pentaxian450 wrote:
You don't need it with a north facing window, or if the window is facing west while the sun is still east...It will just reduce the amount of light so you'll need a slower shutter speed.


I also forgot: if at all possible, work with a tripod.

pentaxian450 wrote:
With food photography, preparation and planning is everything. When photographing something like a burger, where hot meat meets cold lettuce and tomato, it doesn't take long for the lettuce to look "sick" on a picture. Disposition on the plate also count a lot, so think before the actual meal is cooked how it should be presented.

As for lighting, keep it simple. Put the food on a table near a large window, preferably north facing, and use a reflector to open up the shadows.

Also, try to keep the background as unobtrusive as possible.

As for color balance, try to put a "color checker" chart on one edge of the frame to use as a reference to adjust the color in post processing(works good only if the edge has the same lighting as the main subject). This is the best way to ensure color accuracy if the customer insist on it (sometimes, the don't insist on accuracy, just "punchy" colors).

Good luck.

johnriley wrote:
I thought I'd start a thread so we can explain our choice of Pentax kit for weddings. The subject has been aired a few times, but condensing thoughts into one spot might be helpful.

Sue and I shoot a wedding together, covering different aspects at the same time, for example Sue covering the bride before the wedding and me the groom and best men. Then we shoot the wedding ceremony with me at the front and Sue waiting for bride and groom to exit.

For groups, we get someone to identify who is who and then Sue ushers them about and I shoot the groups. Then we do candids as well, covering whatever we fancy. We also do some experimental shots, depending upon opportunity, just to see if anything special crops up.

Kit is kept to a bare minimum. For me, 18-135mm, 35mm, 43mm and 360 flashgun. The flash is used very sparingly as I prefer to use available light wherever possible. Tripod only for a series of groups, such as guests, where it's a production line of people moving past the camera. Often no need at all for a tripod.

For Sue, 18-135mm and 50mm f/1.4.

And that's it. We shoot in JPEG and usually use four 4GB cards, two each. We rarely have to change a battery of the K-5, but have spares if needed. Likewise, lots of spare cards.

Backup camera is a K20D and a few other lenses are also taken along. A lens can fail as well as a camera, so it needs to be covered. Backup lenses include 16-45mm, 18-55mm, 55-300mm, 100mm Macro.

steven9761 wrote:
Quite a few years ago, a "friend" asked me to take his wedding photos. He was made aware that I was (and still am) an enthusiastic amateur, so not to expect anything that was even remotely on a level with a pro photographer, and we proceeded on that basis. Since he and his prospective wife were on a tight budget, I was only too happy to take the photos as my wedding gift to them both. I thought I'd done not too bad a job with my Pentax SFX 35mm, and had ran off a few rolls of Kodak's Ektar film, and Fuji Velvia for the portraits of the bride, groom, and the bridesmaids. When I showed them the photos, my so-called "friend" went off on one about the quality of the work - I think if he'd got Patrick Lichfield to take them, he'd have picked fault. That severely dented my self-confidence, and questioned my own abilities with a camera, so it's fair to say that I will not be in any hurry to repeat the experience! I can only take my hat off to the guys that do wedding photography for a living - some of the demands upon them can be quite scary!!

Having said that - when I moved away from living in Maidenhead, the cheeky so-and-so's asked me to "give" them the cd-roms of the photos!! In response, they got an abridged quotation from the Holy Bible - you know the one, about "go forth and multiply".. I think you get the idea!

I'll stick to trying my hand at landscape and architecture - at least buildings don't complain although, according to Windsor Davies and Don Estelle, grass has a tendency to whisper quite a bit!