Upcoming wedding

I am getting juiced. I get to photograph a wedding this Saturday at the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Chicago with my good friend Bob Schueler from Indiana. It's gonna be a lot of fun. I hope to have some images to show early next week.

Bob comes from Indiana to go with me to weddings from time to time. He does it on his own dime because he wants to see what I am doing and learn from it. He works hard on his craft, studying things on-line and trying things out. And he is building a reputation in his own area as a go-to guy for local studios while he builds his own business. This is what it takes.

Speaking of studying, there is a wonderful resource on-line at Kelby Training (www.kelbytraining.com). They have on-line tutorials in Photoshop, Lightroom, lighting, gear, posing, and lots more. For less than $200 a year or $20 a month, you can have a seminar in your own home on you computer. Check it out and give it a try.

New Wedding Season is Approaching

Well, the weather is warming up and the wedding season is approaching. What have you done over the winter to keep yourself sharp? What have you done to improve your skills? Or do you think that you can't get better without actually going out on a wedding to photograph?

Over the winter, I scour the blogs from David Ziser, The Strobist (David Hobby), Joe McNally, and Neil Van Niekirk to mention a few. You could get a PhD in photography from them.

And I have bought and paid for a Master Class with David Ziser at his studio outside Cincinnati. It is five intensive days with him learning hands-on just how he does all those really great images. It goes from shooting to software to marketing. The whole package.

And, speaking of marketing, my friend Kristin has convinced me that I should branch out and take some chances to do some weddings and portraits for myself through Smiles Photography, Ltd. my own company. I am not sure just how that will go, but I am starting to get my name out there.

I love what I do. I have been a full time professional photographer for almost 21 years (my anniversary is April 15th) and was a part timer for four or five years before that. I am always looking for new and better ways to get things done. That is called growth.

What have you done to grow over the winter?

Flash modifiers

I have been meaning to test these two flash modifiers (an OFFICIAL A Better Bounce Card [ABBC] and a Gary Fong Origami). Backwards means that the flash is being reflected backwards and diffused forward. Forward means that the flash is being reflected forward. This is the white door to my office shot outside at about 7:34 AM with heavy overcast. Camera settings were ISO 100, F16, 1/200 and the flash was manual 1/1 powered by a Quantum 2x2 to ensure full, fast recycle.

The first image is ABBC Backwards.







The second image is ABBC Forward.







The third image is Fong Backwards.







The final image is Fong Forwards.







My conclusion is that my sensor is really dirty! ABBC white makes a fine gobo. No need for a black one like Neil Van Niekerk likes. It looks like almost nothing comes through. The Gary Fong Origami seems pretty much the same either way, although there seems to be a slight difference in color. I think that the ABBC is the best way to go for what I want to do.

Separation lights for Altar return groups

Saturday I was at a church I had photographed many times. The altar area is large, under lit, and far from the back wall. This all leads up to a black hole for the altar return groups. Black tuxes and black hair will fade into the background and no amount of dragging the shutter will help. Long before you lighten the back wall the ambient on the front area will overpower your mainlight.

Soooooo, I was determined to do something different. I wanted to make these groups "pop" from the dark (even black) background. Because I had so much depth, I could get two lights behind and to the sides of the groups. I put two SB28 speedlight set to 1/4 power about 20 feet behind and just out of frame. I aimed them for the middle of the groups. This gave me the nice rim-lighting you see on the shoulders of the tuxedos and the hair.

Ooops, I forgot my remotes!

Last Sunday night I was at a reception that required a backdrop for larger groups. I didn't have any radio remotes to fire the lights, so I thought about using the Ultra Zap 2400's built in optical slave. I thought I could use my SB800 and swivel it to point backward towards the Ultra Zap and use it to trigger the Ultra Zap. But the normal setting on my SB800 is TTL and it sends out a little pre-flash to determine the exposure. That little pre-flash triggered the Ultra Zap so that when the actual exposure was made, the Ultra Zap was recycling and did not fire.

Setting my SB800 to manual and dialing it down solved the problem. Manual doesn't give you a pre-flash, so only the actual exposure flash triggered my off-camera optical lights. Situation resolved.

Upcoming

It's been a while since I posted. I have some neat images for the blog and as soon as I process them I will post and talk about them. I really like the SB800 and the Nikon Creative Light System!

Yesterday's wedding was at Independence Grove here in Libertyville. It was a full day in the sun, but the temp was only in the upper 70s and the humidity was bearable. The breeze really helped, too.

Sunset with the bride and groom

Last Sunday night I was at Independence Grove with my associate, Emma. The bride asked for a sunset picture, so we walked down to the waterfront. I posed them looking at the sunset on their wedding day, and had Emma take a Lumedyne with a radio slave around the side and slightly in front of them. I metered for the sky, underexposing it by about a stop. Then I took a test shot and adjusted the aperture until the light on the couple looked nice. I re-metered the sky (keeping it a stop under exposed) and banged off a few shots.

It was 95 degrees out there last Sunday and we went through a lot of water and Poweraid. Remember to keep hydrated!