172 Better Available Light Digital Photography
Digital capture makes his style of shooting go more smoothly
than fi lm-based photography. Barry brings all his equipment,
including backup gear. The secret to his stealth working style
means that he’s not overloaded. He keeps with him only the
lenses and accessories needed, sequestering everything else out
of sight, but close by. His gear includes the following: three
camera bodies (working with the second and third as backup),
as well as lenses, lenses, lenses (including 15 mm f/2.8 fi sh-eye,
16–35 mm f/2.8 L II zoom, 24–70 mm f/2.8 L zoom, 70–200 mm
f/2.8 L IS zoom, 85 mm f/1.2 L II, 100 mm f/2.8 macro, and the
1.4X teleconverter). Lighting gear consists of four Canon 580EX
Speedlites, with Tungsten and Florescent color- correction gels
for each; freshly charged batteries; two additional power packs;
lightstands; and assorted clamps, brackets, and umbrellas. Lots
of 2 GB and 4 GB fl ash cards are ready, having been reformatted
from any previous jobs. They’re kept in card wallets label-side
up. As a card is fi lled and replaced in a camera, the fi lled cards
are put into the wallets label-side down. This eliminates any
chance of grabbing the wrong card in the heat of battle.
He’ll include a refl ector or two, tripod, monopod, battery chargers.
All this is packed into Think Tank’s International suitcase (www.
thinktankphoto.com) and the Joe Farace backpack (www.adorama.
com). This backpack, the lightstands, umbrellas, and refl ectors
then fi t inside an L.L.Bean wheeled duffel bag. When he’s shoot-
ing, Barry wears the Think Tank belt system. The pouches and lens
bags are much better than toting a heavy shoulder bag or wearing
a fanny pack. This belt system spreads the weight of the gear
around the waist. A shoulder bag can easily bump into guests,
chairs, and wedding cakes, or slip off the shoulder.
Because Barry’s style is to produce a photo story with a begin-
ning, middle, and end, photography coverage often begins before
the wedding party arrives to get ready. Scene-setting images of
the venue can be used as opening pages in an album, or as lightly
toned background images behind the getting ready photographs.
As the bride or her entourage bring the dress in from the car, or
the groomsmen arrive at the site, it’s easy to set the cameras to
an Outdoor Color Balance and lower ISO setting. Once the
action goes inside to the bride’s room or hotel suite, a quick
change to different White Balance and ISO is much easier than
fumbling with fi lm changes. Available light is Barry’s preference
for as much of the day as possible, although he’ll have an
on-camera fl ash with him to add some fi ll light as necessary. The
Auto White Balance setting on the camera will produce accept-
able or near-acceptable Color Balance even in the mixed-light
situations where daylight is streaming in through windows to
mix with the light fi xtures inside. The majority of the time, the
interior illumination is either tungsten balance (think traditional
lightbulbs, spotlights) or fl uorescent.