Q RE Flash and White Wedding Dresses

sara505

Which is better when shooting brides in white dresses - using FEL to get a good exposure of the face, blowing out some of the highlights in the dress; or, shooting straight w/o FEL, which under-exposes the face? I shoot everything RAW, so it can all be fixed, but wondering which is better -

or is there is perhaps a better way to shoot a person dressed all in white and get good exposure on both skin and dress (on-the-fly, in various light, not in a studio)?

Thanks.

ziggy53

Sara,

I am very protective of the whites in a bridal gown when I shoot. If the highlights are overexposed, even RAW won't save them.

I do shoot with the histogram as far to the right as possible without the blinkies showing and then in ACR I use a curve adjustment to pull the top highlights back a bit from the brink while allowing the flesh tones to be a bit above middle. Sometimes highlight recovery is also needed but usually the highlight curves "knee" works pretty well.

sara505

ziggy53 wrote:

Sara,

I am very protective of the whites in a bridal gown when I shoot. If the highlights are overexposed, even RAW won't save them.

I do shoot with the histogram as far to the right as possible without the blinkies showing and then in ACR I use a curve adjustment to pull the top highlights back a bit from the brink while allowing the flesh tones to be a bit above middle. Sometimes highlight recovery is also needed but usually the highlight curves "knee" works pretty well.

Thanks, Ziggy, for your reply.

I agree - I like to avoid the over-cooked whites and have always shied away from the right when it comes to wedding dresses. I tried out FEL yesterday after not using it for a long time, and while I like the skin exposure, there were too many blown highlights for my taste. I think I prefer saving the whites and bringing out the skin in pp.

What is your shooting technique for accomplishing the above? I have my 40D set up as a spot meter and read off the face, usually do fine, though I do sometimes suffer from under-exposure due to the dress' reflection. That's why I was trying out FEL.

I'm trying to find the balance...I guess I'm leaning towards the idea that it is preferable to lighten the skin afterwards rather than deal with blown whites, wondering how others approach this issue.

Thanks.

HenryPeach

I just dial in flash comp as needed when in ETTL: + for the bride in white, - for the groom in black. Usually +2/3 to +1 depending on how much of the frame she's filling. I check the histogram periodically to make sure I'm getting the exposure I want.

ziggy53

sara505 wrote:

... What is your shooting technique for accomplishing the above? I have my 40D set up as a spot meter and read off the face, usually do fine, though I do sometimes suffer from under-exposure due to the dress' reflection. That's why I was trying out FEL.

I'm trying to find the balance...I guess I'm leaning towards the idea that it is preferable to lighten the skin afterwards rather than deal with blown whites, wondering how others approach this issue.

Thanks.

While I use compact flash for much of the proceedings, for the formals I use studio monolights. Ambient light as well as incident light is measured separately and accounted for.

If I did use speedlights for formals they would be used in manual mode and they would be balanced to the ambient according to the desired effect and desired ratios.

For candids I generally use the external flash as fill, so I just watch the histogram and blinkies and adjust exposure accordingly. If the reception is dark then I use the external flash as key and try to combine bounce light with some forward fill from the flash via modifier. If it's a dark venue as well as dark ambient, like an older knotty pine ceiling and walls and the DJ cuts the room lights, then I almost always use a "scoop" modifier and live with the results.

sara505

ziggy53 wrote:

While I use compact flash for much of the proceedings, for the formals I use studio monolights. Ambient light as well as incident light is measured separately and accounted for.

If I did use speedlights for formals they would be used in manual mode and they would be balanced to the ambient according to the desired effect and desired ratios.

For candids I generally use the external flash as fill, so I just watch the histogram and blinkies and adjust exposure accordingly. If the reception is dark then I use the external flash as key and try to combine bounce light with some forward fill from the flash via modifier. If it's a dark venue as well as dark ambient, like an older knotty pine ceiling and walls and the DJ cuts the room lights, then I almost always use a "scoop" modifier and live with the results.

Thanks - this is helpful.

My main question, though, is if one has to choose between exposing the skin tones properly and blowing out *some* of the highlights, and underexposing slightly (all in RAW) to save the whites - which has more integrity, recovering the highlights, or lightening the skin? I think I am leaning towards the latter.

ziggy53

sara505 wrote:

Thanks - this is helpful.

My main question, though, is if one has to choose between exposing the skin tones properly and blowing out *some* of the highlights, and underexposing slightly (all in RAW) to save the whites - which has more integrity, recovering the highlights, or lightening the skin? I think I am leaning towards the latter.

The answer will vary partly due to different dress designs. A very plain wedding gown may not show that it is blown on the crest of the pleats, but a gown with a texture or lace might lose visible detail.

As a rule, protect the highlights of the dress. Most light Caucasian flesh tones are one zone above middle gray, so they should recover easily. Darker skin tones may require a somewhat different technique, mostly lighting for lower contrast.

sara505

ziggy53 wrote:

The answer will vary partly due to different dress designs. A very plain wedding gown may not show that it is blown on the crest of the pleats, but a gown with a texture or lace might lose visible detail.

As a rule, protect the highlights of the dress. Most light Caucasian flesh tones are one zone above middle gray, so they should recover easily. Darker skin tones may require a somewhat different technique, mostly lighting for lower contrast.

Thank you, Ziggy. And how about those darn wedding dresses with sequins!!

Thanks for confirming - with actual facts - what I was already thinking.

jeffreaux2

sara505 wrote:

Thank you, Ziggy. And how about those darn wedding dresses with sequins!!

Thanks for confirming - with actual facts - what I was already thinking.

Sequins and pearls both....

I generally take the camera's metering out of the equation by shooting weddings in manual using the histogram to adjust exposure. Like Ziggy, I expose as far right as possible yet keep highlights inbounds. It is simple enough to set a black point in post processing...right?
Right.

For gowns with shiny details, I will allow overexposure if it is limited to those bits of reflective stuff. This can be best controlled in post processing by using some sort of highlight warning...such as what Lightroom offers, or by holding the "alt" key while adjusting levels in photoshop. I will push the exposure to let those bits go hot....but ONLY those bits(the pearls or sequin reflections).

The simple answer to your original question is that skin tones are much easier to lighten than it would be to recover a blown highlight on a dress....especially when you consider that a blown highlight is...well....blown and cannot be recovered.

sara505

jeffreaux2 wrote:

Sequins and pearls both....

I generally take the camera's metering out of the equation by shooting weddings in manual using the histogram to adjust exposure. Like Ziggy, I expose as far right as possible yet keep highlights inbounds. It is simple enough to set a black point in post processing...right?
Right.

For gowns with shiny details, I will allow overexposure if it is limited to those bits of reflective stuff. This can be best controlled in post processing by using some sort of highlight warning...such as what Lightroom offers, or by holding the "alt" key while adjusting levels in photoshop. I will push the exposure to let those bits go hot....but ONLY those bits(the pearls or sequin reflections).


The simple answer to your original question is that skin tones are much easier to lighten than it would be to recover a blown highlight on a dress....especially when you consider that a blown highlight is...well....blown and cannot be recovered.

Thanks - I am going to try this shooting technique.