I own: D40, 18-200mm, 105mm micro, 35mm f/1.8 lens and SB400 flash

I was experimenting on how to take wedding photos.

The best settings I could find were from a suggestion by Ken Rockwell: using D40 in Manual mode with 1/500s and f/13
35mm lens
SB400 horizontal
Distance of 5-10 feet
CS4 edited
I was getting good portraits indoors in low light and outdoors in sunlight.

Is there something else I should try?

Hi James,

I asked the admin to move your post to our Weddings forum, where hopefully you'll get more views from our members who are very experienced at this.

Larry - a Bay Area Nikonian
My Nikonians gallery

www.tempered-light.com

See DTownTV\'s Episode 17: Lenses Part 2 - Weddings for suggestions about lenses for weddings.

I would also consider getting an SB-800 or 600 and a flash bracket. The SB-900 has a temperature issue during a series of continuous shooting.

You could also add a bounce card to the SB-400 to cut down on the harshness of the SB-4000.

Is there a reason that you want the shingles, houses and wires behind you in focus? Obviously not the scene you would be taking photos at, but the only reason I would take a portrait at an f/stop like f/13 would be if i had to because there was just no other way to get a decent exposure because of the sunlight, or because I wanted the background clearly in focus.

Is it a formula for a technically correct exposure? Probably in many situations, but the question becomes is it right for the situation "creatively"? That I am not so sure about.

I much prefer photos taken with much larger apertures that f/13. you have a couple good lenses to experiment with in the 35/1.8 and the 105 2.8. Give it a try with those lenses at 1.8 and 2.8 respectively and see what you can come up with. The flash sync may become an issue on outdoor shots in direct sunlight, but you could also throw on a polarizing filter to cut some of the light, and make the sky and foliage look more appealing.

Thank you for your response.

A photographer has been hired for the wedding.
I will take snapshots after the wedding ceremony with my equipment.

The photo below was taken in low light with the following settings:

D40 camera at 1/500s, f/13, Iso280
35mm f/1.8 lens
SB400 flash at 60deg
Distance 10'
CS4 edited

My settings work reasonably under any conditions.
I will also shoot without flash at around f/1.8

What else can I try with my equipment?
Could you show your photos?

Notice the sharp outlined shadow behind the subject. You can soften that with a diffuseer or better yet, eliminate it by aiming your flash at the ceiling so that it bounces back down at an angle. The light will be softer and the shadow will be below the subject, this moved out of view.

Thank you for your comments.

After experimenting with my other lenses, the best results were with:

D40 camera, Manual mode, 1/250s, f/8, Auto Iso 200-800
18-200 lens @ 95-105mm
SB400 flash @ 60-90 deg
Distance 10'
CS4 edited

Edited potentially embarrassing late-night typo :-)

> The best settings I could find were from a suggestion by Ken Rockwell: using D40 in Manual mode with 1/500s and f/13

I am not a Ken Rockwell hater, but you need to understand that he only shoots two things: wide-angle scenery and his kids :-) So it is going to take him 20+ years to get any kind of wedding experience. Most of his advice is good, but he just doesn't "get" event photography. Just compare the number of wedding photographers with the 24-70mm/2.8 as their main lens with Rockwell's advice that this lens is basically useless. I happen to kind of agree with Rockwell on that count but that is just my opinion and I do not publish a web site intending to educate people on how to make better pictures. If I did, I would tell them how much easier it is to shoot something like a wedding with a 24-70mm on your FX camera.

Anyway, I am not a wedding photographer but I think it is wrong to try to apply a static "recipe" to any kind of live photography. You need to become familiar with your gear until the point where "the Force" tells you what combo to use at any given point. If you shoot stamps or passport pictures for a living, things are different and a "recipe" could indeed be your best friend.

A general rule of "people pictures" is that you blur the background unless it is part of the composition. At a typicaly wedding, the distracting electrical wires behind the portrait you posted are likely to be people picking their noses, looking at their watches, yawning or generally ruining your "money shot" :-) "Interesting line-up!" I thought to myself, until I reviewed the shot on my LCD:



Unless you want to document these reactions to the proceedings, it is best to blur them :-) The useful blur range is f/1.4 through f/2.8. When I read f/13, I automatically think hyperfocal, wide-angle and so on. You might need f/13 for an immense group shot, or a view of a tiny B&G in front of some kind of huge monument or natural scenery - something special where you want to use the depth of field for effect. If the background does not add anything, you should blur it to make sure it does not distract from the main subject. This is at f/2.8:



The shot below was taken from an apartment designed so that it looks like a cruise boat. Every room has access to the "deck" going around the apartment and you can put your deck chairs and tables there, as it is by the sea there is a lot of wind to perfect the illusion. Your view is to the dozens of other people who bought the same concept apartments :-) Here you can't see that the neighbhor behind that particular window has yellow themed deck chairs because I blurred them.

Thank you very much for your response and photos.

http://nikonclspracticalguide.blogspot.com/2008/01/nikon-flash-two-separate-metering.html helped to understand how flash works.

I was trying to get good skin color with sun on side of face in preparation for wedding snapshots under adverse light.

The photo below was shot with the following settings:

D40 in P mode, 1/320s, f/9, Iso200
18-200 @ 95mm
SB400 flash @ 0 deg
distance: 10'
CS4 edited

I need to color profile my monitor and work on converting the photo to sRGB.

The problem with this picture is that the flash is clearly visible in your eyes (the white dot in the pupils of your eyes). Frontal flash also does not give "natural" results because this light angle is so rare in nature that it looks instantly artificial to us. I personally use the old SC-17 flash extension cord, which I think is called SC-25 nowadays. It allows me to grab the flash in my hand and hold it however I want. This does not work well with very busy or two-camera events, though. I also use the Fong Lightsphere as a diffusor if I want the flash to be atop the camera. But mostly I have stopped using flash since the D2x. It is still a must outdoors for dark shadows but even then I try to avoid it if I think I can cover the event without having to shoot in harsh light. Of course that is something you can only decide on-site when the shoot begins.

Thank you for your comments. I will try to find a diffusor.
For comparison the photo below was taken without flash in good light.

Settings: D40, 35mm lens@ f/1.8, 1/320s, Iso200, 6'.

During a 4th of July parade, I was shooting faces, in preparation for the wedding.

Settings for the photo below were:
D40, 18-200 @ 200mm, 1/250s, f/8, Iso200, SB400@60 deg (not effective because distance of 15-20')

I am waiting for diffusers: Demb Flip-it 400 and
Stofen Omni-Bounce for SB400.

Try ISO 400; sync flash speed as high as it will go, not sure on a D40. Some Nikons are 1/250.
Manual mode 1/60 at 5.6 or 1/125 at 5.6 the wider aperature will blur the background somewhat but not as much as 2.8 or wider.
The 1/60 or 1/125 will let in more ambient light.
Get the flash off the camera if possible, if not try bouncing it off a wall if the wall to subject distance is not more than 10-15'.
Bouncing off the ceiling works but usally you end up with racoon eyes unless you are getting some fill light from somewhre else.

Experiment and try different settings changing one thing at a time so you can see the results from that one change.

Good Luck

Thank you for your comments.

The wedding was in Mandalay Bay, Las-Vegas.
There was one photographer for indors, shown below with a D2x camera, and a second photographer for outdoor photos. The total cost was $1500 for a photo album but no CD.

I was allowed to photograph the wedding without flash from my seating area. Later I and other relatives were using flash without objection and shooting besides the photographer the arranged wedding groups. I did not follow the photographer outdoors nor could I shoot the poses of the wedding couple by the window without being too intrusive.

The photo of the couple below was shot by me with:

D40,18-200 @36mm,f/4.4,1/60s,Iso200,SB400 with Stoffen Omni-Bounce diffuser fom ~10ft.


Please visit my gallery to see the photos.