BackdoorArts
Senior Member
I've been in Florida for the last 10 days. Part of the trip, and the real reason we went when we did, was to celebrate my in-law's 50th wedding anniversary. Elsewhere on this forum you'll find a post about how a wedding photographer utterly failed at my nephew's wedding and lost a major block of photos due to a memory card failure - including all the family photos. As part of the weekend they wanted to shoot family portraits of all types and my sister in-law asked if I'd shoot them. Not knowing the lighting conditions I shipped down umbrellas and stands and purchased a set of Yongnuo triggers and controller to go with my pair of YN468-II flashes. I tested everything at home to make sure it worked, packed it up and brought them down (the space cost me room for my 105mm macro, which is the one lens I really could have used for all the other photography I found this week - I could have lived without the 150-500mm since it seemed birds didn't want to come out and play).
OK, so I'm in FL, and the morning of the shoot day I test everything again at the house with the help of my brother in-law and we're golden - everything is running fine. I get to my sister in-law's house and we look to find a good spot to shoot. The one I wanted to use in the house has tables and chairs set up for a party, so we find a spot outside we can use that my mother in-law (who had hip replacement surgery 2 months ago) can walk to. Shots are after church, so I get home first and quickly go to set up. As I'm getting things in place I tell my niece to let them know they should get my mother in-law out here so we can start and I can test everything. Next thing you know everybody is coming out because it's "picture time", so now I'm working with an audience of 30.
Flashes are on their triggers, triggers are on the stands, first test shot ... nothing works. Flashes work if I test them, but the triggers aren't receiving anything. Bugger me!! Now I'm debugging with the natives getting restless, and what light I could use naturally fading. I tried everything and finally said "Screw it!!" in a rather unprofessional way, moved everything out of the way and shot with natural light in the shady spot that I picked for that purpose just in case. Thankfully they came out just fine, they just need some WB adjusting and a little help from Color Efex Pro (their Reflector Efex filter does wonders). The D610 is a wonder with higher ISO's and I am thankful that I was able to shoot at a speed in the shade where I didn't have to worry about people moving. But I'll be damned if I can figure out what the heck happened. I spent 10 minutes with it back at the house we were staying at with my brother in-law and a beer before I decided to just put it away and have more beer and figure it out when I get home, which is where I type this. Too much work catch-up going on to worry about it right away, but I'll post what it was when I figure it out. I'm a little pissed I didn't throw the Vello triggers in as a backup (they've never failed me), but I was totally out of room in the backpack with the big lens and DX body for birds.
OK, so I'm in FL, and the morning of the shoot day I test everything again at the house with the help of my brother in-law and we're golden - everything is running fine. I get to my sister in-law's house and we look to find a good spot to shoot. The one I wanted to use in the house has tables and chairs set up for a party, so we find a spot outside we can use that my mother in-law (who had hip replacement surgery 2 months ago) can walk to. Shots are after church, so I get home first and quickly go to set up. As I'm getting things in place I tell my niece to let them know they should get my mother in-law out here so we can start and I can test everything. Next thing you know everybody is coming out because it's "picture time", so now I'm working with an audience of 30.
Flashes are on their triggers, triggers are on the stands, first test shot ... nothing works. Flashes work if I test them, but the triggers aren't receiving anything. Bugger me!! Now I'm debugging with the natives getting restless, and what light I could use naturally fading. I tried everything and finally said "Screw it!!" in a rather unprofessional way, moved everything out of the way and shot with natural light in the shady spot that I picked for that purpose just in case. Thankfully they came out just fine, they just need some WB adjusting and a little help from Color Efex Pro (their Reflector Efex filter does wonders). The D610 is a wonder with higher ISO's and I am thankful that I was able to shoot at a speed in the shade where I didn't have to worry about people moving. But I'll be damned if I can figure out what the heck happened. I spent 10 minutes with it back at the house we were staying at with my brother in-law and a beer before I decided to just put it away and have more beer and figure it out when I get home, which is where I type this. Too much work catch-up going on to worry about it right away, but I'll post what it was when I figure it out. I'm a little pissed I didn't throw the Vello triggers in as a backup (they've never failed me), but I was totally out of room in the backpack with the big lens and DX body for birds.