First time as a second shooter...my experience and a few photos (LONG!) CC needed!

[lilmomma]

Ok so today I was a second shooter for the first time. It was a simple wedding, but I learned A LOT. I also acquired a whole new level of respect and admiration for wedding photographers. One thing that was tough for me was I wasn't fast enough with changing the settings for the different conditions. And MAN..you really have to be like 5 steps ahead of it all, the ability to anticipate needs to be super high, and I struggled with that today.

All in all I didn't get anything outstanding, but I am overall satisfied. Like I said i was the second shooter, this was my first time doing photography as a "job" (even though i wasn't paid...) and i was supposed to be shooting photojournalistic style.

I struggled a bit with a few things, one being my dang tripod! I apparently can't operate it quick enough, definately need to mess with that more. The biggest thing about today was that the church lighting was a NIGHTMARE. Not a single window, and at least 3 different types of light sources, plus my flash. Here's just a snap of the setup of the lights and the church to show you what I was up against:

http://mkayser.smugmug.com/photos/569375796_Wcfq6-L.jpg



then to top it off, along with all the harsh spotlights in the front, there was some sort of blue light coming from above. Really difficult to color balance with that! Here is kind of a neat one that I shot before the ceremony began, and before they turned on the main lights:

http://mkayser.smugmug.com/photos/569370897_fZi7d-L.jpg

yeah it was not easy! The light stayed on, but during the ceremony they turned on the spotlights so it washed it out a little bit. I have a lot of photos with blue highlights...that's going to be a challenge.

We didn't go outside for all the fun shots, the main photog did some formals inside and I just shot whatever caught my eye. Before the ceremony I was able to get a few getting ready shots, those were fun!

Here are just a few until I really get a chance to go over them! (over 500..yikes!)

Please let me know what you think, but also keep in mind the awful lighting!

1.
http://mkayser.smugmug.com/photos/569369496_V2J6Y-L.jpg

2.
http://mkayser.smugmug.com/photos/569369202_yUB8b-L.jpg

3.http://mkayser.smugmug.com/photos/569370266_2Xgwu-L.jpg

4.
http://mkayser.smugmug.com/photos/569369898_HnqH9-L.jpg

5.
http://mkayser.smugmug.com/photos/569371397_MR37A-L.jpg

6.
http://mkayser.smugmug.com/photos/569372154_dvTfm-L.jpg

7.
http://mkayser.smugmug.com/photos/569373455_rLJF5-L.jpg

8.
http://mkayser.smugmug.com/photos/569373227_mf5Pa-L.jpg

9.
http://mkayser.smugmug.com/photos/569374988_htWfY-L.jpg

10.
http://mkayser.smugmug.com/photos/569374788_ZQ6vb-L.jpg

11.
http://mkayser.smugmug.com/photos/569374105_JQWbG-L.jpg

12.
http://mkayser.smugmug.com/photos/569376403_4QQ8F-L.jpg

13.
http://mkayser.smugmug.com/photos/569376010_iGzNW-L.jpg

14.
http://mkayser.smugmug.com/photos/569376245_TCLvm-L.jpg

15.
http://mkayser.smugmug.com/photos/569376543_LaSjB-L.jpg

16.
http://mkayser.smugmug.com/photos/569368933_LTh4c-L.jpg

[Shima]

For a first time I think you did pretty well under the circumstances, good job!

[lilmomma]

Thank you shima! That means a lot, I struggled pretty hard with the lighting...but the more I go through them the more satisfied I am with them. I'm posting from my phone now but when I get home I will post a link to the gallery with more photos.

[lilmomma]

ok here's a link if anyone else wants to give their .02 cents, or advice on what I could do next time or whatever. Also, another thing I did not mention on my first post is about halfway through the day, my flash started getting hot and having a really long recycle time. So i thought my batteries were dying and I put some brand new ones in there, but still didn't help. Why did it do that and how can I avoid it next time?
http://mkayser.smugmug.com/gallery/8640727_gHimB/1/570140577_Famrw

thanks!

[lilmomma]

Now I really do understand that these are not the most exciting and outstanding photos which is kind of why I posted and asked for c&c. Now i'm also not one to complain when I don't get many comments, (with the exception of Shima, thanks again btw) most of the time I just really like my photo and I want to share. However this was a major big deal for me to venture out and do something like this when i've only discovered the photography world maybe 4 months ago. In February, I had no clue what a dslr was, and all i knew about ISO was that it made my crappy p&s pictures look like even more crappy. I don't claim to know what I'm doing but I have learned a lot on this forum and wanted to opportunity to try and apply it. I also knew better to not be the only one there, and shadow someone for the first few times. Of course when I showed up at the church Saturday, I was a little dissappointed to see that it wasn't the most fantastic setting and really crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. I see so many beautiful churches and outdoor ceremonies in photos here that really would present some opportunities to get creative and I had hoped for that a little more when I showed up. Oh well, I was a nervous wreck anyway and all I could focus on was, well, focus...more than anything I did not want blurry photos.

This was a difficult situation and I would really like to know how some of you would've handled it, maybe what I could've done better, etc...
We didn't do any fun posing, just some formals and were kind of rushed at that. I had no control over posing or the timing and was really just trying to stay out of the main guys way.

Things I want to know are...What did I do wrong? Do they look sharp enough? does the exposure look ok? Do they look grainy? How should I have dealt with this? If you were the main photographer would you never ask me to come along again? ETC...


The gallery has more shots to view, maybe I should've picked different ones to post.

Sorry I'm really not trying to be a pain in the butt, I wish i didn't sound desperate but really I am...I realize the photos aren't portfolio material, but I would like to hear something at least, even if it is "I wouldn't be caught dead with you shadowing me"

:help

[wadesworld]

I'm not a wedding photographer and a beginner like yourself, so take my comments with a massive grain of salt, but I think overall you did a nice job for your first time and can be proud.

There were some distracting backgrounds that perhaps could have been avoided, but it didn't appear to be the most picturesque church and for all I know, she was standing there because the main photographer told her to.

What was the feedback of the main shooter?

[Qarik]

This is fairly decent work considering the setting and your experience. I think #2 is your best shot. What kind of batteries were you using when the flash got "hot"? I just had similar experience. I use primarily recharable lithium batteries but fo rthis wedding I brought along some energizer nimh (?) type "high performance" batteries. I noticed flash was acting kinda funny I pulled the batteries out and they were super hot..practially burning my skin. I replaced them with lithium ones and then kept shooting.

[smurfy]

Four, Seven and ten are all wonderful! Just darken out that floating blond head near the ceiling in the ceremony shot...it's too weird. But the overall image is really nice considering what you were dealing with.

http://godburnphotos.smugmug.com/

[lilmomma]

Thank you, thank you a million times....I really appreciate the time you all took to comment. I just needed a little assurance that I wasn't completely off.

Wadesworld...thank you...and agreed on the backgrounds but no control on my end. Anyway I actually heard from him a little while ago, he was impressed and had originally asked for just the raw files, then after he saw mine he said he would like the processed ones as well...he said he thought I did a nice job and would like me to shoot with him again!!:barb

Qarik...thank you...I was using Energizer lithium batteries, not rechargeable but I had two sets and changed them in the middle and still no good. Maybe I will have to purchase an extra flash? How is this dealt with regularly I wonder?

Smurfy... thank you so much, I really like 7 as well, and the floating head is kinda funny, I should get rid of that.

Thanks again I just wanted to know if I was way off base or if I could really do this. I think it being a difficult setting is probably better for my first time, so I don't go into it next time thinking it's going to be easy!

[wadesworld]

Maybe I will have to purchase an extra flash? How is this dealt with regularly I wonder?

Again, I'm a beginner - so hopefully some experts will chime in here.

However, you're dealing with two primary things when it comes to flash recycle time:

1) How much power the flash has available to recycle
2) How hot it is

In the first case, you can reduce the flash recycle time by using an external battery pack. The flash has more power available and is ready again more quickly.

However, in the second case, if you actually fire so fast that you start to overheat the flash, it will either stop firing to prevent you from doing so, or it will simply start melting (depending on how it was designed).

The fix for that situation is simply to lower the amount of power the flash is putting out. You can do so by opening your aperture more (thus allowing the amount of flash to be scaled back), or by adding more flashes (more flashes mean each one can put out less light, and therefore be cooler). If neither are possible (and I would think more flashes would be difficult for a second shooter), you've got little choice but to try to build some pauses into your shooting.

It apparently is possible to buy flashes specially designed for high-speed shooting, but I've read they're extremely expensive.

That's my understanding of the issue - anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[MA-FOTO]

did you use the gary fong diffuser?
If yes.....
Using batteries by the flash is being accelerated by the Gary Fong diffuser.
If you used it - it is shooting light every where.
The flash is trying to compensate thus using more power/batteries.

It is all ready known that the flash runs hotter with them on as compared to straight diffuseurs or a simple bounce card.

anyway .... talk about tough shooting environment.
Way to get thru it.

You did really well considering experience/equipment and the church lighting (ugly).

Later,
_Mark