A wedding in Berlin with the Nikon D3s

January 7, 2010 - 19:01 Pooby - Frankly I'm not sure you're making the right choice of shutter speed and aperture to begin with, so no wonder high ISO is needed. f/11 for first shot seems like a lot to me, in addition 1/80 is also a bit high. But let's say it's because the focal length is rather long and you want to respect the 1/focal length rule... However the second shot really shocks me, 1/125 at 34mm for a static portrait? Wow! Plus a f/4.5 aperture, it's like you're doing a landscape here! Too bad the background is blown out, because you can't even see the sharpness of the buildings outside... The others are pretty much in line with that. Also you don't want to totally freeze the action in party scenes as a small amount of blur helps in showing the dynamism.

January 7, 2010 - 19:18 Richard Spencer - Not a pro, but am puzzling whether to stay wedded to my D700, or jump to the D3s! I think you are persuading me to jump! Most impressed by these wedding photographs, both photographically, culturally, and Berlin-wise. I was British Staatsanwalt in Berlin 1983-86 and got to know all of Berlin quite well. Where was this wedding held?

January 7, 2010 - 20:05 ron - y0our skill surpasses the camera's ability. I like 'em verrry much.

January 8, 2010 - 09:11 Frank Nürnberger - The wedding was held at the Hilton Berlin, registry at the "Palais am Festungsgraben" right behind "Unter den Linden" and tea ceremony at the brides parents flat. Tahnks for your comment.

January 8, 2010 - 09:29 Frank Nürnberger - Dear Pooby, thank you for your questions. Choosing F11 for the first shot made sense, since I had to get three persons at wide varying distances (shot through mirrors etc.) into focus. This is quite a good an example for ISO 6400 really helping to get a shot. Now about choosing appropriate aperture/ISO/shutter speed combinations. First off, I'm not really a f1.4 kind of shooter. I like to show a bit of the environment. Therefore, I close down my aperture a bit from time to time. Also, you have to acknowlede that I'm doing a live reportage. So, I don't ask the bride to stand still, hold it or whatnot. She stood there for about 3 or 5 seconds - I got 3 o4 4 shots and that's it. In the very end it's not about f-stops, shutter speeds, digital noise, it's simply about capturing a moment in time - hopefully in a pleasant graphical composition.

January 8, 2010 - 15:37 Jaime Cumagun - Hello Frank! I happened to pass by Dpreview when I saw your post regarding "My first D3s wedding - samples and 100% crops" on the front page by the hot topics (The most active threads in the last 48 hrs.)and decided to check it out. All in all Im pretty surprised to see that your high-iso photos have almost non-existent chroma noise as those evil yellow blotches ruins the fine grain of any camera model. I am no pro but do appreciate seeing different approaches in photography and reportage happens to be one of my favorites. Thank you very much for sharing your work, the 13th photograph is my favorite as the timing and angle is well composed; its like being a spectator who had the right gear to capture the moment at the right time, one in a million chance to see a couple kiss under a very favorable structure + lighting conditions when peering outside a window. Thank you again for the share and have fun shooting with your D3s! Best Regards -Jaime

January 8, 2010 - 15:59 Frank Nürnberger - Thank you Jaime, although - as I have already admitted in my initial post - this is the only staged image in my collection. Actually, I had hoped to get that image by chance. So I was waiting outside the hotel for something to happen. But, the couple had not even arrived at their room. When they arrived I gave it another 10 minutes in the freezing cold. But nothing happened. Well, it was cold, so I called them with my mobile and directed them for that one shot. Yeah, it would have to be too good to be true.... Frank

January 8, 2010 - 16:40 victor de bruyne - Frank, "In the very end it's not about f-stops, shutter speeds, digital noise, it's simply about capturing a moment in time - hopefully in a pleasant graphical composition." Absolutely right, the subject of your first picture was the bride and her (western) dress and to my eyes that was pleasing. I bet that the couple were equally pleased. I liked the documentary effect of the warm colour temperature in the shots you show, though I wonder if you caught any shots of the bride in her chinese filial tea ceremony dress at the correct colour. Otherwise it just shows how pixel peeping is not always a valid measure of photographic merit

January 8, 2010 - 19:33 Christoph - Hallo, ich würde mir nicht so viel aus den Kommentaren im dpreview Forum machen. Die Bilder sind gut so wie sie sind, und sehen gedruckt sicherlich sehr gut aus für die hohen Iso Werte. Diejenigen, mit den schlechten Kommentaren haben wahrscheinlich nicht sehr viel Erfahrung im drucken und gucken sich ihre Bilder den ganzen Tag in 100% Vergrößerung an. Ich schaue auch regelmäßig bei dpreview vorbei, aber die Foren kann man dort einfach nicht nutzen. Kamera Technik interessiert mich zwar auch, aber dort sind einfach zu viele Leute, deren Hobby nicht die Fotografie ist, sondern Kameras und Objektive. Grüße und schön zu sehen, dass auch jemand in Berlin anspruchsvolle Hochzeitsbilder macht.. ansonsten folge ich hauptsächlich den amerikanischen Seiten wie http://www.benchrismanblog.com/