(How To) Canon 600EX-RT - tips, control off camera flash with 2 camera

As a adelaide wedding photographer, I always have 2 camera with me. On with a wide angle lens and the other with the longer focal length lens. With the recent release of the canon 600ex-rt, it brings my photography into the next stage.

Before the canon 600ex-rt, I rarely fire on-camera flash. Now, with the ability to ETTL with these 600EX-RT. I love using these units. I own one ST-E3 (radio trigger) and two 600EX-RT. I stick the ST-E3 on 1 camera body, one canon 600ex-rt on another camera. and placing the other 600ex-rt anywhere I like.

Control 1 or more Off-Camera Flash (OCF) with 2 camera

The Trick I found: To fire the Off-Camera-Flash (OCF) from the 2 camera, here's the setting.

- Manually set the radio frequency.

Of course, the ST-E3 and the canon 600ex-rt (on the camera) have to be set to "master" and the flash unit to "slave". I only have "green" light on the LED on one of the ST-E3(left), the other LED is orange but it still fire the OCF.

Risk, there is always this chance that someone who are attending the wedding/nearby has the wireless trigger and also set the same radio frequency as well.

I am yet to experiences an error or issue with firing the flash from 2 camera. I tend to keep the setting on both triggers similar -ETTL. I am pretty sure that if you have 3 master triggers, you should be able to fire the single OCF. Likewise, this setup should also work for more than 1 OCF.

Do let the flash unit to rest - prevent overheating. Bring some spare batteries and enjoy the pace of a wedding photographer.

Invest in a pair of the canon 600ex-rt.

Using the canon 600 ex-rt to remotely fire/trigger a camera.

- Press and hold the Mode button until the LCD turns into a "Linked shot". see below. The master controls the flash. That's this easy!

If you like our information, do join us on Facebook. I would love to hear from your experience.

Scott Goh

Professional Member of the AIPP, WPJA and AIPP

Essential Backup for Wedding Photographers

Do not take chances.

Photographers venturing into the wedding arena and brides looking for photographers, please be aware - backup for wedding photographers. The unknown truth in the wedding photographer industry is that our equipment can malfunction. In extreme cases, memory cards can also fail hence corrupt your entire wedding photos. Each camera's shutter has a limited life span. Do not take chances.

Our Backup plan.

1. Backup for wedding day - Camera. Every wedding we attend, there will be at least 3 camera. In most cases, you only see me with 2, with the 3rd/4th either in my bag or locked up in my car.

2.Backup for wedding day - Lenses. Although I do not have 2 lenses of the same, I do have spare lenses for the type of photos I do. For example, I have a 24-70L USM as a backup for my 24LII and 35L. I have a 85LII as a backup for 70-200LII for bridal portrait sessions.

3. Backup for wedding day - Photos. When we click the shutter capturing an essential moment of your wedding, the single moment in recorded into TWO memory cards (This is where some photographers fails). Normally, one huge card stays in the camera for the whole day. During the middle of the day, I tend to switch one of the cards with a fresh one and keep the used somewhere safe. When I get home, one set is being recorded into my computer. This is not the end......

4. Backup Photos - Postprocessing. Sometimes, people think that it's safe once you copied your photos into your computer and that's it! No. For us, when it is being copied into our computer, it is again recorded into TWO Seperate Harddisks (RAID system). Oh yes, hard disk can fail as well. Once I ensure that the photos are copied into the harddisks, I can safely reuse those cards for my next event. We have not taken a new steps where we upload our RAW photos into an online cloud service hence storing your photos at a different location other than our work office, making sure that a fire at our place dont ruin all the hard work.

##** PS: I have since upgraded to a NAS system by Synology 1513+ which can sustain 2 HDD failure at any single point in time but still retain my data.

An example of free cloud service that I use is "Dropbox".

5. Backup - After delivery. Once the photos have been delivered to our clients, these photos are keen in 2 seperate hard disks for archive.

To conclude, please do not take chance. No one single backup plan is bullet proof. We try our very best to ensure that the photos are not lost due to any mechanical failure. Things can still happen. The very least you know that your photographer has a solid backup plan keep you free from any worries.

PS: I bring a spare set of pants, shirt and shoes to wedding. I had my pants split once due to my ninja move taking photo. :)

Update, 27/08/2014 : I have now move all my photo storage into a Synology Disk station, 1813+ which offers a ability to accept 2 hard disks failure at any single point in time without data lost. Gone with the wires and separate disks. I am however keeping one of the disk for an offsite backup. Works great on my iMac.

Scott

Tips for a Stress-Free Wedding Day

1. ENGAGE WEDDING PLANNER/S

To save cost on wedding, get someone close to you whose good at organising things. Perhaps a mother or your bridesmaid. Share the load with more than 1 person. Tasked John for the flower, Mary for the cars and Bob for the reception.

On your wedding day, you will be able to divert all communications from wedding suppliers to this/these person. You need to ENJOY the day and it's lessen your stress.

2. PLAN OUT YOUR WEDDING DAY SCHEDULE

In fact, all weddings I have been are very well-planned.

Share the schedule with families and friends who are helping out. Make sure that the florist, videographer, photographer etc knows where they will be at the schedule time. If they need to contact someone during the day, divert them to the wedding planner.

If your venue is in a place with limited car parking spaces, get your guest to arrive earlier than your "usual" time.

Always plan for the wet weather. Bring umbrella during winter season and water during summer.

After my last discussion with my clients, I always print out the itinerary of the day.

3. PLAN FOR THINGS TO TAKE WAY LONGER THAN YOU THINK THEY WILL

Allow time for congratulating and well-wishes from friends and families after the ceremony. Enjoy the moment. Do not rush.

Allow some time to rest. It's a tiring long day.

Allow time for travelling and looking for a park. Cater for traffic conjestion.

4. PLAN FOR FAMILY PHOTOS

Make a list and get someone (maybe brother/sister) who knows the families to get them ready for the photos.

Always starts with a big group as its easier to get people to leave.

Consider starting with elderly. They may need chairs.

5. BE FLEXIBLE

Photo locations - Prioritised your photo shoots locations from the must-have to the least. This ensure that you will surely have the photos at the beach (that you must have). You might be running out of time for the last location at the hill (which is the least you like) and that's should be ok.

Bride can be late and this is a fact. Do not stress if you are running late.

Lastly, ENJOY your day.

10 Things to Consider before Hiring your Wedding Photographers

Here's the top 10 Things to Consider before Hiring your Wedding Photographers. Enjoy!

I am a professional newborn, event and wedding photographerss, a Professional Member of Wedding and Portrait Photographers International (WPPI). I like to share a few pointers to couples who first start out planning their wedding. The purpose of this article is to give (you) bride-to-be and/or groom-to-be more information to think about before making their decision on the photographer.

Here are few questions for thoughts...

1. Does the wedding photographer have their ABN?

Running a photography business is just like any other business. Professional wedding photographers would have registered for ABN. Having an ABN does indicate that this photographer is serious and should have been in the business for some time, hence having an ABN. The simplest way to know if a business has an ABN is via their web address. For example, www.scottgohphotography.com.au, having the “.au” indicates that this business has an ABN. An ABN is a requirement to register a web address ending with “.au”

2. Does the wedding photographershave insurances cover for their equipment?

I have seen professionals/semi professional who accidentally drop/damage their camera while on the job. What happens if these photographers demand $ from you as you may be liability to a certain extend for what had happened?

3. What sort of camera equipments are they using?

I am aware that only professional/amateur photographers know what is good or bad. Personally, I used top grade Canon lenses with top-tiers camera bodies (with equally good backup). I believe all my clients deserve to be in front of my L-series canon lenses for the price that they have paid. L-series lenses are the "Luxury" series normally used by professionals. Of course I am aware that there are other third parties lenses that perform as good as the Canon L-series. If your ceremony is in a church that flashes cannot be used, then the L-series fast lenses may be the only capable lenses to capture your wedding in low light condition. Do you want to pay >$1000 and found that the photographers are only using beginner DSLR with kit lens for your wedding?

PS: Here is the link to my professional equipment.

4. Do they have equally capable camera backup?

Malfunction in camera is rare these days but it can happen. Do you want to risk your wedding with photographers without a solid backup camera? If they do have backup camera, is it as good?

5. Does the camera body have memory card backup function?

I am only familiar with the Canon camera body series. Only the Canon 1d-series and the latest 5D camera bodies have backup facility. With a click on the camera shutter, the photo can be saved in 2 different memory cards. If 1 card is lost, I still have the next. Not only can camera fail, memory cards can fail as well. What is going to happen if your photographer tells you that your wedding photos are lost because the card is corrupted? There is a few ways to prevent this from happening but different photographers are different.

6. Does the wedding photographer offer a backup photographer?

Photographers are not made of machine and we do get ill. So what happens when your only wedding photographer is really sick and are not able to photograph your wedding? Will there be a replacement?

7. Who owns the copyright of the photographs?

Strictly speaking, the photographers own the copyrights to all the photos that he/she has taken. In the past, it's a common industry practice that photographers do not release these copyrights to clients and you have to pay more to own the copyright for your own usage. But this still exists with some traditional photographers. I believe that wedding moments are yours to keep and yours to share, hence no restriction are put on the photos that client received. Clients are free to distribute them and use it for any purposes. Make sure you ask this question. wedding photographers

8. Watermark/Logo and High resolution images?

Some wedding photographers (being a businessman who runs a photographic business) are smart enough to label all photos that are given to their clients with the photographer's watermark/logo. Extra payment will be needed to get a copy of the images without their logo. We provide our clients with high resolution images without any watermark/logo.

High resolution is a very subjective issue. Photo resolution differ from camera model to model. Our high resolution images are at least 2000 pixel width. If you really want good size resolution photos. Do check with the wedding photographer what is the resolution given.

9. Colour vs B&W? wedding photographers

I heard from people that their wedding photographers gave them images either in B&W or colours. With a single image, you either receive a B&W or Colour photos (not both).

I believe that clients deserve all the images in both Colour, B&W. We also provide a third set of processed edited which we call "Artistic". Hence, with a single same image, our clients will receive it in Colour, B&W and Artistic style (All processed). You can always convert a colour photo into B&W or artistic. But you can never convert a B&W back into colour.

10. Lastly, Engagement/Pre-wedding Photography?

Test them out. Couples love to show their love to their friends and relatives. Photography is a form of expressing this. This is often mistaken for engagement party photography. Photos from the engagement session can be shown in a slideshow in wedding receptions. It can be printed onto album to showcase it in the reception or canvas printed in the living room. Couples will often learn how to pose together comfortably. By having experiences photographing together before the wedding day helps minimising photography stress during the actual wedding day. Posing in pairs is different to teenager studio photo shoot. Poses are photographer style dependent. It is (always) enjoyable with memories that will last you forever. It's often a way to know your photographer (wedding) and perhaps conclude any strengths and weaknesses of the photographer whom you are entrusting your BIG day to. Yes, can you test the photographer before the big day? wedding photographers

Are you still unsure? It is often worth testing your wedding photographer out in an Engagement session before the actual wedding day.

In conclusion, I hope i have shed some lights in helping you deciding on a good and reliable photographer. Enjoy your hunt for your wedding photographer. By the way, South Australia does have some very good professional photographers!

Cheers, Scott

Member of the Wedding & Portrait Photographer International (WPPI) Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA) [The only international member in South Australia] Accredited member of the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers (AIPP) 0416500989