My daughter got married this weekend and my wife and I were asked to do the photos. No pressure there then 
For the first time I loaded both memory slots on the D800 and configured the primary for RAW and the backup for fine/medium JPG (Still 20MP !!) just in case my card went down.
Luck was on our side as the weather was nice after a week of rain, followed by more rain since.
Ideally I wanted to do all of the formals by metering, setting flash power with my meter, set white balance and take a test shot of the colour checker passport. I felt pressured (I was in some of my own shots) so I went for TTL, raw and crossed fingers. For the formals I used two SB900 speedlights on stands with pocket wizard TT5 radio triggers. For some reason which I need to test again, all of those shots where very bright. Not quite blown highlight but certainly on the right side of the histogram. A former member used to advocate shooting weddings professionally using only jpg. If I'd followed that advice I would now be daughterless Fortunately the combination of the huge D800 dynamic range, shooting raw and Lightroom meant that I had some results that the bride and groom were thrilled with.
I did learn a few things, such as:
1. Make the time to use a meter when you set up for shot to shot consistency.
2. Set the white balance. In fairness the camera did a pretty good job
3. Use the colour checker to set the colour profile to make post processing easier.
4. Think about replacing my SB900s with SB910s as I encountered the overheating problem so one died for 5 mins while it cooled down. It's not a problem the way I normally use them.
5. If you want a guest to take a your picture set it all up on the tripod and tell them which button to push. Unfortunately the grooms father offered to shoot my wife and I with her camera (D7100) handheld. We are the only formal shots of that day cut off at the knee I could have save money and worn flip flops.
I have only done a quick and dirty job of processing these so the bride could see them before she jets off to South America today, but here they are if you want to have look.
For the first time I loaded both memory slots on the D800 and configured the primary for RAW and the backup for fine/medium JPG (Still 20MP !!) just in case my card went down. Luck was on our side as the weather was nice after a week of rain, followed by more rain since.
Ideally I wanted to do all of the formals by metering, setting flash power with my meter, set white balance and take a test shot of the colour checker passport. I felt pressured (I was in some of my own shots) so I went for TTL, raw and crossed fingers. For the formals I used two SB900 speedlights on stands with pocket wizard TT5 radio triggers. For some reason which I need to test again, all of those shots where very bright. Not quite blown highlight but certainly on the right side of the histogram. A former member used to advocate shooting weddings professionally using only jpg. If I'd followed that advice I would now be daughterless
Fortunately the combination of the huge D800 dynamic range, shooting raw and Lightroom meant that I had some results that the bride and groom were thrilled with.I did learn a few things, such as:
1. Make the time to use a meter when you set up for shot to shot consistency.
2. Set the white balance. In fairness the camera did a pretty good job
3. Use the colour checker to set the colour profile to make post processing easier.
4. Think about replacing my SB900s with SB910s as I encountered the overheating problem so one died for 5 mins while it cooled down. It's not a problem the way I normally use them.
5. If you want a guest to take a your picture set it all up on the tripod and tell them which button to push. Unfortunately the grooms father offered to shoot my wife and I with her camera (D7100) handheld. We are the only formal shots of that day cut off at the knee
I could have save money and worn flip flops.I have only done a quick and dirty job of processing these so the bride could see them before she jets off to South America today, but here they are if you want to have look.
