At 20:34 8/16/01, Wayne Culbertson wrote, in part:
Secondly, I am just a hobbiest and normally shoot only family pictures
and flowers (with 2x vivitar macro), scenery, etc. I got cornered into
doing a wedding this Saturday for a relative, and frankly, am a little
nervous. I shoot with an OM PC, and an OM 10, and have just average
lenses, a Zuiko 50/1.8 of course, a Vivitar 28/2, Vivitar 28-80 3.5-4.5,
and CPC 135/2.8, and vivitar 80-200 zoom. I use a t20 flash, and so am
not really equipped for vertical shots without terrible shadows. I have
bought several rolls of portra 400vc and 160nc. I also have an old
olympus RC which I plan to do some portra 400BW with, and an Olympus
Infinity Stylus Epic (with 2.8) that I paln to use if all else fails. I
know this is pretty vague, but any advice would be appreciated.
Wayne
Wayne,
Shave your head and run, run as fast as you can (charter a plane if
necessary), to a Tibetan Monastary and hide among the monks until it's over!
If you don't heed that advice, then your biggest problem is flash
power. The T-20 (GN 67) just doesn't have enough power. You need nothing
less than the oomph of a T-32 (GN 109). Don't try to compensate for lack
of flash power by opening the lens up to f/2.8 or f/4. Your depth of field
with a 50mm or longer lens will be too shallow.
If you cannot find a T-32 (GN 109) in a hurry, then find a Vivitar 283,
Vivitar 285 or Sunpak 383 (all GN 124) in a hurry and use it. Ensure you
know how to work it thoroughly first. They have built-in sensors and
calculator dial/panel so you can use them like the T-20 or T-32 in "normal
auto" mode. Not advice I would normally give (new gear) but I know the
T-20 just won't put out enough light. All three are workhorses, and the
Vivitar's are heavily used as generic flash units by photojournalists (the
Sunpak is lesser known but very similar). They only have a center contact
to fire the flash, so they won't illuminate the flash ready in the
viewfinder. They do have a flash ready lamp on the back that works just
like the one on the T-20. You will also have to *manually* set the shutter
speed to 1/60th X-sync with them. I would be tempted to set it at 1/30th
to "drag the shutter" and pick up more ambient light. If you do this, it
does risk some slight camera shake, so make sure you are steady.
Take oodles of spare AA's for the flash!!! Put new ones in to start and
have three more sets of new ones to replace them with when the recharge
time gets noticeably longer.
Suggest using the OM-PC as primary and the OM-10 as secondary/backup,
especially if you locate a T-32. You ought to be able to do the whole show
with just the standard 50/1.8 lens. It will give you a brighter viewfinder
for focusing more accurately in lower light. Think KISS principle and
don't try anything fancy you have not done before!! Keep it to
basics. You'll avoid mistakes that way.
A tip for posing people: Borrow a wedding album or two and look at where
heads, feet and hands are positioned in the formal shots you
like. Position these three body parts and the rest of the body will follow.
This is what I can think of in hurry. See also my tutorial on doing
weddings here:
http://johnlind.tripod.com/wedding/
You're in for a long day and you'll be tired afterward, even if everything
goes right. Good Luck!!
-- John
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