8/20/2011

ALWAYS HAVE BACK-UP!

Canon EOS D30 1/15 sec at f/5.6, 300mm (1.6x Focal Length Multiplier), ISO 800




I shot a wedding today and figured I could use one of those images for my photo-a-day. I hope you don't feel this is being lazy, but after over 5 hours of wedding in addition to pre and post work, I hope you can allow this to count. I didn't set out to shoot the wedding secondary to my daily post, but rather looked closely at the images I obtained in order to see something in the images I may have caught without knowing I had done so. I guess I can say I am happy with what I found, because the image I chose was this modestly cropped shot of the bride and groom almost exactly as shot!

I'll tell you, when I looked through my lens and saw the couple holding hands in the midst of marriage, I was touched! What else could symbolize this union greater? I got all the traditional shots and tried to get the best images I could for the bride and groom. Even through the complexities of doing this one on my own without an assistant and having my strobes expectantly stop firing, I came out with photographs that will be cherished for many years to come.

What  happened with your lighting, you ask? Oh the joy! I was using two Norman 800ws packs, one with a Quantum Radio Slave 4 and the other with an Speedotron Optical Slave. When I initially set it up it worked fine. I took the setup down during the service as there are few people who can appreciate umbrella lighting in the front of the church during the wedding.  Just imagine...

MAN: Hey, WOW! Did you see the cool lights and stands on either side of us! I wish WE could have had those when WE were married
WOMAN: Get a grip!

See what I mean! Poor fella'

So when I put the lights back they worked for a few frames. It was at the point of getting the large group shot–of course–when  for unknown reasons the radio slave went on strike! When I manually set of the test button it woke and said with a load pop, "WHAT!?" So I would try another and it was still on strike. After a few attempts I traded out the radio slave for another optical one, still with no success since my on camera strobe, my Canon Speedlight 580EX II, was needed at a lower power to fill in the faces. I was able to get my power back by hard wiring the camera to the Norman on the left and simply warned the people around me to be careful. Not ideal, but ALWAYS HAVE BACK-UP!

The rest of the day went well as it was mainly the reception. The only other option I had for my favorite choice of photo-a-day would be the seed throwing shot. My wife looked at it and said fine. This was not reassuring. That was when I looked harder at the image I posted. I believe we made the right choice.

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