flash

I have good news. On Saturday I assisted my mentor, Melody Yazdani, at a wedding! I couldn’t have been more excited, more nervous, and more grateful. I loved it. I learned so much. Melody helped me approach the evening with practicality, skill, professionalism, and enthusiasm too. Before the shoot, we cleaned our equipment, checked out batteries, and talked about what equipment she and I would be using. She talked with me about where to stand, possible photo ideas, and dress code (we both wore black).

Because the bride and groom were surprising their friends with the wedding (it was a small and intimate event), we needed to be discreet with our arrival. I have to confess that I did have butterflies in my stomach as we circled their neighborhood waiting for all of their guests to arrive. Once it was time, we rang their bell and entered the house, with our cameras around our necks, carrying the rest of our equipment. Since the wedding was held at night and inside, we needed to work with the available light and use flash.

Here’s where I struggled. Months ago I purchased a speed light for my camera. When I worked with my SB-600, I sometimes found that I got good results and other times, my photos disappointed me. I have said time and time again that I dislike working with a flash, however, given the opportunity to start working as a photographer, I was willing to do whatever I needed to do. So, when Melody told me I needed to use flash, I said okay, “No problem.” Well, I adjusted my ISO, set the camera at aperture control and began photographing the bride, the groom, their guests, and their celebrant. However, when I viewed the photos, I couldn’t believe how discolored and overexposed they were. A disaster! I quickly told Melody that I was having trouble with my flash and she stayed on her toes and told me, “Just go without it.” So, I shot much of the wedding using a very high ISO and alternating with my on-camera flash.

Lesson learned. On Sunday, I pulled out my camera manual and read, read, read. I scanned my controls and tried out different options with my flash controls. I told myself, “I am going to shoot with flash until I get flash.” I want to be a photographer, and I really don’t think that there’s any getting around learning to use additional light sources (I rely entirely on natural light for my photos). So today when Annabelle, Levi and I attended Annabelle’s ballet class, I brought my camera and flash and got all sorts of trigger happy. On a side note, some of the other parents commented to me, “Wow, that looks like a real camera.” I smiled and said, “Well, it is a real camera.” I photographed one mother’s little girl and she approached me about doing family portraits for them. Of course, I accepted. Now I just need to convince my husband to have another daddy-kid date. For the wedding, he took the kids to a birthday party and said everyone had a fine time. I was just happy they survived, ;-)

Below are a few pictures I shot today, using my Nikon d90 and SB-600, at Annabelle’s class. Additional photos from our day may be viewed over at my flickr account.