Maybe there's some reverse psychology there...

Ken: "The Pentax 645D is a rubbish toy"
Pentax: "Oh yeah? What if we lend/give you one so you can review it proper"
Ken: (Kerching!)



Matt

I saw a wonderful series of actors and famous people where the photographer had taken shots with a very silly hat (it was a knitted jester type thing). He got them to just to wear it anyway they wanted as a warm up exercise.

Did a little shoot at our kiddy party once with various hats. The results were the best I've ever had - people really seemed to relax and enjoy it.

...might not work at a wedding...

Formal shots: get everyone to close their eyes, tell them to open their eyes and smile when you count to three. That can be pretty successful.


Another one is to get them to blow up their cheeks and blurt out the air (show them how). Usually gets a relaxed smile as it's such a silly action

Matt

"Exif viewer" add-on in Firefox.
Or, PhotoME



Matt

No. And second, and third, licenses are a mere £29 each from the UK (that's for the Pro version too)

Far less messing around than Photoshop and its activation

Definite thumbs up for the John at UK Silkypix
Matt

I recently moved to Mac on Silkypix and there was absolutely no problem at all - with the UK company
One big plus point for Silkypix is that you can purchase extra licenses for up to three computers at a very minimal charge (and they can be a mix of Win & Mac too!). That's cool

Matt

Yes, they all have it... at least the 'pro' spec ones. D300, 5D etc.

It's a case of tolerances - both lens and camera can be within tolerance on their own. However, the camera may be at one end of the tolerance and your particular lens on the other end of tolerance - a net result that's not acceptable.

Focus adjustment is a welcome feature and is really, really, really simple to do. You will NOT do anything in, and you can easily reset the focus adjustments!!!


Going back to the OP:
It would help enormously to have a sample image. There are three factors that need to be looked at:

1) Focus
2) SR
3) Post processing

If you could post an image, or better still email me a JPG or RAW then I'll have a quick look and give an indication of where the issue may lie

(Don't be too quick to change cameras until you really know what the issue is... you may end up with the same problem later )

Matt

More basic tips (further to Dan's comment):

Consciously check the edges of the frame before clicking! Check for cut off feet/hands, and whether there's anything obvious in the background (at one wedding there was a huge bright blue cover waaaay in the distance - but it still showed up! Quickly took another viewpoint )

Also, I always like to check for "phantom" hands - ie. hands that appear clutched around the partner's waist, or on the shoulder. Just tuck them slightly behind and it looks more natural. Watch out for bags as well - get them put down somewhere safe first

Matt

According to the calculators...

For 85mm on FF, you'll have to be about 5m away from the subject (to get 2m long side)

For 150mm on FF, you'll have to be about 9m away from the subject.

You'll need a big space

And if you're shooting fairly wide open then watch your angle on the couple (or their relative placements) as you may end up getting caught out with DoF.

Matt

Where are you taking the shots? This will have a big impact on the choice of lens - if your room is small, then you'll have trouble getting full length on 85 or 150.

The DOFMaster is helpful: http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
and this: http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/calc.htm

20mm is going to be rather distorted (unless that's the 'look' they want!).
So, I'd say that unless you are shooting outdoors then the 50mm or 28mm are the ones to start with

Failing that, you can always go for post-processing. Use a tool like Topaz Remask to quickly isolate the subject and then replace the background (or use the Lens Blur feature of Photoshop).

HTH!
Matt

Isn't the focal length stored? After all, the camera asks you for the length when you power up to use SR, so it's probably stored in the EXIF.
Matt