Our favorite new daylily

[Steve Foss]

I can't remember the variety, but we planted this daylily this summer for the first time and are in love with the subtle pale yellows and large size (big as a coffee saucer).

And with all our rain today, and a CPS delivery, thought I'd get back on the boards with a photograph. It's mostly work and not much play while I have the CPS gear, with a wedding tomorrow, magazine assignment shoot Sunday and excursion Monday. Well, it'll all be fun, but you know what I mean. I'm going to try to get out for a day or two with the gear on my own as well. Got the 1Ds3, 24 f1.4L and 70-200 f4L IS. Some fun times ahead! I especially hope the light cooperates for what could be some stunning landscapes with the 24mm.

Wouldn't mind putting these three pieces of gear in my bag for good, but that's a winning Powerball ticket away from happening. I had high hopes for yesterday's $260 million jackpot but someone down in Carolina stole it away from me.

Canon 1Ds Mk3, Canon 200 f2.8L, iso400, 1/400 at f7.1, +2/3 exposure compensation off evaluative metering, handheld, large jpeg capture.

[Nymph]

That’s a beautiful shot, Steve. Very crisp and refreshing feeling to it.

[fishinchicks]

I love the way the buttery yellow stands out against the greens. Very beautiful!

[mmeyer]

Gorgeous color, background and sharpness! Well done.

[wishing for walleyes]

Now thats very pretty.Great work.

[machohorn]

Steve, I welcome you and your shots back! Very nice.

[polarsusd81]

Lovin it. The colors come across very nice.

Let us all know what you think of that gear when you are done. I have heard nothing but good about the 24L and the 70-200 f4L IS. If I can find a way, I want to try to upgrade to that lens from my f4L non-IS I currently have. If I could come up with another 400 somewhere I could do it.

[Steve Foss]

I like it a lot already. I shot quite a bit last night at the wedding rehearsal, and all the gear performed most excellently. This is a wedding in which there are few demands on gear, since it's outdoors, but it was a good excuse to bring in some stuff. Tom, one wedding oughta get you more than enough jing to trade in the non IS for the IS. I'd really recommend it, especially for indoor church weddings. Three extra stops from that IS makes a big dif. I used the f4 IS version for a church wedding last year and was very comfortable shooting the vows, etc., at 1/60 to 1/100 handheld, and at f4 was able to keep iso in that particular nicely lit church at 800.

[polarsusd81]

Yeah I hear ya, I just need to book another for this year. I do have a couple senior sessions coming up here pretty soon, maybe that will help. I have a couple weddings lined up for next year already, but I also have an Alaskan cruise next year to pay for. Oh yeah, that will be fun. There will be a thread upon return.

[MN Shutterbug]

Steve, what do you think of shooting a wedding dance, with no flash, at 1/15 sec. I attended a wedding last weekend and one of the photographers was doing just that. I asked her what shutter speed she was at - 1/15 sec? She had to look at her Canon before she could tell me. But yeah, it was 1/15 sec. She stated that the 1.4 on the 50 really makes a difference. However, 1/15 sec. is still 1/15 sec. I really have my doubts that she got any keepers. But then, I've never tried that slow of a speed on a moving subject.

[polarsusd81]

X, I assume she wasn't using a flash with a second curtain sync set-up was she? Better yet, was it hand held? I would highly doubt there were any keepers at 1/15th. Do you know what lens she was using, by saying 1.4 I kinda assume you are talking about a 50 1.4 or the 24 1.4L. 50 1.4 at that speed hand held would probably look like junk, I have that lens and fortunately haven't tried that shutter speed when it counts. 24 1.4L might yield a keeper or two at 1/15 if the dancing was reeeaaaallllly slow and she had it on a monopod or something. Pretty tough to hit it just right.

[MARINERMAGNUM]

Agreed-if it was a fast dance,she got no keepers.

[MN Shutterbug]

I have no idea what a second curtain sync setup is. She was shooting handheld and using the 50mm on a 5D. This was a slow dance, but even so, I don't think 1/15 sec. will handle any movement, the dancer's or the photographer's. Luckily, she had a partner shooting with a flash.

I just found this whole thing a bit interesting. I also noticed that when the parents were ushered down the aisle, she took pictures and did some chimping and messing with the flash setting, and then when the processional started, she pointed the flash off to the side, thereby not using it. I was just thinking that if she had the flash set on auto, the shots might be a bit overexposed. She was using a bounce card which could have saved her.

Anyway, I'm no longer a wedding photographer and never will be again, but it is fun to observe.

[Steve Foss]

Steve, what do you think of shooting a wedding dance, with no flash, at 1/15 sec. I attended a wedding last weekend and one of the photographers was doing just that. I asked her what shutter speed she was at - 1/15 sec? She had to look at her Canon before she could tell me. But yeah, it was 1/15 sec. She stated that the 1.4 on the 50 really makes a difference. However, 1/15 sec. is still 1/15 sec. I really have my doubts that she got any keepers. But then, I've never tried that slow of a speed on a moving subject.

Unless you're trying for certain blur effects, 1/15 would be a waste of time in the dance situation you described. I've been able to do some tight shooting at wedding dances with ambient light thrown by the colored DJ spotlights that is pretty special, like shooting a band performance at high iso, but mostly I'm flashing, and if the ceiling is low and white (which seems to happen at a lot of dance venues), I'll point her straight up and bounce it, carefully applying either manual flash settings or flash EC to get the effect I need. I also sometimes turn the flash vertical and use my closed hand behind it for a bounce card. The reddish skin tone yields a warm flash temp that sometimes is appealing.

I just got back from my wedding tonight, and the dance was in a pole barn with a DJ, so there could be no bouncing. But with the colored lights strongly backlighting hair, clothing and faces, and the right amount of frontal flash applied, the effect was quite pleasing. I was shooting at iso800 with shutter speeds ranging from 1/100 to 1/250 with the 24 f1.4L/1Ds3/550EX and the 70-200 f4L IS/30D/430EX.

With anything other than a 5D or 1 series body, I don't recommend trying to use autofocus with backlit subjects in that dark a venue unless you have an f2.8 lens, which offers added focus capability on Rebel and xxD series cameras when the center focus point is selected. Otherwise there's a LOT of hunting and missed shots involved. In those cases if I'm shooting wide angle that won't open to f2.8, I'll often set manual focus and just make sure I'm that distance away from the dancers.

Amazing, isn't it, that a daylily thread can turn into a wedding tutorial?