will now be 50mm, and your 24-70 will be 24-70. You'll have to go back to loose framing your shots again, but your resolution will be much higher, so your cropped shots will have about the same resolution as the tightly framed 60D shots.

You'll need a radio trigger to fire your flash off camera now. Thats ok though because radio isnt affected by bright sunshine, so all those times the flash didnt fire because it was too bright for IR will never happen again. I use Cactus flash radios because they were only about 150 bucks. I have two radios and to recievers, one each for the cameras and I've got two flashes. Oh, yeah, you'll probably want to get another ex430II or even the 580 by this point.

Then after you have those get the 70-200mm 2.8L IS II. This lens costs more than the 5D body does, but its the other "minimum" lens you need.

you could probably buy a prime lens, 80mm or so ( which will be 128mm on your 60D) during the beginning to help out in the church, but tbh, once you have the other two lenses, the 80mm will sit and collect dust, being about 900 bucks wasted.

If anything i said there doesnt make PERFECT sense to you... please re read the begining of the post.

[BryanC]

Originally Posted by Brit_Ladner

If yall had a choice, which do u feel would be the wiser investment if I had to pick one: A new lens like those suggested, and upgraded body, or upgraded software such as Lightroom?

Originally Posted by Tzetsin

It seems to me...good stuff, etc,etc...

Tzetsin gave a more detailed and helpful answer than the one word that came to my mind when I read your question. Knowledge. Knowledge about photography and exposure. Asking the question of "what to buy" gives off that feeling that you just glossed over the very helpful replies that you received above. Re-read them. Learn about exposure and how a camera and lens achieve exposure. The relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Learn about different lighting situations and how to deal with them, (such as your example above). That would be your wisest investment at this time, especially having a business. Then, you can answer the "what to buy" questions yourself.