"A Quiet Moment"©David A. Ziser
This is another image I came across during a recent "hard drive" cruise of our 6 Tera-bytes of data at the studio- yep, 6 Tera-bytes and I've only been RAW the last 9 months. I have no clue how many images I have on our system, but it is quite a lot and I love looking back over some of my earlier images. This is one of those earlier images made back in my film days shortly before starting our migration to digital in 1999. Anyway, it was taken at the Phoenix - another favorite wedding venue in Cincy. The couples love the beautiful staircase here. The architecture really lends itself to some great wedding shots. Camera specs: (to the best of my recollection) Hasselblad camera fitted with 50mm Distagon lens, F5.6 at 1/20 second, Kodak Vericolor 800 film.
Enjoy! -David
Read More...
This is another image I came across during a recent "hard drive" cruise of our 6 Tera-bytes of data at the studio- yep, 6 Tera-bytes and I've only been RAW the last 9 months. I have no clue how many images I have on our system, but it is quite a lot and I love looking back over some of my earlier images. This is one of those earlier images made back in my film days shortly before starting our migration to digital in 1999. Anyway, it was taken at the Phoenix - another favorite wedding venue in Cincy. The couples love the beautiful staircase here. The architecture really lends itself to some great wedding shots. Camera specs: (to the best of my recollection) Hasselblad camera fitted with 50mm Distagon lens, F5.6 at 1/20 second, Kodak Vericolor 800 film.
Enjoy! -David
2 -- Next, I'd like to get a couple great photographs of the bride and groom within the beautiful surrounds of their magnificent church. We move about two thirds of the way back down the center aisle towards the back of the church. Here I set up a few more dramatic photographs -- dramatic because of the composition. I want to show the bride and groom in this wonderful location. I only allow myself about six or seven minutes for these images. Once I've captured the images were heading outside the church. 
3 -- My assistants and I are pretty well rehearsed at this point, my assistant is grabbing the gear, and we are making our way outside the church first so that I can get a shot of the bride and groom as they come down the church steps. My assistant knows to be behind the couple and I quickly shoot off a few more photographs.
4 -- The next shots I need to capture to continue the wedding day story is inside the limo series. Once they are seated in the limo, I peek in the back door of the limousine, ask the bride to fall into the groom's arms, have them both looked back at the camera giving each other a big hug. This is my last photograph before they drive off. 
Folks, I tried to move through this fairly quickly but, it still gives you a pretty good idea what I'm trying to capture in those last few minutes I’m with my clients before heading for the reception. I work quickly and try very hard not to detain the couple more than about 10 minutes for these images.
Regardless of what flash unit you decide on for your room light, I would suggest at least a 400 to 600 watt-second unit. When using a studio light of this power at the reception, you will most often have the power setting turned down to half or maybe even one third power. This gives you very quick recycle times that can keep up with the rapid firing of our DSLR’s as we quickly follow the action at the wedding reception. The above fisheye shot shows the relative locations of my assistant on the right and the room light in the upper left corner.
Even in the cake cutting photographs, and you can see that guests are still illuminated in the background because of the room light. 
The room light basically, helps us avoid what I like to call the "Black Hole of Calcutta" reception lighting. In the "Black Hole of Calcutta lighting," we have the subject in the foreground nicely illuminated but then everything goes very dark in the background. The room light helps us avoid that situation giving a much better look to our images. I even like how the room light adds a bit of accent light to the scene too. 
Now here's some good room light news. I've always said that the way to create more business for ourselves is to constantly be differentiating ourselves from the competition. As I present the programs to photographers around the country, I always ask how many you are using a room light for their wedding receptions. The answer unfortunately is that most do not.
Just for starters, check out this temple pictorial I did early in the morning before the service. Now check out my super close crop of the same image – it’s unbelievably sharp with nary a pixel out of place. It’s amazing what you can see in a 60 Meg 
Now let me say, I'm not recommending that we shoot video in lieu of our regular stills but, I certainly think it opens up some great possibilities for shooting sequences, creating a series of 
You can pick up these little powerful LED lights at any hardware store for under 10 bucks. I thought in a pinch they worked beautifully and let us get some really great images during our very brief shooting session while visiting in 
Sure, the camera is the most important piece of equipment that I use in shooting weddings, bar or bat mitzvahs, family portraits, or any other kind of photography. But, my off camera flash is the second most important piece of gear I use.
I use my off-camera flash with the light coming directly out of the flash head, or shooting through a translucent 36" umbrella, or even in the bare bulb configuration. Many of these point have been discussed in previous posts at DigitalProTalk already.
The flash is fired remotely with 
So gang, that's about it when it comes to off-camera flash. There are several posts right here at DigitalProTalk that describe how I use the light. Let me point you towards one Technique Tuesday post, "
After setting up the basic rules for lighting and posing, I move through about a gazillion situations where I apply what I cover in the first section of this video session. If you're not a member of 
Last night we attended Sarah's gallery opening at 
One thing lead to another and Sarah had her first Cabo commission. Word of mouth spread about her gorgeous work, and as they say, the rest is history. Sarah has been photographing the children of several Cabo residents for a few months now and producing some beautiful images. The gallery opening was the official introduction of Sarah and her art into the Cabo / San Jose community. 
As a matter of fact, back in my college days when I was a hobbyist, a friend of mine and I tried to devise a remote-controlled flash unit. We tried garage door openers and a number of other things along the way but to no avail. 
It was about the 1978 that a company by the name of Dyna-Lite developed and started marketing a radio control unit for flash. I purchased the first one that hit town and fell in love with it. Dyna-Lite is still around but unfortunately they're no longer making radio control units. 
This additional illumination is created with any medium powerful AC powered studio flash which is also attached to a 
At the recent Photo Expo show in New York City, I saw that my friends at Westcott had just introduced their Strobe-Lite flash units as well. We are in the process of testing them as we speak; just to see how they work as room lights.
I think that the lighting results far exceed what so many wedding photographers are producing for their clients these days. A single on camera flash, whether bounced off the ceiling, off a fill card, or anything else simply does not give the beautiful lighting that we get with the additional lights that I carry with me to the wedding. We are creating in detail, depth, and dimension on the scene. Our clients see a clear difference in the finished result and simply love it.
I think two things happen here. The first is that by putting our images up online, we spin the "wheel of misfortune" and hope for a decent sales result for our efforts. Folks, if you presold your client a 20, 30, 40, 50, or more image wedding album, then this prsold number is going to be how many photographs they will select from what you show them online. I would say simply, and unfortunately, expect your sale to go nowhere.
So how do we do that? We invite our clients, which usually includes the bride and the groom and their parents, into our studio for a review of the images. Prior to the client’s visit, we put the images online so that they can select their favorites. Then, when they come to our studio they're actually just looking at their top picks. You can see exactly how we have everything set up in a previous post I did here at Digital ProTalk. Here is the 
That's why I try to capture the processional from the back of the church with several the bridesmaids in the aisle walking up towards the front. As the last bridesmaid is making their way up the aisle, and the bride stands calmly with her dad for her long walk down that long, I'll get a wide-angle lens shot low to the ground of the bride and her father from the back for a really cool image.
After I’ve captured these images of the bride and her dad coming down the aisle, I quickly make my way to the front of the church via the left aisle, trying not to crash on my way up there, and capture the images of the father offering his daughter's hand to her groom. All this time, my lighting assistant knows exactly where he or she needs to be in covering the beginning of the event. He is positioned at the 10:00 position along the far right hand side of the church.
I then make my way to the back of the church to continue the coverage. I continue most of my coverage from the back of the church ranging my lenses from a Sigma 8mm fisheye all the way to my Canon 70-300mm IS telephoto lens. I never use a tripod hence all the image stabilized lenses -- I just think they're too slow, clumsy, and balky to move around the church.
Image stabilization and high ISOs are my salvation here. If it's a Catholic ceremony, I may place one of a long lens on one of my cameras, make a trip up the left side aisle, and try to get some really good close-ups of the bride and groom, the celebrant, bridesmaids, bride's mom and dad, and guests.
I lift the camera to my eye and capture that moment with a long telephoto lens and a high ISO. Again, I have absolutely NO flashes going off at this point or at any point during the ceremony. The bride and groom make their way down the aisle and as they all are approaching me, I take several images as they look at each other and smile greet their guests as they make their way back up the aisle. Yes, as a professional wedding photographer I'm pretty good at walking down the aisle backwards. Just be sure there's no videographer or church lady behind you that you're unaware of. Also be aware of any low-lying baptistery fonts that may be trouble.
This, many times, is a fake exit. The bride and groom will circle the block and come back around to the church with the guests mostly dispersed and we finish any other images we needed to take at the church.
Posts
Get David's Monthly Newsletter
