Quick Hit Monday: Danger Will Robison; “Live” Wedding Shoot On-Line; PhotoWalk Update; and More

Good Afternoon Everybody,

Hope everyone had a great weekend. We stayed busy around here with shoots on Friday and Sunday.  In fact we got in pretty late last night.  Sunday is usually "recuperation day" for me– but it looks like Monday is this week with my later than usual post today ;~)

Anyway, I've got lots to tell you about today so let's get right to it.

Danger! Danger! Will Robinson!

Boy, that's what I was thinking after a brief flash experience I had at yesterday's wedding.  The bride was coming down the aisle with her mom and dad.  We were shooting outdoors on a bright and sunny day and I thought I was all ready to go. 

I set the camera on aperture priority at F6.3 and the ISO 200.  I figured the shutter speed would range over several stops to accommodate the changing light conditions of the shadowed/sunny walk up the aisle and with my on-camera flash set to "high speed sync", the flash would sync to ANY shutter speed.  That was my plan to soften the effects of the contrasty lighting conditions.

Here's what happened.  The bride, mom and dad were heading down the aisle.  I took the first shot.  It was WAY overexposed!  Danger, Will Robison!!! What's happening???  I checked the shutter speed – it was saying 1/250 second!  That’s impossible, I have “high speed flash sync” enabled!

I quickly turned the flash OFF. With the flash turned off the shutter speed was hitting about 1/800 second.  When I turned the on-camera flash on and even with "high speed sync" enabled, the shutter speed immediately dropped to 1/250 second - it's native sync speed - in aperture priority mode! Every Canon camera to date has worked with “high speed sync” enabled in “Aperture Priority” mode!  Why not the 7D?

After a few quick adjustments, I captured the images I needed, but it wasn't with my "high speed flash sync" technique. The problem apparently lies in the fact that "high speed flash sync" has been neutered on the Canon 7D in the "aperture priority" mode setting.  This is a HUGE deal for wedding photographers!

I own 5 Canon cameras: a 20D, 30D, 40D, 5D Mk II, and 7D.  It seems that only the 7D DOES NOT let "high speed flash sync" work in aperture priority mode.  I'm heading to the trenches to check this out - more on Wednesday.

UPDATE:  It’s been interesting how many folks have told me that they have had the same issue with the Canon 7D, especially since it supposedly defaults to “Auto.” If you are having problems, please see the Canon 7D solution on Wednesday’s post right here.

My Brand New Kelby Training Video On Line

Yep, I just got word over the weekend that my latest training video just went "live".  Here is a link to the preview video right here.  I'm pretty excited about this new video.  The entire Kelby video team headed to Cincinnati, OH  recently and followed me on an entire wedding from start to finish!

The bride happens to be my cousin's daughter.  I approached them about the idea of being featured in one of my training sessions and they gladly obliged. The entire wedding proceeded exactly the way a real wedding proceeds…. I mean it was a REAL wedding, right!

We were occasionally running late needing to make up for lost time.  We were fighting with bright sunny days and had to solve lots of exposure issues, we had to come up with some great locations for exciting photographs because that is what our clients expect. And we had to be on top of all the happenings at the wedding reception too.

This video is the first real "peek behind the scenes" of me shooting an actual wedding along with all the challenges and rewards that are part of every wedding shoot for all of us.  I hope you enjoy it. Here is the link right here. Please let me know what you think.

P.S. Not a member of Kelby training yet?  No problem, you can sign up for only $25/month right here. 

Or better yet, pick up my 2010 Success Collection right here and we'll even GIVE you 1 month FREE pass to Kelby Training – what a deal!

Prepared to Be Inspired: Check Out These Photogs

With having this past Saturday off, LaDawn and I headed down to Cincinnati Summerfest, the 43 year long running art fest in Cincy area.  What's cool about this are festival is that it is "juried".  That means that you have to "past muster" even to be able to display your artwork.  That said, there are a lot of great things to see at this  show - including photography.

Think of the this part of Monday's post as an extension of Inspiration Friday last week.  Here are three photogs whom I thought were exhibiting some outstanding images.  Hope you enjoy!

Joseph Wilson Gallery [link]:  His wife had "booth duty" when we came by.  Turns out Joseph is right here in Cincinnati, Ohio.  He was showing some beautiful scenic images - really nice stuff.  I loved it.

Tom Lazer Galleries [link]: Tom Lazer has some great looking scenic images at his booth, too.  He showed a broad range of subject matter in his images which I enjoyed.  His winter scenes were some of my favorite.

European-Art Gallery [link]: Paul James gets around - like really gets around.  His images from Europe were simply stunning.  He captured the old world feel of some gorgeous locations he visited over the years.  Each image not only told a story, but also captured a wonderfully beautiful moment in time. He has hundreds of images on his site - a definite must see!

My Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk Coming Your Way!

LaDawn and I took a few hours "scoping out" this year's Worldwide PhotoWalk trail.  We haven't quite nailed things down yet - hopefully by tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest.  I'll yet you know the minute we publish it. It will be fun and I'm really looking forward to it again.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. The day is getting away from me and I've still got lots to do.  Enjoy the read today and I'll see everybody tomorrow for another exciting episode of Technique Tuesday: Secret Settings In Lightroom 3!

See ya' then,  David