The Best of Wedding Photography.pdf - Free

LEFT—A tricky exposure situation often calls for spot metering, especially when shooting digitally, where correct exposure is critical, especially if
shooting JPEGs. This is what photographer Becker did for this low-light scene. He spot-metered the scene and came up with a perfect exposure: 1/45
second at f/5.0 with a 28mm lens on his Fuji FinePix S2 Pro. RIGHT—One of Marcus Bell’s favorite lenses is his Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L, which
he uses in near-dark situations. Here he photographed a bride and groom in twilight under mixed lighting. The exposure was 1/15 second at f/1.4
using an ISO of 800. The effect of this lens is remarkable, as it is extremely sharp—even wide open—because of its floating aspheric element.
racy. Like all mechanical instruments, meters can get out of
whack and need periodic adjustment.
Exposure Latitude. Working with digital files is much
different than working with film. For one thing, the exposure
latitude, particularly in regard to overexposure, is virtually
nonexistent. Some photographers liken shooting
digital to shooting transparency film: it is unforgiving. The
upside of this is that greater care taken in creating a proper
exposure only makes you a better photographer. But for
those used to –2/+3 stops of exposure latitude, this is a
different game altogether.
Proper exposure is essential because it determines the
range of tones and the overall quality of the image. Underexposed
digital files tend to have an excessive amount of
noise; overexposed files lack image detail in the highlights.
You must either be right on with your exposures or, if you
make an error, let it be only slightly underexposed, which
44 THE BEST OF WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY
is survivable. Overexposure of any kind is a deal breaker.
With digital capture, you must also guarantee that the dynamic
range of the processed image fits that of the materials
you will use to exhibit the image (i.e., the printing
paper and ink or photographic paper).
WHITE BALANCE
White balance is the digital camera’s ability to correct color
when shooting under a variety of different lighting conditions,
including daylight, strobe, tungsten, and fluorescent
lighting.
White balance is particularly important if you are shooting
highest-quality JPEG files; it is less important when
shooting in RAW file mode, since these files contain more
data than the compressed JPEG files and are easily remedied
later. While this would seem to argue for shooting exclusively
RAW files, it’s important to note that these files