The Orchard Wedding is complete.  Five hours on site, 945 shots (14GB), and a full day of editing later, the files are burning to DVD as I type.  The weather was with us, although a touch warm, and everything went off without a hitch.  The bride and groom are two wonderful people who were a joy to work with, and I’m sure they’ll have many great years together!

How it was done:

The ceremony took place outside, amid a small orchard of apple trees (at least, they looked like apple trees).  There was strong afternoon sunlight dappled with the shadows of the trees, and the wedding party moved in and out of the shadows at times.  I shot with both the 50D + Sigma 70-200mm + Cokin Circular Polarizer and the 400D + Tokina 12-24mm, switching between them as needed.  The 400D had a 430EX Speedlite on it, dialed down to provide fill; the 50D had my radio slave Tx unit and was triggering a single SB-25 at 1/2 power, set at about a 45 degree angle to the ceremony.  I shot the 50D at f/4, 1/250, ISO 100. 

The flash let me underexpose the background by about a stop while throwing just the right amount of light on the subjects.  The polarizer was a godsend, as it cut the ambient down enough for me to maintain a large f-stop while remaining within sync-speed of the camera.  It also heightened the color contrast of the scene.

The reception was shot with the same camera setup, except the 50D was now controlling three SB-25s (and later two SB-25s and an SB-27 after one of the ’25s took a spill and the hotshoe foot broke off – the only casualty of the day).  The Speedlights were all set to 14mm via their diffuser panels, and were angled up at the roof of the reception tent.  I had them spaced in a triangle around the perimeter; the combination of spacing and bouncing gave me good, even light coverage over most of the tent.

The real problem under the tent was the white balance, which was skewed by the ambient bouncing off the grass and into the tent, giving everything a real good greenish cast.  I set the 50Ds white balance by hand, adjusting the Kelvin setting until it was right.  The 400D got a custom setting, but it tended to vary a lot by location, and required a bit of tweaking later.

What was learned:

Each gig is a learning experience, and I don’t expect to ever leave a session without having come across some new bit of info.  Frankly, if I ever do leave without having learned something, I figure I’m not doing my job right.  The goal is to keep pushing to improve, and the only way to do that is through experience and reflective analysis.

First, more memory!  I shot all five CF cards to within 10 shots of being full.  That’s 14 solid GBs of memory.  It worked out to be just enough, but next time I’d prefer to have a buffer.  My next order to B&H will include at least two new 8 GB cards.

Second, the Tokina 12-24, amazing lens that it is, is almost too wide for this kind of work.  At the wide end distortion becomes a real concern, and at the long end, it’s often not quite long enough.  I prefer to work with some distance between myself and the subject, as I feel it makes them more at ease; sticking a lens up someone’s nose is going to make them tense, and even at 24mm, I had to get close.  This isn’t to say that a wide angle doesn’t have it’s place at a wedding, because it most certainly does – I’m just thinking that a 17-40mm range might be more in line.

Third, more lights.  Outdoors in daylight, I could have shot under the reception tent without any strobes at all.  But I like the mix of strobe and ambient better, and three was a good number this time.  But next time, more would be better – at least two more, for better blanket coverage.  Also, with more lights I can hopefully turn the power down a stop on each, and get a little more speed and battery life out of them.

Overall:

I had a lot of fun and am pleased with how the images turned out – I think the bride and groom will be too!  Shooting a wedding is a lot of work, both the day-of and in post production.  But if you enjoy the intense kind of shooting, the creation of intimate portraits and once-in-a-lifetime moments, then it is wholly worth it.  I can’t wait for the next one!

I also have to give a major shout-out to my girlfriend Mandy, who not only came along to work as my assistant and help with setup, lights, etc., but during the reception took up the 400D and assumed the role of second shooter!  She got some great shots, and I’m wildly impressed.  Thanks Mandy!