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Re: [OM] Head Pounding Moment

Subject: Re: [OM] Head Pounding Moment
From: Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2010 16:46:26 -0500
>
> The color differential will certainly be there if you've got a flash lit
> foreground and incandescent or (ugh) fluorescent or (double ugh) mixed
> light background.  The only way around it is to put an appropriate
> filter gels on the flashes to get their color temperature closer to the
> background.  But that's a lot of work for a reception type event in
> order to sell some 4x6 prints.  And even after you did it it would not
> likely be recognized or appreciated by the customers.
>
> To paraphrase my wife:  "Just hurry up and make some prints.  You're
> just too fussy about those pictures.  I can't tell the difference!"  :-)
>
>
I've been observing the "current m/o" of other wedding photographers lately.
I'm seeing lots of untrained individuals doing the "I bought a technology
solution which somehow does its thing so I don't have to think abou it"
routine. For example, I don't mind doing bounce flash (off the ceiling), but
the way these people are doing it you end up with shadows for eyes. One guy
knew his stuff and bounced, but had that little index-card dohicky doing a
bit of forward kick to the light. Probably about the nicest mix.

This weekend's wedding photog did the following things which made me cringe:

1. Fig Leaf posing of the guys. That ranks down there with photographing
bands against brick walls.

2. Underpowered fill-flash in outdoor conditions (shooting directly against
the setting sun at a beach). Sometimes the flash fired, sometimes it didn't.
See next note.

3. Program mode.

4. Bouncing the on-camera flash off the ceiling. OK, no problem--except the
ceiling was very high... That's OK, though. I'm sure she was shooting at ISO
12800.

5. Gary Fong diffuser. I like the results, but there is an issue which
nobody talks about. You blind everybody around you and it's amazing how
quickly people clear out from the area around the photographer. I was very
surprised to see a widening bubble of space around the photographer when the
Gary Fong was on the flash. Personally, I found it quite disturbing!

6. Last, but definitely not least--Windy outdoor wedding. While posing
people for a group shot she left her camera, big lens and flash perched
precariously on a tripod which was not only tilted sideways on the grassy
slope but the wind gusts were making it move.

7. Other stuff had I been paying attention...

Oh, well. She had the gig, I didn't. (She charged almost $500 less than me,
that's why). But I did get the sound gig so it wasn't a total loss and I
probably made about as much in the end. Other than the above items, I
thought she did a fine job and was decent.

AG
-- 
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