I've created a real thumbnail-based gallery with more images I took of
Olaf's wedding:
http://www.taiga.ca/~esif/portfolio/olafswedding/
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When Olaf asked me to do his wedding, I gave him the standard advice that
any amateur should give - that he really should consider hiring a pro
instead. I did not bluntly refuse, just asked him to give it more thought.
But it became clear he just could not afford a pro, so it was either being
done by an amateur like me or not at all. He also made it clear to me he
would forgive me if I messed them all up. Since I do have plenty experience
with people photography and available light photography under difficult
lighting conditions (stage photography), and have all the equipment, I
decided to accept the 'job', thinking it would be an interesting experience.
Because of the relatively large distance between the places where we live it
was a bit impractible to visit his place to do some test shots and explore
the various locations, so I let Olaf decide where to do the formals, and let
him inspect the church where the wedding was to be done.
He did some light metering on a dark and rainy day which was good because it
told me the conditions in case of a worst case scenario. I learned that it
was a real dark church, at 3200 ASA, F2 he could only get shutter speeds of
1/15... This meant that if I had the same lighting conditions, most if not
all the shots inside would have to be flash shots. He also described to me
what shooting distances I could expect, and which positions were the best.
He also asked the priest about using flash and which positions were allowed.
There were no restricions.
I already decided that using the iS-3000 with G40 flash as my main camera
for this indoor event ;) would probably be the best, allowing me to shoot
fast, concentrate on composition and timing, leaving focusing, exposure and
film transport to the camera. For the formal portraits I had the Rolleiflex
TLR in mind; for any available light pictures, if possible, and also for a
backup in case the iS-3000 would fail, OM's, what else?
Next thing was to decide on the film. About one week before the wedding day
I read a very positive test of Fuji's new 800 ASA film, the NPZ. It would
have been interesting for available light shots (maybe pushed to 1600 or
3200), but also for the iS-3000 / G40, to give a longer flash working
distance, allow smaller apertures, faster recycling time and more influence
of available light. Unfortunately it appeared the film wasn't available yet,
so I bought NPH 400 instead. For the Rolleiflex I got NPC 160, and some
Illford Pan-F 50.
When I packed my bags I took no less than five cameras with me. Three OM's
loaded with three different films: Fuji NPH 400 in the OM-4Ti to be used as
a backup for the iS-3000 (supported by the Metz 40MZ-2), Kodak Supra 800 in
the OM-3 to be used for available light shots, Kodak Portra 160 NC in the
OM-4 for daytime pictures. And a couple of fast lenses that would allow
available light at 800 or 1600 ASA: Zuiko 28/2, Zuiko 50/1.2, Tamron
35-105/2.8, Tamron 180/2.4. And my latest acquisition: the Zuiko 18/3.5 to
do justice to the huge amounts of space in a Catholic church.
The formal portraits were to be made in a park (or in a church in case the
weather would be Dutch), in the morning between the wedding in the town hall
(which I would not attend because it was too early and would only take 10
minutes) and the wedding in the church. We had three hours for these
settings, or 2.5 when I wanted to be in the church half an hour before the
ceremony.
However, all in a sudden Gioconda decided that she would look so much better
on these picures if she had a CLA ;) first in the form of treatments by a
hairdresser and visagist (make-up professional), and that these 2.5 hours
were much too long for the portraits anyway, so that this time could easily
be used for this. O, and since the official wedding dress would only be worn
in the church, not in the town hall, she also needed to change clothes in
between...
I still decided to arrive in Enschede at the time we originally planned, so
that I could inspect the church and the light. Olaf also showed me the
disaster area of the firework factory explosion, last year.
Yes, the results of Gioconda's CLA were great - I could have easily shot one
hundred images of her - if not everything took much longer than expected and
there was only about 15 minutes left for the session... Exit planning, enter
chaos. I think a professional would not have accepted this but I had no
choice. Lesson #1: always make sure everyone understands the importance of
such a session and how much time really is needed.
The weather was not Dutch, it was Spanish. Bright and sunny, at the middle
of the day. Not exactly the light you would want for some romantic soft
wedding pictures. Fortunately we started at a location under a tree, in the
shade. I thought maybe some fill-in flash would be better. Here we are -
Rolleiflex on tripod, the Metz 40MZ-2, a flash meter, a pc cord, a cold shoe
w/o pc-connector... What! Darn - this Metz does not have a built-in pc
connector - I needed a hot shoe with pc-connector :(( Lesson #2: double
check your equipment before you leave. Almost as stupid as bringing two OM
cameras but forgetting that one of them has the batteries, battery cap and
motor drive cap removed. That happended to me at the last edition of the
Oerol festival. Fortunately the other camera had both caps.
Ok, so no fill-in flash here. Maybe even better after all - it would have
taken too much time for proper metering, and the images were still nice
after all. After some shots under the trees Gioconda wanted some in the sun
with water at the background. These shots really would have needed either a
fill-in flash or an assistent holding a reflection screen - without them,
the shots have harsh contrasts, heavy shadows round the eyes, and most of
them were underexposed, probably because my hand-helt meter went crazy with
all that sun, water and white. Lesson #3: always use a grey card in such
difficult conditions (darn - I carried one but didn't use it :(( - time
pressure). Lesson #4: be sure to have either an assistent to carry a
reflector, or carry the equipment (and have the time!) to do fill-in flash.
Olaf also did some shooting here, using his OM-4Ti, Zuiko 100/2, F280,
Provia F100, and also had his bad luck with the first shots: forgot that the
camera was on manual 1/60 - no flash, no meter. See lesson #2. Boy am I glad
I tried the iS-3000 at home. I discovered there that the G40 must be turned
on before the camera is, or else it will not work...
We left this park about 5 or 10 minutes before the church ceremony was
supposed to start :0
Olaf drove like a maniac to his place where he was to be picked up (see
Lesson #1). The people waiting there were a little bit nervous...
... and so was I when I was dropped at the church and realized there wasn't
much time for me to set up my equipment. I already carried the iS-3000, so I
quickly set up the tripod, the OM-4Ti with Tamron 35-105, put up the Metz,
inserted a reflection screen, activated the motor drive. Tried a test shot.
Did the flash fire? How much time left? There they come. Hmm, maybe I better
put the iS-3000 on tripod...
After a couple of shots the tension disappeared and I could shoot handheld.
For the shots of the couple and the priest entering I started with the
iS-3000 in full program mode, the head of the G40 straight forward, using
IVP. After this, I put on a reflection screen on the flash head tilted
upward, and switched to aperture priority at F8 (and the G40 to computer
flash). Because of the huge space with dark backgrounds I turned in -1 stop
compensation. These were the settings I used for the rest of the ceremony.
Because the light conditions were much better as on the day Olaf did his
metering, available light shots were much easier. I metered when we
inspected the church earlier, and measured 1/60 at F2, 1600 ASA. However
there were huge colour casts because the light came mainly from light bulbs
or through stained glass. The images I shot on Supra 800 @ 1600 at F2, F3.5
are very nice with pastel colours but of course DOF at anything longer than
28mm is too shallow for most shots, so the iS-3000 at F8 with flash was
really necessary.
I even tried some shots with the Rolleiflex, in which I put a fresh roll of
film, but again I think here my meter was fooled by backlighting since the
shots were underexposed. Another explanation can be that it was caused by
the shutter which needs a CLA for its longer shutter speeds. Lesson #5: oh
never mind, these shots were not essential anyway.
The longer the ceremony lasted, the more I felt at ease and tried various
positions. The shots with the 18mm lens were real fun! The iS-3000 responded
quickly, everything went well - but the results would probably have been
better with an 800 ASA film - more influence of available light at the
backgrounds. The shots taken with the OM-4Ti and Metz 40 MZ-2 on the same
film (NPH) have a much brighter background. The effect of a longer synch
time (1/60 vs. 1/100)?
After the ceremony balloons were flown in front of the church, from which I
could make some nice informal group photo's, but unfortunately the church
ceremony had taken longer than was originally planned (it also started a bit
later), and there wasn't any time left to do formal group pictures - onto
the reception we had to rush where the catering had already been. Lesson #6:
make sure there really is time for such group sessions; half an hour between
the ceremony and the reception is way too short...
The shots at the reception and the dinner were fun to make. Always carry a
(super) wide angle to get some intimite shots at close distance (even when
the perspective becomes rediculous). Doesn't the bride look much more
relaxed on these funny close-up shots made with the Zuiko 18mm/F3.5?
Shooting the cutting of the cake using the OM-4 with Portra 160NC and
available light was a piece of cake ;)
Before dinner there was (or at least we took) some more time for formal
portraits of the couple, in the garden. The last surprise of that day came
when I opened the Rolleiflex - I had put in an Illford Pan-F 50 instead of
an NPC 160! Oh well, I had them pushed 1.5 stop and now they have some B&W
too. Lesson #7: if you're carrying different types of film, keep them
separated in your bag.
Would I do it again next time? Maybe - the results aren't too bad, and some
parts were fun to do. But I guess the initial advice would still be to let a
professional do the job...
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hnz
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