First Byte: Earlier in the year I started experimenting with a sound byte to go with blog posts now and then. Last week I had a chance to catch up to Charles Maring and talk about some new techniques he's using with the LUMIX GH4 and Profoto's off-camera flash system at weddings. Technology is constantly changing and Charles and Jennifer Maring are making sure their work stays cutting edge all the time! Note: One correction. Charles sent me a quick note this morning - Skip... It was fun speaking with you and sharing in the Podcast. I want to point out that I mis-spoke in talking about lenses. There is no 40mm 1.7 for Lumix. Rather it's a 20mm 1.7, which would be a 40mm on a full frame. Math sometimes gets in the way with us creative types:) It's a Trifecta! There's a little of everything in today's post, with the podcast above, a video and still images. Charles does a terrific job in the podcast talking about technology and the importance of making your work look different from your competitors. I've worked a lot with Charles and Jennifer over the years, and one thing that's always a standard is making sure the client comes first. When they put together the final wedding album they want consistency and quality in every aspect of the story their clients expect to see. Remember, a wedding album isn't just a book of photographs, but the first family heirloom telling the story of a brand new family. It deserves nothing but the very best images! Charles and Jennifer wrote an outstanding blog post about photographing weddings with the LUMIX GH4. Here's a short excerpt: The Lumix GH4 may look like a DSLR, but it isn't. Rather, it's a mirrorless camera with an EVF, (Electronic Viewfinder.) For all practical purposes it just may be the ultimate wedding camera for the style of photography that we do. Our style is a blend of real moments captured unobtrusively, photojournalism if you will, and beautifully lit portraits. We have a very high end clientele that adores high quality, and well lit, photography. If we put it in film terms, our work is more like Gatsby in that it is well lit, as opposed to an independent film which relies on budget lighting and high ISO's. There is nothing wrong with either approach, in fact we come from a PJ style background shooting with high ISO's ourselves. However, we see that is what our clients seem to be drawn to a more professional quality, which makes sense because it's different to what the large majority of photographers do. They want to look good in the photographs we take, and they want the photography to be consistent from cover to cover in their final wedding albums. Off camera flash helps us to achieve that quality and consistency. And, about the B1 and B2, "Game-Changers", they wrote: The Profoto B1 is the most reliable flash system we've ever used for weddings. One battery lasts pretty much the entire day. Occasionally we need a second for overly long weddings. At first thought you may think that studio strobes would be annoying at a wedding with big bright flashes. On the contrary, because the B1 and B2 have remarkably short flash durations so the flash is actually less bright in appearance to the eye than an on camera flash in most cases. We are only looking to get f/4 at ISO 400 on the dance floor at most and as the couple moves throughout the reception we can adjust Aperture and ISO to control exposure and work from long distances. The B1 also recycles brilliantly fast and most certainly faster than an on camera system. This means we can be trigger happy if we want, and never miss a moment. Combine the power of the Profoto B1 or B2 with a Panasonic Lumix GH4 and you are not only working lighter than ever, you are working more consistently as well. We stumbled upon this combination by accident at a wedding, and it really made a difference in our ability to nail important moments with an even higher quality look. This is how we shoot the modern wedding, and our clients adore the quality and consistent results this combination allows us to produce. This is an incredibly exciting time to be a professional photographer. You've got more creative tools than at any time in the history of photography. You owe it to yourself and your clients to make sure you're taking advantage of everything new technology has to offer. Images copyright Maring Visuals. All rights reserved.
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AuthorsWelcome to Luminary Corner. Besides being a recognized member of the professional photographic community, each post author is a member of Panasonic's LUMIX Luminary team. Archives
November 2017
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