My feet hurt
QOTD: "Where should we put the chickens?"
Well I just got done shooting Alicia and Daniel's wedding. It was quite the learning experience. There was one important shot that I missed and it made me pretty upset and though I haven't looked at any of the photos yet, I feel really unhappy unsatisfied with the groomsmen photos. Heavy rain earlier in the day turned our expected shooting venue into an urban bog. There were a few ideas I had for both groomsmen and bridesmaid photos that weren't realistic given these conditions, and that limited my options considerably. The light was also extremely harsh when those were being shot. The bridesmaid photos were much better off since the light had diffused a LOT between the two sets. I even reshot one of the groomsmen photos to try and reclaim some of my lighting conditions.
The biggest lesson I learned tonight was that lithium batteries can cause my flash unit to overheat and stop working. I missed probably 6-10 shots tonight because of flash failure caused by battery fatigue. My batteries gave out halfway through the actual ceremony despite me having put fresh-from-the-box batteries in just 20 exposures prior. When I took them out, they burned my hand they were so hot. I was worried that they might melt the material in my pants, since my side pocket was where they were headed. So I've learned that Monster rechargeable batteries are still the shit and $12 Energizer lithium batteries a great, but are terrible for rapid-fire use in the Nikon SB-800 external flash unit. Monsters may drain down and take a second to refresh, but at least they don't just stop functioning without warning.
The venue was also very dimly lit. Ultimately my final settings with diffused flash were 1/45 @ f/4 @ 800, which is much too near the limits of safe photography for my tastes. However, given my difficulties with getting my settings right off, I think this might have worked out well. Perhaps a bit of ghosting, but definite potential. I say this with the photos sight unseen.
All and all, things went very well. I had been concerned about the murals being a problem, but I don't think they were. Things seemed to flow very smoothly. Sure, there were a couple of things that were nuisances to some people, but from what I saw, everything was great. I don't think I got a photo of Alicia's dad smiling, though I suppose that shouldn't be counted as a failure. I got some where he didn't have a scowl, so that's a plus. Quite a few dancing photos. Lots of photos of people at their tables before the ceremony and after the reception started.
So I feel good about it so far. We'll see how I feel after I start editing, but I think it will be okay. Tomorrow I'm going to go to Keesler to use my work computer to do some of this editing and to try to get my OPR photo almost done. For some reason it's really hard for me to do photo work at home. I think it's because I don't have a good computer chair. Ah, well.
These image transfers are slated to take hours. Leslie gave me a roll of HP5+ to develop. I might do that tomorrow (today) or whenever I do my Neopan. I definitely should've had two rolls of the 1600. Since it was late in the day and we had dim venues, the ACROS 100 wasn't of much use, which is a shame. I could've used flash but, eh. I learned while beginning to shoot my Kodak 400UC that I've forgotten almost everything I once knew about color photography. Black and white makes it so much easier since color balance isn't an issue. Ah, so many things to review again. I'm being spoiled by the digital age.
I got to talk to bob off and on at the reception, which was great since I love talking to him. I also saw Lance and Matt, which was nice. Lance looked pretty sharp tonight, actually.
Boy I'm tired. Guess I should go to sleep.
Well I just got done shooting Alicia and Daniel's wedding. It was quite the learning experience. There was one important shot that I missed and it made me pretty upset and though I haven't looked at any of the photos yet, I feel really unhappy unsatisfied with the groomsmen photos. Heavy rain earlier in the day turned our expected shooting venue into an urban bog. There were a few ideas I had for both groomsmen and bridesmaid photos that weren't realistic given these conditions, and that limited my options considerably. The light was also extremely harsh when those were being shot. The bridesmaid photos were much better off since the light had diffused a LOT between the two sets. I even reshot one of the groomsmen photos to try and reclaim some of my lighting conditions.
The biggest lesson I learned tonight was that lithium batteries can cause my flash unit to overheat and stop working. I missed probably 6-10 shots tonight because of flash failure caused by battery fatigue. My batteries gave out halfway through the actual ceremony despite me having put fresh-from-the-box batteries in just 20 exposures prior. When I took them out, they burned my hand they were so hot. I was worried that they might melt the material in my pants, since my side pocket was where they were headed. So I've learned that Monster rechargeable batteries are still the shit and $12 Energizer lithium batteries a great, but are terrible for rapid-fire use in the Nikon SB-800 external flash unit. Monsters may drain down and take a second to refresh, but at least they don't just stop functioning without warning.
The venue was also very dimly lit. Ultimately my final settings with diffused flash were 1/45 @ f/4 @ 800, which is much too near the limits of safe photography for my tastes. However, given my difficulties with getting my settings right off, I think this might have worked out well. Perhaps a bit of ghosting, but definite potential. I say this with the photos sight unseen.
All and all, things went very well. I had been concerned about the murals being a problem, but I don't think they were. Things seemed to flow very smoothly. Sure, there were a couple of things that were nuisances to some people, but from what I saw, everything was great. I don't think I got a photo of Alicia's dad smiling, though I suppose that shouldn't be counted as a failure. I got some where he didn't have a scowl, so that's a plus. Quite a few dancing photos. Lots of photos of people at their tables before the ceremony and after the reception started.
So I feel good about it so far. We'll see how I feel after I start editing, but I think it will be okay. Tomorrow I'm going to go to Keesler to use my work computer to do some of this editing and to try to get my OPR photo almost done. For some reason it's really hard for me to do photo work at home. I think it's because I don't have a good computer chair. Ah, well.
These image transfers are slated to take hours. Leslie gave me a roll of HP5+ to develop. I might do that tomorrow (today) or whenever I do my Neopan. I definitely should've had two rolls of the 1600. Since it was late in the day and we had dim venues, the ACROS 100 wasn't of much use, which is a shame. I could've used flash but, eh. I learned while beginning to shoot my Kodak 400UC that I've forgotten almost everything I once knew about color photography. Black and white makes it so much easier since color balance isn't an issue. Ah, so many things to review again. I'm being spoiled by the digital age.
I got to talk to bob off and on at the reception, which was great since I love talking to him. I also saw Lance and Matt, which was nice. Lance looked pretty sharp tonight, actually.
Boy I'm tired. Guess I should go to sleep.