Wedding season is here...

[polarsusd81]

I am shooting a reception for my cousin tonight. First of the season. She was married in Mexico a couple weeks ago and they are having a big reception in Ramsey tonight. Have a couple more lined up here in the next couple months so wish me luck.

I will try to post some images from the reception tomorrow morning. I am very excited. Bringing the 1DmkII, XT, 17-40 f4L, 50 f1.4, 70-200 f4L, and the 550EX. Not to mention monopod and tripod. This one is the best reception location I have of the season, so I am really hoping for some stellar shots tonight. Great night for sunset shots, have a sweet silhouette shot planned. See yalls tomorrow.

[dockothebay]

Good Luck! I'll look forward to seeing a few of your images-

[mmeyer]

good luck Tom! Can't wait to see the results!

[polarsusd81]

I will post a few up here. Sorry it took til late tonight. I was busy with a birthday party and a grad party all day today. The only quick edits are a few crops and whatnot. Lots of images to go through, but I limited it to about 300.

Waiting for the signal.

The introduction of Mr. and Mrs. James Dolan Jr.

Grandma never thought it would happen.

Maid of honor never thought it would happen either.

The nephew and the bride.

I didn't know you had this engraved.

Something musta been funny.

She was glad he didn't shove it in her face.

From father to daughter and son-in-law. "Side by Side"

Lets dance!

[polarsusd81]

Just a few more for fun...

Gotta love the Chicken Dance.

My little buddy was trying to figure out the chicken dance.

My mom can dance!

The way they were dancing, made Kari second guess herself...kidding, come on now.

My mom, my grandma, and my boy were having fun all night long.

Being the first one in a while, reminded me of just how difficult lighting in a reception hall can be. A storm brewing and light rain outside prevented us from doing any shots outside. All day long it was beautiful outside then just as we arrived at the location, it clouded up and started blowing like crazy.

[Birdsong]

I don't know how to do people pictures. I like how you were able to isolate your subjects even though they were in a crowd in many of these.

[mngirl]

Nice!

[mmeyer]

Very nicely done Tom! Care to explain what you used for lighting? Was it just a 580EX bounced or something more elaborate?

[polarsusd81]

It was the 550EX either direct or bounced. Certain situations called for manual control of the flash and others were going alright with ETTL auto control. I forgot to grab my Lumiquest Pocket Bounce out of my car and we took my girlfriend's car to the reception. I was kinda bummed about that, and since moved the pocket bounce to the front pocket on my bag. I think the lighting would have been better if I had remembered that one small detail.

In quite a few of the dancing shots, you can see in the reflection of the glass that those were lit by bouncing the flash off the ceiling.

[MN Shutterbug]

I forgot to grab my Lumiquest Pocket Bounce out of my car and we took my girlfriend's car to the reception.

Just be glad that you didn't leave the flash behind.

[Dbl]

Looks like a fun evening!

[Steve Foss]

That's nice work, Tom. The lighting looks really good on my monitor.

[dockothebay]

Nice work Tom - I expect those images provide nice documentation of a fun evening.

[panthrcat]

excellent!!! I shot a wedding back in February, and bought a flash for it,, they turned out good too,, you really did a fine job here!!

I know it can be tricky, I was sweating bullets at the one I did, but turned out, and the couple were very happy,,

how many images did you take in all?

[polarsusd81]

Sue,

Beings that it was only the reception, I shot 280 total. Of that about 50 were prep shots to make sure I could get lighting in different areas of the reception hall. I ended up with about 75 "keeper" keepers. The others had expression changes right before the shot was fired and weren't what I considered good enough. Of all the things to photograph, wedding receptions are one of the more difficult I have come across. I am hoping for a copy of "Hot Shoe Diaries" as a gift coming up here. That book is one of the definitive resources for lighting know how with portable flash. I would like to pick up a couple more flashes as well to set up for wireless work at receptions. Have to see what the tooth fairy brings me.

[Dbl]

Tom I have Hot Shoe Diaries and I am not sure it will be of great use for what you are trying to do. It is much more story telling with some information specific to Nikon flash and only Nikon flash thrown in. I would spend time at Strobist if you want to really learn the ins and outs of lighting with flashes.

[polarsusd81]

Thanks for the tip Dan. From the reviews I had read, it sounded like a really good book. Maybe I will have to see if I can find it at the library before I actually buy it. A lot of the reviews I read said that while it is written by a Nikon freak, the information can still cross over. I will check out strobist for sure.