A few pictures from yesterday's wedding: I've shot weddings at this venue several times and it's one of my favorites .... The last picture was a great candid. Had them posed up and...

Beercat Loc: Central Coast of California

I've shot weddings at this venue several times and it's one of my favorites ....

The last picture was a great candid. Had them posed up and then told the groom to wispier into her her how many kids he wants to have .... a half second later .... click

All were shot on a Canon 6D with a 24-70 f/4 IS lens and off camera flash.

(Download)

Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

Well captured series!
Wonder what his response, was?
Pat

Beercat Loc: Central Coast of California

Jay Pat wrote:

Well captured series!
Wonder what his response, was?
Pat

Thanks Pat :)

You mean her response ;)

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

Excellent posing. OCF gives a crisp light, but IMHO, the light position is a little low. Shadows direction and where they are cast is not quite right to me.

Beercat Loc: Central Coast of California

jdubu wrote:

Excellent posing. OCF gives a crisp light, but IMHO, the light position is a little low. Shadows direction and where they are cast is not quite right to me.

Intentionally done from a low angle as the bride's dress was really hot so I had my BH go from a lower angle and direct upward so the falloff would be substantial on the dress thus not blowout and retain detail;)

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

Beercat wrote:

Intentionally done from a low angle as the bride's dress was really hot so I had my BH go from a lower angle and direct upward so the falloff would be substantial on the dress thus not blowout and retain detail;)

AH, I knew there was a reason, as the lighting was obviously lowered.

Another way to accomplish that falloff might be using a grid on the speedlight to control the light spill. I bought some plastic grid material in different widths on Ebay a few years back that was easily cut to size, edged with gaffer tape with Velcro tabs. Cheaper version and works as well as my Rogue grid. I use them when I need multiple speedlites gridded. Neil Van Niekerk's black foamy thing works equally well in controlling the light spill and has the added bonus of being super cheap.

Very nice work.

Beercat Loc: Central Coast of California

jdubu wrote:

AH, I knew there was a reason, as the lighting was... (show quote)

Good idea ... always something to learn ;)

jaysnave Loc: Central Ohio

Nice job Jerry. You faced the dappled light and you won! Love the question you gave them. If it is not copyrighted I think I will use it for my next wedding. Also, I noticed the pin the groom had of maybe his mother or grandmother? Very touching way to honor a deceased (assuming) family member.

Beercat Loc: Central Coast of California

jaysnave wrote:

Nice job Jerry. You faced the dappled light and you won! Love the question you gave them. If it is not copyrighted I think I will use it for my next wedding. Also, I noticed the pin the groom had of maybe his mother or grandmother? Very touching way to honor a deceased (assuming) family member.

Thanks Jay ... by all means use the line, we share to help each other out. Yes the pin was a nice touch, his recently deceased grandmother.

Beercat Loc: Central Coast of California

I noticed the "captain" on the open forum critiquing my photos ... what a piece of manure ... I mean work.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Love the idea of asking him to whisper how many kids in her ear...

I shot a really REALLY shy senior girl last night. I asked her to tell me (in front of her mother) her favorite swear words in order of importance. I got some great laughs (nervous laughter) but it made for cute expressions.

If you don't mind my asking, which Captain are you referring to? There are a few. I've always respected Captain C. (Cliff Lawson) as someone who will be honest, but not someone who gets personal. That's how my mentor taught me. Honest, but not mean spirited. Because my photos were like my "babies" I would sometimes get upset with a critique, but after I got past that, I would realize how helpful the critique really was, and it did help me to get better.

I have been away for a while, so I just don't know what's going on in our, or most sections. Super busy with my day job (around 60 hours a week, and photo shoots about 5 nights a week. My corporate headshot business, which requires me taking vacation time is also busy, as is my drone photography. Not so much for weddings, or actual real estate. I'm getting a lot of business for people wanting aerial shots for their business websites.

jaysnave Loc: Central Ohio

bkyser wrote:

Love the idea of asking him to whisper how many ki... (show quote)

Bob, You have had a ton of marketing ideas over the past year. Do you attribute any of them to your explosion in photography business?

Beercat Loc: Central Coast of California

Captain Al ....

If I want critique I'd post in the 'critique' section. If I just post in the gallery area it is for others to enjoy and I'm glad to answer a question so someone else can glean info.

I already critique my stuff and most things anyone would say I've already caught.

BTW, I'm going to buy another Canon EX600 RT speed light. I own 2 Canons and 2 Chinese knock offs. Both of the knock offs krapped out this last wedding .... over heated and the zoom feature quit working months ago. The Canons just keep firing away with no problems. So I'll buy a new Canon 600 and a Canon speed light controller as I'm convinced that 3 off camera flashes are my style and no on-camera flash. 2 off-camera will place close the the dance floor with a modifier (key light) and one off-camera will be placed across the room with no modifier for rim/harsh light. The closest key light to me will be turned off so I'll always work the key light that is off axis to the subject 20 - 45 degrees with the rim light out of frame unless I want it in the frame. I want to quit having on-camera flash whenever possible so it doesn't blind the subject and it will weigh less for me to carry and no modifier to drag around.

I like what I'm getting but want to lighten my load and a modifier on-camera is another thing to worry about. This is basically how Fstoppers teaches their set up of off-camera.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

jaysnave wrote:

Bob, You have had a ton of marketing ideas over the past year. Do you attribute any of them to your explosion in photography business?

Maybe, but part of it is that I've put more work into it this year than in the past few. With my old business partner's health failing, it was difficult to do much. Now, I'm actually trying to carve out time each week to spend marketing. I plan ahead what I want to do, whether that's visiting other wedding vendors, phone calls to venues asking how to get on their "preferred vendor lists", do something online, etc. If I don't make time for it, I won't do it, because I like coming up with ideas, but hate doing the legwork. I'm not a very fun boss to work for...but if I actually plan so much time to do something, I'll do it.

I think it's that, and I've really started trying to network with past clients, and ask for little referral notes/quotes that I can use in marketing materials. Seems like most times that I've called a past client, I normally get "I'm so glad you called, would you be interested in ____" (insert family photo, friend's wedding, kid's senior photos, etc)

It's just forcing myself to "work it"

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Beercat wrote:

Captain Al .... br br If I want critique I'd pos... (show quote)

I've been away from the other sections (especially the people photography section) I have no idea who Captain Al is. (sounds like it's no loss)

What Chinese speedlights do you have? I had 2 on a stand on Monday, no modifiers, so no umbrella or box to save them. Trying to overpower the sun in a senior photo that was supposed to mimic the "superhero" genre. A huge gust of wind came out of nowhere, and knocked my top heavy stand over. I ALWAYS use sandbags, but didn't because it was in front of the federal building, and I had already had a run in with the security guard, so I was trying to be quick and get in/get out.

Anyway, my 2 YN 565's and 2 YN 622's went flying in all directions when they hit the ground. After finding all the batteries, and the battery doors off the transceivers, I put them all back together, and both flashes, and the 622s worked flawlessly. I couldn't believe that not even a foot got knocked off either flash, or either transceiver... then to have them work perfectly, sold me completely on the system.

I'm now up to 9 speedlights, and I would have been using my YN685's with built in receiver, but brought the wrong bag. (now have 2 sets of bags with my speedlights, triggers, and tons of Eneloop batteries ready to go.

Anyway, I have no experience with recent Canon flashes, and my Nikon sb600 and sb800 are both going strong, and I've had them forever. The sb-900 broke when dropped from much lower, and the SB-800 isn't completely compatible with the Yongnuo 622 triggering system, so once I went with Yongnuos, I've been really happy. (Also the 685's are BEASTS.) The Meike SB 910 knockoff is pretty good, but overheats way too easily, and takes forever to cool down.

The only thing that bothers me about my YN685's is that even with freshly charged Eneloops, the battery indicator never shows charged above 1/2, in either unit. They will last most, if not all day for a wedding, but it just drives me a little nuts. I'm hoping a future firmware upgrade will take care of it.