strobing a bride...

[jdear]

Hey all, Im in the middle of editing some photos from Saturday's wedding and I've a quick one to share. I have been getting into strobist.com and Im getting more confident in using off-camera flash at weddings (only my 2nd wedding trying it out). Anyway I was stoked with the result and Im excited about adding it to my repoirtre to create different looks from the same day...

This was taken at Bradley's Head, mosman, which I did end up getting an annual license for... (don't start me on it)



thanks for looking

Jonathan

[Catcha]

Thats a very nice shot Jonathan, I think you have nailed it, in my eyes anyway

[Glen]

Very nice image Jonathan.



You have my sympathies on the licence

[Marvin]

Beautiful shot. I'm sure the bride will be thrilled.

[chrisk]

beautiful shot. love the colour and exposure.
would have liked to see more of the dress, shame you dont have a wider angle lens.

[jdear]

would have liked to see more of the dress, shame you dont have a wider angle lens.

I took the above at 35mm and I also got a wider shot at 24mm which shows the whole dress

[Smurph]

Nice work.

I like the above shot, would be interested to see how it turned out at 24 as well.

I think the 35mm shot shows just enough of the dress to make the bride and photo look elegant.

[Alex]

Very nice lighting - well balanced. Very crisp shot.

Alex

[makario]

great shot, love the lighting.

[Oneputt]

Stunning, you have to be happy with this

[marcotrov]

A beautifully composed image with wonderfully balanced lighting. Superb image Jonathon. Mind sharing your set up?
cheers
marco

[jdear]

Hey all, thanks for the kind words!

Technical Info:

single 580exII speedlight at 24mm at 1/8 power in lastolite 15x15" ezybox (softbox) above camera right about 2 metres away from bride fired with PWs. 5D with 24-70L at f4.5, 1/50s @640iso zoomed to 35mm.

only just got the ezybox but Im loving it!

[Yi-P]

Very nicely defined lights and well exposed dress

single 580exII speedlight at 24mm at 1/8 power in lastolite 16x16" ezybox (softbox)

Just a quick question, how did you mount the speedlight and softbox together? And where about did you get the softbox?

[jdear]

the lastolite ezybox kit I bought has a mounting bracket for the flash itself. Mounted on a monopod held by a voice-activated light stand.
Bought from B&H NY.

[carla_d]

great shot. i'd like to see the wider shot too. it looks like a nice dress

[Hudo]

Love the shot. Just picked up one of the soft boxes today based on this thread. I hope to try it out Sunday. Have been using the Lumilux (?) soft boxes on off camera flashes with some success. This solution is still portable and hopefully gives a sotfer light.

Mark

[JordanP]

Nailed the exposure - but skin tone is not as warm/rich as I like (mind you that is only my tastes - kind of looks flashy to me) - mind you it fits with the look of the rest of the wedding so I'm guessing it is spot on to your tastes (there is a great selection on his blog if you want to see more....)

Cheers,

[Alpha_7]

Gorgeous shot worth of a strobist front page, beautifully done I can see you using this technique more as your confidence with the gear grows. Awesome stuff.

[DaveB]

Nicely done!

Mind you, the landscape photographer in me worries about the tilted waterline. But I guess the bride is unlikely to look at those parts of the image.

[aim54x]

Well done. Using off camera flash whilst on the move can be rather interesting (I was using a SB600 off camera whilst shooting a graduation earlier this year) but the rewards - as demonstrated by the result above - can be huge. Awesome work, dont worry about that waterline, i didnt notice it until it was mentioned.

I love the way she has this glow about her against the darker background. Beautiful lighting!!!

Please share more shots from this set.

[Hudo]

Hi Dave,

Well spotted. Never noticed that until you pointed it out... I guess the tide was running out? mmmm That's why I don;t shoot landscapes......

Mark

[mycl]

Very nice! As per jordanP, tones a bit whitish, but very even exposure and composition.

[[kane]]

Great shot! I might have adjusted the horizon a bit though.

[zafra52]

I like it!

[soarer]

Thats a great shot, I love it,

[Matt. K]

Jonathan
Nice work. I would have liked to see the background a little darker...about 1.5 stops...and a little more of the dress. But a nice shot anyway!

[walnutroof]

[quote="jdear"]Hey all, Im in the middle of editing some photos from Saturday's wedding and I've a quick one to share. I have been getting into strobist.com and Im getting more confident in using off-camera flash at weddings (only my 2nd wedding trying it out). Anyway I was stoked with the result and Im excited about adding it to my repoirtre to create different looks from the same day...

This was taken at Bradley's Head, mosman, which I did end up getting an annual license for... (don't start me on it)



thanks for looking

Jonathan[/quote
What a lucky bride to have you as her wedding photographer.
Well done. BTW just curious I am a newbie in this forum (still learning) what software did you use?

[ewm3]

Im a newbie too; I don't know if this is because you did mention it! What's this about having to have a licence to take these pictures? Some of us newbies might not be aware of the problems you 'pros' have.

[gstark]

What's this about having to have a licence to take these pictures? Some of us newbies might not be aware of the problems you 'pros' have.

There's a couple of issues here.

Some councils ask that one have a license because of "wear and tear" upon council (public!) facilities under their control. In certain situations this may even be justifiable. Wedding parties, for instance, might bring up to a half dozen vehicles to a location to participate in a shoot, and that may have an impact upon the quiet enjoyment of the facilities by others. Some might argue that the councils are acting in the manner of prostitutes, and the only thing that matters is their price.

The second issue is one imposed by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority. (Or is it the Sydney Harbour Foreskin Authority? I can never remember, and besides, the current state (lack of) government is constantly renaming its various bodies so that it matters little, at the end of the day.)

Anyhow, SHFA imposes a license fee when somebody shoots, commercially, at the harbour foreshores. Basically, public edifices, such as the coathanger and sailboat are not there for the public's enjoyment at all, but they're actually revenue centres for the SHFA. Include one in your image: Ka-ching!

Make another image? Ka-ching!

[jdear]

Nice work. I would have liked to see the background a little darker...about 1.5 stops...and a little more of the dress

I actually lightened the background from the original which was darker because I wanted the light more balanced with the ambient (personal taste in this case)

Geez I guess I have to post more with the whole dress showing!

[jethro]

To be fair to all, I have commented on some of Dans shots as far as skin tones are concerned. I may be anal but skin is skin and skin colour in white people is more yellow than magenta. Colour correction is an important result that has to be taken into account in generalised imaging. Especially Wedding photography.

Photoshop has a great tool called selective colour correction. Use the red channel and as digital shots as a general rule seem to shoot predominantely magenta in skin tone, increase the yellow slider so the yellow channel is about 5-15% more than the magenta channel. Use the info pallette to measure the results. This will give a more realistic skin colour result.

This is my opinion only and after a long time in the industry this isi the correct way to balance skin tones. If you have any questions please PM and Ill give the guff.

I like the comp of this image but the colour temperature is not correct, that is commercially speaking.

Cheers
Jethro

[scott s]

... I may be anal but skin is skin and skin colour in white people is more yellow than magenta. Colour correction is an important result that has to be taken into account in generalised imaging.

1. should we send that to Nicole Kidmans photographer's / make up staff /joke !!
2. temperature /WB might be a bit cool, though pushing it up a notch may upset the rest of the images colours, which i reckon are spot on...

two things i thought of, well three actually;

3. great pic. the customer should be stoked.