Wedding Photography?

Question

Im not the main photographer at this particular wedding, but what are the best filters to have when taking an outdoor/indoor wedding. the wedding will start around 6pm. plenty of light available. Ill have a diffusion filter, but will not photograph the entire wedding in that filter of course, but should i get a:

UV haze?
Skylight 1A?
Neutral Density?
other suggestions?
what about for indoor, i.e. reception, dance, etc. ?

Answer 1

This depends a great deal on style, but typically I don't use any filters indoors but occasionally use a B&W KSM Circular Polarizer outdoors to super-saturate the sky etc...

UV Haze and Skylight won't really benefit your pictures much/any in this context, but may protect your lens at the cost of some resolution. Neutral density would mostly only be used in a wedding context if you have REALLY fast glass and have a hard time shooting wide open in bright sun. Graduated neutral density is too much setup for weddings IMHO. Warming maybe, but I usually just warm up the shots in PS and save another piece of glass from hurting my resolution.

Rather than filters, maybe consider spending the money on renting some cool glass from a site like ziplens.com or lensrentals.com

Answer 2

A little filter goes a long way. I can't envision ever needing a ND at a wedding, unless you're outdoors at a waterfall where you'd like to get silky water behind the b & g. You certainly shouldn't need one by 6pm. Usually the opposite is true and you're wishing for more light, not less!

When using film, I have used a soft filter for a couple of shots, and a star filter for candlelit ceremonies. With digital, special effects can be added in post processing.

Use your diffusion filter on a handful, then go bare and capture clean, well exposed shots. The novelty of filter work wears thin quickly. (Same thing with heavy PS actions, as well IMHO)

Answer 3

Honestly, why are you thinking about filters? Will you be shooting film or digital? The only filter I would be inclined to use is the UV but only if you're shooting film. Digital doesn't need it. Other than that, forget about filters and focus on the photography. If you must use the diffusion filter, only use it if it's very very light. You don't want to send the bridal party back into the 80's.

Answer 4

If you're shooting in open shade the Skylight filter will eliminate the bluish tint one sees in photos taken under those conditions.

IMO no lens should ever be without either a HAZE/UV filter or a Skylight filter. You may debate endlessly as to whether or not they help your photos but I guarantee you they will protect the front element of your lens. One scratch or acidic fingerprint and your expensive lens becomes an expensive paperweight. In 36 yrs. I've replaced a few filters but never a lens. Helpful Hint: Filters are cheaper to replace.

The only lens I own that has to face the world naked is my 16mm fisheye. I keep the lens cap on it until I'm ready to use it - and I never use it in crowds.

Answer 5

UV filters do basically nothing (they might help a little with landscapes, but not much) the only thing they are really usefull for is protecting your lens from scatches and and other physical damage. as for other filters, if you are useing digital, you can get basically do anything a filter can in photoshop or simular programs.

and i dont know how new you are at photography, but if you dont know already, DO NOT USE THE BUILT IN FLASH. If it is light enough to not use flash, dont use it, otherwise, use an external flash, maybe one that can point to the ceiling and bounce the light off of it.

Answer 6

Shooting digital, I never use filters for the weddings I shoot.

If shooting film, the only filter I might consider is one for balancing out tungsten light, and this is if I don't have tungsten balanced film(I usually don't).

Then again, my film camera is a backup...so, knock on wood, I've never needed it in that capacity. I have used it as the main camera at my firrst wedding, but I needed to use flash 99% of the time due to the low lighting involved, which negated the tungsten color cast.

Answer 7

For indoors, make sure you know what kind of lighting it is. If it's flourescent and you're shotting film, you need a special filter or all your photos will come out green.

Also, for outdoor photos always use a "warm" filter and a reflector.

Answer 8

If you are shooting all digital I would just us a UV filter and recreate all the rest of your needs in Photoshop if you are a Photoshop user. Shoot all color, conver later. Wedding couples love choices so on the rare occassion that shoot a wedding ( family and friends only ) I always shoot color and the client always gets a cd with at least four versions of the same image. At first it may sound like overkill but all too often after the album shots have been chosen and organized for mounting into the album, the client will inevitably by some larger prints that were variations of the others. It's such a quick, easy and painless process. I just create actions and drag and drop. I usually give them the following version of each photo. Remember, if you are at all proficient with Photoshop you can work the first image (tonality, color, spotting etc.) and then I tweak some more so come up with four or five of the straight color image that I have manipulated into something that sells large prints for me. Here is a short list of what I offer them on a cd.

1.) Straight color image, cropped, color and exposure corrected.
2.) Same image but rendered into a nice black and white image.
3.) Same image with the b/w dragged top of the original color image. I then tweak the opacity on the b/w layer so that the result is a print that appears to be hand colored like in the 50's. (Clients eat them up).
4.)Utilizing the now flattened and hand-colored emulation image I add >Filter>Distort>Diffuse Glow making sure that the background color on my tool bar is white. I add the glow, way over doing it with the sliders nearly all the way to the right. I okay it and then under edit I fade glow until I find a number that works for me. Even more than the hand-colored versions, clients almost always buy some enlargements of these. Because of the hand colored effect and the diffuse glow, a very moody, dream like image is created and it sells.
5.) When I am feeling a bit friendly and want to create one more nice image as a choice I create a soft focus of any of the above variations. The soft focus I create very much emulates the old #7 Hasselblad soft focus filter and it's simple. Here is a quick walk through.
Step 1.) With chosen image already open I create a duplicate layer. On that duplicate layer I drop my opacity to 70% and under the layer mode where it says normal most times, I change that to darken. I then Filter> Blur > Gaussian Blur and I make the amount the same as the size as my image, for example if my image is 4MB, I make my gaussian blur amount 4.
Step 2.) I make a duplicate layer of the layer we just worked. I know change my opacity to 30 percent and the layer mode to lighten.
Step3.) I link the two copied layers and at the bottom of the layers pallette I hit the "add layer mask button", it looks like a square with a circle in it. Your working layer will now have a blank white box in it. Make sure your foreground color is black and background is white.
Step 4.) Using the paint brush, on the brush pallette I change my spacing to 10, used a soft brush like 70ish. Now, by playing with the opacity and size of brush I can work my photo. Now as you paint over your working layer, instead of painting on the layer it is going to erase instead of mark it up. I vary my brush opacity but almost always I use 100% as I paint over the eyes, lips, mouth. Drop your opacity down to about 75% and run it over the face and hair, the lower opacity will leave a small amout of blur on the face, reducing any imperfections. When I am done painting on or erasing as it may be I flatten my layers and there you go, Hasselblad #7.
Sorry this was so wordy and long but I am a writer ya know so I get carried away some time. I hope this helps you out. You may email me at anytime at [e-mail].

Namaste'
Chris
P.S. - My new website is being built so I am storing stuff on Flickr until it's done. On here you may find some wedding stuff but feel free to browse around.
www.flickr.com/photos/sweetlight/sets