Leaderboard

These are the site-wide rules that you need to agree to in order to join as a member. I have pinned them here in case you wish to revisit them at any time. Please take a moment to review these rules. Please remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any post, and are not responsible for the contents of any post. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this website. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by using the "report post" link on the relevant post. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this website to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law. You agree not to post any promotional material or advertising for commercial purposes or personal financial gain. You agree not to advertise used goods or seek to purchase used goods from other Members. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this website. You acknowledge that the forum moderators have the right to delete, edit, move or lock any post or thread that breaks any of these terms and rules, and generally manage the structure of the information on the Forums as they see fit. Our software uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a personalized experience when you browse this site. There are additional guidelines in certain sections of this site that you are required to comply with.

There are so many different things that can cause this. It's one of those weird problems. It sounds like you could need more RAM, but of course you are on a laptop and upgrading past 16GB usually isn't an option. It could be Windows Search is turned on and is trying to index things. That's the usual culprit. It could be something as simple as the Pagefile.sys file needs to be reset (The Windows Swap File. It's like the "Scratch Disk" for Windows). It could be your power settings and you should turn off hibernation. It could be Windows Update needs to be run. Yes, even if Windows says "No updates available..." (or whatever,) Windows LIES. Head to the Gear Icon and click on "Check for Updates" and let it go out and do it's thing. You'll be surprised on how much stuff it finds to update after it tells you there are no updates!! Defraging a HD doesn't do squat in the 21st Century. Hell, it didn't work miracles back in the 1990's either. Also, hopefully you did not defrag a SSD Drive. If you did, that's VERY BAD. It's fine to run on a Traditional Spinning HD though, just not a SSD Drive. You could also do a Windows System File Check and see if it finds anything. Click Start Button Type CMD and the Command.exe should appear in the top of the search box. Right-Click on the CMD.exe and choose "Run as Administrator." Then at the command prompt type: sfc /scannow (That's sfc then a single space, then a slash with scannow just after it.) Hit enter and go do something else like watch a Netflix Show. Reboot the computer after it completes. Best Case scenario, it finds stuff and fixes things. Worst case, it doesn't find any corruption and we are back to square one. I did find this article on the web with some suggestions. Give this video a Watch, too. Honestly, I'd start by turning off Windows Search first. The video covers how to do this as "Step 1." Don't bother with running Defrag. I'd also run Windows updates, let it install, reboot, THEN check for Windows Updates again. Keep doing this until it comes back with "No updates Available." Then get back to me.

Thanks for your help, Damien, hope you enjoy your weekend!

Just the luminance, I'd guess. But hey, we might be surprised.

(Sorry I missed your above reply earlier.) I will take the instructions and the print to someplace tomorrow (Weds) when I'm out, and then contact you again when I have the digital version. Thank you Damien!

For Facebook, the optimum size is 2048px on the longest edge (either high or wide). For other websites, you'd need to investigate to find out their optimum size. Use the Image Size function. In this example I'm preparing a photo for Facebook, and it's a portrait (tall) photo, so 2048 is my height: It's really important to have the "Resample" box checked, and set to "Bicubic (smooth gradients)" as I have done here.

"It depends..." Honestly, the more you use it, the more you'll need to swap the batteries. Normally, I use Panasonic Eneloop Pro Rechargeable Batteries. I typically will use a set for the getting ready / ceremony and then switch out for the reception / formals. But it depends on how often I'm using the Flash. Basically bring more batteries than you'll think you need. I'd say at least a pack of 8 AA batteries. Energizer or Duracell, the high-end ones that are meant for devices like flashes and such. Plan on a set for the Getting Ready / Ceremony and then switch out for the Reception. Of course, I think you mentioned that this was a small Wedding, so I don't think you are going to be going crazy with the flash. You might get away with just one set. Anyway, when it comes to Weddings, always plan on having a backup for everything. Two camera bodies, multiple batteries, at least two flashes, etc. There is a reason that I say it's expensive when it comes to gear and shooting Weddings. You can't stop. If something fails, you switch it out, take a breath and move on. It's almost like you are playing a musical instrument onstage. When a famous Guitar Player is playing one of their famous solos and breaks a string, he doesn't stop and tell the crowd, "I'm going to run to Guitar Center and buy a set of strings." No, one of the stage-hands has a Guitar in their hands and the Rock Star calmly walks over and switches the Guitar out and keeps going. That's what you have to do. Or you could be at 800 or 1600. Hell, 3200 or 6400! It really depends on the lighting conditions. Remember, chances are this is a low-budget wedding and you aren't photographing the Bride getting ready in a fancy hotel room with all sorts of space and huge windows to get nice Getting Ready shots. No, chances are you will be in a bedroom with all sorts of make-up, bags, dresses and crap, surrounded by other people, who will be stressed and/or sweaty. Your flash is your Ally don't be afraid to turn it on. But yes, ISO 400 is a good place to start. Here is my "Default" Formula that I set all of my camera bodies to before a Wedding Gig: Shutter Speed - 1/250th | Aperture - f/4 | ISO 400. NOW THIS ISN'T A PERMANENT SETTING!! I have found that these settings allow me to make a change quickly, move things up or down, to adapt to the current conditions. If you are photographing a Bride getting ready and she is in a double-wide trailer with dark brown Panel walls that suck the light out of the room, your camera settings will be different. Likewise, if she is in a fancy hotel with white walls and big windows, those settings will be different. There are 100's of "Recipes" that you will come up with, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. These recipes you will develop over time, and they take experience. You also need to take Kim's course. That is the next thing that I want you to do. No more gear, you need to learn what you currently own and figure out WHY the camera does what it does. It's possible that you might have to use it. It depends (there I go again) on the current lighting conditions. If you are on top of a Mountain, with no clouds and are shooting a Wedding at Noon-1PM, chances are you will be using the flash to fill in the shadows under people's eyes. Or you could be shooting outdoors as the Sun is setting and everyone is in shadow and you need to take a group photo, then yes...you probably will be using your flash. Or not. It could be sunny and flash isn't required. But more often than not, Flash will be a part of your day, both indoors and outdoors. Remember, this isn't a family session at the park where you are photographing your subject during the Golden Hour, in a relaxed setting where you can take your time. This is a Wedding. Expect things to change on you in an instant. Expect things to go wrong. Now, I'm not saying it's all Doom-and-Gloom, you just have to be prepared. You kinda answered the question yourself, but here are some of my thoughts... Do not get sucked into the Camera! You have taken on way more than you bargained for, and you have realized on just how little you know. Which is a good thing, because now I hope that you will educate yourself and improve. Worrying about settings and your reciprocals will just get in the way. Do you think the famous Rock Star is asking what a Pentatonic Scale is or if they should use the Mixolydian or Dorian Mode in their Guitar Solo? No. Stuff like that is what you learn on your own-time, before walking on-stage and being in front of people. There is an old saying amongst Photographers... - Amateurs worry about the Gear - Professionals worry about the Money - Masters worry about the Light The biggest part to Photography, is not only what settings to use and what gear you need to have, it's about learning to "See the Light." What is the Light doing? What are the Shadows like, what is the quality of light, what is its current personality? What direction is the light coming from and how does that affect your subject? You see this all the time. Light in the morning is different at 6AM than it is a 11AM. Hell, 5 minutes can make a difference. You need to Breathe; Stop and Think I have thrown a lot of info at you over the past week. The truth is, you are better prepared now then you were, which is a good thing. As I mentioned above, don't get completely sucked into the Camera, but do be aware of what it's doing. Try to slow down if you can, and look through the subject(s). Look at what is happening in the background! Before you click that Shutter Button, take a look at the light pole growing out of a person's head and move 2-3 feet to the left / right and recompose. Or move your subject if possible. If someone is wearing glasses, have them adjust their frames or move / tilt their heads slightly to help cut down on glare. Pay attention to necklaces and ear-rings, are they in a funky/warped position? Move that bag out of the way. Stuff like that. Take a mental picture of the overall scene BEFORE you put the camera up to your eye. Taking 15-30 seconds to walk over and fix something could save you an hour of editing a single image in Post. You will have less time than you realize; Photograph everything. Arrive early. Remember, you aren't a Guest...you are a Vendor. You are there to not only take nice photos of people, you are there to document the day. Have a "Wedding Album" in mind when taking photos; what "Story" are you trying to tell? Remember, not every shot will be a "Iconic" Photo, some / most are very mundane but might be very important to the Couple. That being said, not all Weddings have a great story to tell. Some are of pretty boring people, others are wild. Whatever you do, try to capture emotion. Never underestimate the power of the "Ugly Cry Face." LOL! Oh, if it's there...try and Photograph it. Details are important. Meaning, that sign that has the table placements with names? Photograph it. The Table with the Dead Relatives Photos? Photograph it. The Flowers and Candles? Photograph it. The Reception Hall before everyone arrives? Photograph it. My wife was disappointed that she doesn't have a photograph of the sign that she spent hours trying to figure out who to seat with whom. It's much better to look like a Hero and have that shot, as boring as it is, than it is to have a disappointed client. Now, they may never bring this thing up to you and you will be none-the-wiser...BUT! What if you did take that photo and the Bride remembered you doing so. Who do you think she is going to recommend to her friend that is getting Married? You or the other hot-shot photographer down the street? One other thing I'd like to point out is to get nice portraits of people, both together and separate. Look at all of the posts in Ask Damien asking/begging for help because so-and-so died unexpectedly and now the family is looking for a photo. Remember, that photo of Uncle Joe from July 4, 1969 wearing a "Wife-Beater" T-Shirt holding a Beer & Cigarette...while drunk, isn't something that you want to put in the Newspaper. But maybe that's just me. Oh, I almost forgot! The toughest shots to get are the Dance Floor Shots. People naturally turn their backs to the camera and you will photograph a lot of Butts. The First Dance is also tough. Why? Because that's usually the first time the couple get to talk privately! Go figure. So often you will have a Bride having a full-blown conversation about everything that has happened up until that point, while doing the "7th Grade Sway" spinning around. So I try to mention to my couples to shut up and dance, and look lovingly in each other's eyes for at least a few minutes for me to get a few decent photos. THEN they can talk all they want. Likewise, a couple instinctively will turn away from you, but since you are a Woman, it's not as bad. Guys on the other hand see another guy approaching them and they automatically turn away to "block" his Mate from me. This is a biological response and he isn't aware that he is doing it. But like I said, you are a Woman so it's not as bad, but the Bride may do it. Just expect this to happen. Don't disregard your Personal Needs Plan on packing a few Granola Bars and bring Water with you, or whatever you choose. But don't forget about the Water. Don't bother with those energy drinks; they are loaded with Sugar and you will only crash and develop brain fog. I find Water or the G2 No-Sugar Gatoraide is best when I'm really sweating. Hopefully you will be fed, at least a Vendor Meal. But sometimes that doesn't happen and you need to suck-it-up and just be hungry. The Settings & Gear Now we come to the part that you are wanting the most. What settings do I use? What would you do? All that stuff. The truth is, I'm not there, but here are some ideas: Format ALL Cards before the Gig. Clean you lenses too. Do not delete in camera Charge up all the batteries, bring more than you think you'll need. Use the lens hoods that come with the lenses. Both for Indoor and Outdoor shots. Watch your Shutter Speed. You are still struggling with that; Shutter Speed is your greatest overall weakness, no going below 1/60th for you. Try to keep it at 1/200th or faster. Don't bother using the camera in Vertical Mode. I'd just shoot a little loose and crop in Post. Why? Because if you flip your camera to the vertical position, THE FLASH ALSO GOES VERTICAL and those shots never come out well. You have a 17-55 at your disposal, zoom in and out. Remember to photograph your subjects within 5-15 feet with that lens. f/4 is a good Aperture for two people. f/2.8 is good for a Portrait or single person photo. f/5.6 is good for Table Shots of Couples / Dance Floor Shots. That said, if you are far enough back, f/2.8 can also help you in a dark room. Fiddle. Play. Remember, it's Digital, you can afford to experiment during lulls of activity. Speaking of Apertures, one of the old sayings from Photo-Journalists is "Set it to f/8 and be there..." Meaning, f/8 is the "I don't care..." Aperture setting. It works for most things the majority of the time, that's why Photo-Journalists use it a lot. Bear in mind, you will be bumping up your ISO if you use f/8. Oh, f/8 works well for group photos, aka the "Formals." ISO. You have 100 - 6400 at your disposal. Try to keep it at 1600 or less, but do realize that it's OK to go higher if needed. Clothing: Wear Black. Top and Pants. You want to blend in AND not cause extra color casts. Wear comfortable shoes!!! Watch your Histogram! Learn how to read it. This is covered in Damien's Raw Class and I won't elaborate it further. Always remember, the camera's LCD is a Lying and Cheating Whore who will sell-you-down-the-river if given the chance. Try not to judge your exposure based on the image on the LCD. But I know that you will. Tripod: Bring it. But chances are it will stay in the car. You just won't have time for it.

Yeah, those are more "Normal" settings. Just think, if you went to f/4, bumped your ISO to 800, you could still use 1/200th AND have a deeper Depth of Field. When you make a change to one of the Exposure Triangle's Settings, it affects the other two. For example, if you increase the Shutter Speed by one stop, 1/250 --> 1/500, you either have to open up your Aperture f/4 --> f/2.8 by one stop or increase the ISO by one stop 200 --> 400 if you wanted to keep using f/4. Likewise, if you lowered the Shutter Speed, you can lower the ISO or stop down the Aperture. Oh, since you were using the Flash in TTL mode, the camera told the flash to increase the flash power to compensate for your camera's settings. All of this stuff is covered in Kim's course and she has graphics and diagrams. This is stuff you need to learn.

Brian, Bear with me here a second please! Okay, so I think I'm a bit confused. I set all of the photos I sent to you at f/2.8 and ISO 1250. The other numbers I listed with the list are the shutter speeds, right? I didn't determine these, they just changed with the light etc themselves. I'll definitely have to study that last info you sent me.. What did you think of the photos you sent me? What was good and what was bad? Was it all bad? Thanks. And I will definitely take Kim's class!

Now for the photos and the Shutter Speed stuff. First...YOU NEED KIM'S CLASS!! Stop wasting your time on YouTube, and take her "Learn to Shoot in Manual" Course! But we don't have time for that, you have a Gig on Saturday. I want you to pay attention for what I'm about to write next...ready? While photographing hand-held, NEVER-EVER-EVER-EVER GO SLOWER / BELOW 1/60TH OF A SECOND!! GOT IT?!?!!! Each time your heart pumps blood, you hand moves a little, even if you think you have "Steady" hands. Understand? The lower your shutter speed, the more light you are allowing to hit your sensor, but the less you "Freeze" your subject. Now it's true that proficient photographers can shoot at 1/30th hand-held, but that was back in the film days. Digital is less-forgiving. So I want you to Promise-Promise-Promise me that you won't go beyond 1/60th of a Second! In reality, I want you to be at 1/200th with a flash and no flash, at least 1/250th of a second (or faster.) Got it? Now I know this contradicts what I said above, but 1/60th or 1/80 are only to be used if you want more ambient light / backgrounds included in the photos when using the flash. If the flash is powered off, your Shutter Speed needs to be higher. Got it?!? The slower shutter speeds, like 1/30th, 1/15th, 1/2, 1 Second, 2 Second, etc. REQUIRE A TRIPOD and a stationary subject! Even things like Waterfalls will become the "Dreamy/Blurry" Wisps of Water when a 2 Second Shutter Speed is used. In fact, here is a shot that I took of a Waterfall, handheld: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAlWtT9sokR/ Now the ONLY reason I was able to hand-hold it at 1/10th of a Second was due to my lens. The 24-70 f/2.8E VR Lens has a Vibration Reduction Element in it that helps with camera shake. If I was using my Non-VR 24-70, this shot would have been impossible without a tripod. Got it? Again: No Shutter Speeds lower than 1/60th for ANY OF YOUR LENSES!!! This is why a lot of your photos are blurry! Your Shutter Speed is TOO SLOW. But what if you want to keep your ISO low to prevent noise? (I'm sure you are thinking this.) The answer? You can't change the Laws of Physics. You either need to "Open up" (Use a Wider Aperture, like f/2.0) or increase your ISO if you want a faster shutter speed. Why not shoot all-the-things at f/2.8? Because sometimes you don't want a blurry background or one subject that is bokeh-ed out while the other isn't. For example, it would really suck to have the Bride's head in focus during the First Kiss but not the Groom's. Understand? That's what f/4 or somewhere around there is for; that's called having "enough" Depth of Field or "Deeper" DoF. So you need a fast shutter speed and need to use f/4, so in order for that to happen, you need to bump up your ISO. Understand? Kim explains all of this in her class, and I think you would really benefit from it. ---- Man, there are way-too-many "Got Its?" in this comment box. But I want to emphasize. No slow Shutter Speeds for YOU!!! NOT YOURS!!!

Sidenote: You have ISO 100-6400 to play with. The lower the ISO, the less noise you will have to deal with in Post and the better the Dynamic Range. I find that ISO 400 is a good place to start with for a "General" ISO with a Wedding. It's sensitive enough to keep that shutter speed up, but doesn't create noise that can't be fixed in Post. Now, ISO 100 is technically "Better," but "Your Mileage May Vary." It all depends on the current lighting conditions. It's another one of those, "It depends..." answers that I give. Sometimes ISO 800 works better. Sometimes ISO 200 is what you want. Or not. Speaking of ISO, and Flash...here is the Golden Rule of Flash: Aperture relates to Flash Power Shutter Speed (and ISO) relates to Ambient Light. One of the things that ISO will do, when using your flash, is include or exclude the background. So if you want to capture photos of the Dance Floor and not have where people sit in a black void, you can raise your ISO to something like 1250 and lower your Shutter Speed to 1/80th or even 1/60th. Normally, I will tell you to set your SS to 1/200th, which is the maximum sync speed of your camera with a flash. You can not set your camera to 1/500th or whatever and expect to use the flash. Now, if you are thinking, "...but I need to keep my SS speed up, to keep things sharp, right?" the answer is yes and no. When it comes to flash, the "FLASH!!!" and it's quick duration "Freezes" your subject. This is why the backgrounds are dark with a low ISO and fast-ish Shutter Speed (1/200th in your case). If you slow the SS and increase the ISO, you are letting more Ambient Light into your photo. This is a Artistic Taste. If you want to make your photos less "Flashy-Looking," include more of the background or learn how to bounce the light off of something. (i.e., Ceiling, Walls, etc.) I try to avoid wood, as the stains used usually create a color-cast that I have to deal with in Post.

I fixed it! I think it must have been a combination of two things. Resetting preferences fixed the issue using file/save as but my shortcut key was still saving "save as a copy". I reset my shortcut key and now it "appears" to be working properly.

Brian, I certainly will practice! I apparently won't get the 85 until Thursday or Friday. Smh.. At least it'll be here before Saturday afternoon. I'll get up early every day before my kiddos get up to get some practice in. (additional, that is..) And I will definitely take her course, thank you for recommending it. I'll be relying on you until this wedding is over though! And I figured you had a job and photo shoots, so I am patient and am just happy when you have a chance to reply. I think I offered the mini shoot as a gift to act as icing on the cake, so to speak. Especially since my outdoor work is better, lol. I normally would charge more for that. I guess I figure if my photos are not as good as I hope (I hope they are!!!) then the mini shoot will help?! lol. Wishful thinking. But I am going to keep at it here. I'm so stressed I'm sick. Okay, I'll plan on $500-$600, and that will include the hours from 3pm-9pm. If she wants more time, I will charge $50 per half hour. I sure wish you were local so I could become your parasite and follow you around. Lol. For $300, for the last wedding, the bride received 89 photos. Some were duplicates in black and white. For this wedding, should I provide around ...? 200?? 300?? I want to get into IPS eventually, but not quite there. I JUST started offering some digitally with the option to buy more for $10 per photo. Since I don't have my 85 yet, I'll just use my 50 or 35 this evening. The bride said I can bring my kids on Friday evening to the rehearsal to check out the church. My husband works late, so I will have to bring them. Twin six-year-old boys and a girl that just turned two. I assume it'd be a good idea even so? AHHHHHH. I'm freaking out...

When this is over, you are going to take Kim's Learn to Shoot in Manual course. She has all of this stuff written out and I just don't have time. I can give pointers and tell you what to buy, but I have a day job and won't be around much. Plus I have my Weddings to shoot, with one this coming Friday.

It's definitely something you should try today. Set your camera to "A" Mode (Aperture Priority) and mount your 35mm 1.8 lens. Set the Aperture to f/2.8. Now, just take a few generic photos. I have a question, it has been over 11 years since I had a consumer-grade camera with a pop-up flash, does the pop-up flash automatically pop up and fire off while in A Mode and low light? We need to make sure now, this way it doesn't accidentally fire while you are in the Church. This in turn will probably freak you out, and then you will be in your head / camera's menu screwing around during the gig and... Let's not go there. So we need to find this out today. The reason that I ask, is that since your camera has a built-in flash, and it's a consumer-grade model, it assumes you don't know much about photography and wants to "help." So the stupid pop-up flash will often kick on in low-light settings. The D5100, like the D3100 is meant to be a "Bridge Camera." Just enough technology-wise to get you hooked on DSLRs and away from Point & Shoot Cameras, but not so advanced so that you buy a more advanced and more expensive camera. See how that works? What I want you to do is put your camera in Continuous Shooting Mode so that it takes 4 photos a second. (Page 35 of the Reference Manual). If you are on Single Frame it just takes one photo at a time. If you set it to Continuous, as you lay on the shutter button, it will take multiple photos. You can just fire off a single shot on Continuous, you just have to let go. It takes a bit of practice but it's easy to get the hang of. Now, I want to make sure you are shooting in the Continuous "AF-C" Focusing Mode and not "Single." (Page 39 of the Reference Manual.) You know what? Post some of these blurry photos, along with the settings that were used. I need to see. Aperture | Shutter Speed | ISO | Lens Used. Something may not be set correctly in your camera, as many people never take the time to RTFM. (READ the Fucking Manual.) Then they wonder why their photos don't turn out well. For instance, you are set to the wrong focusing mode and your subject is moving. Or your shutter speed is to slow, you need to either bump up your ISO to get that faster or open up to a larger Aperture. Stuff like that. It is depending on the lighting conditions and time of day. I once photographed a Wedding on Top of a Mountain (Well, nothing like you would think of as a Mountain, it was at a Ski Resort) at 1PM. FULL SUN. No clouds in the sky what-so-ever. No shot looked "Good." Everyone had "Panda / Racoon Eyes" if I didn't use my flash for fill. Hopefully your light will be better. That's what I'm here for. I will warn you, I'm VERY GOOD at spending other people's money. It's a Gift / Talent. Even in the real world, I can be quite convincing. But to be honest, I live by the "Buy it Right-Buy it Once" Philosophy. I HATE-HATE-HATE wasting money on this Shit. It's not worth it in the long run. I always tell people to resist an impulse-buy, save up and get the item that you want, as you save money in the long run. No sense forking out a $1000 now only to blow $2500 on another camera body because the $1000 didn't do the job. In the end, you spend $3500 and not $2500. Understand? So when I say to expect to pay around $5000 to "Switch to Full Frame," I mean it. It's better than wasting a few grand with an impulse buy. This is where you scare the hell out of me. You should know this stuff if you are shooting a Wedding. The short answer is "Yes." The long answer is, "It depends..." Both are basically saying yes. Once you get the 17-55 f/2.8 Lens this week, I want you to mount it and shoot the hell out of it. You will be amazed on the quality difference between a pro-grade and consumer-grade lenses. I will warn you, that lens is a solid one and the weight will throw you at first. Hopefully it will come with the lens hood. USE THAT LENS HOOD, EVEN INDOORS. As I've stated before, remove the UV Filter that is being used for "Protection." Just remember to mount it before you send the lens back. Oh, why am I telling you to not buy a 17-55? Because it's a DX Camera Body only lens. It's not meant to work on a Full Frame camera, that's what the 24-70 lens is for. Since you have a DX camera, that's why we went with the 17-55. Got it? The only lens that you really shouldn't be using is the 55-200. Now, you can use it, but the widest Aperture when zoomed out will be f/5.6 and that's not enough for dark environments. That's where f/4, f/2.8 and the other wider Apertures come into play. You either "Open Up" your Aperture, or bump up the ISO to compensate to get that Shutter Speed Higher. If you haven't figured out the "Exposure Triangle" by now, I'm really worried. That's Photography 101 type of stuff. You should know this before shooting a Wedding. But let's not dwell on that, you have a Gig in less than a week. You can take Kim Howell's Learn to Shoot in Manual Course here in Ask Damien, or you can do a crash course with a YouTube Video or two. I do hope you take Kim's LTSIM Class. I think you will get more out of it than a YouTube Video. BTW, that link goes to her website, but the course is hosted here in this forum/website. When you are approved for the class, it will appear in the list along with "Ask Brian." Ah the dreaded list. Every Bride usually has one, but in this case I think you will benefit from it. After you do several Weddings, you should know to take photos of the "Bride getting ready," "The Bride posing with her Bridal Party," "The Groom & Best Man," "Walking down the Aisle," "Cutting the Cake..." stuff like that. LOL!! I will say this, and I learned this the hard way: If they are present, make sure you take a nice portrait of Grandma & Grandpa or the B&G's Parents. Both together and by themselves. A single nice head-shot is what you are after. Something that will work as a 5x7 or 8x10 Photo. Why? Because sooner or later, one of them will die and the family will be scrambling for a photo for the Funeral or to put in the newspaper. Trust me. My Mom died unexpectedly last year, and nobody thought to take a single photo of my Mom when I got remarried a few years ago. Fortunately, I was able to look through an "Outtake" where my Wife & I had weird looks on our faces, but my Mom was just far enough away and had a nice smile to crop her out. That photo was destined to be deleted or never seen. So my advice to you, is unless you have completely blown the shot, keep those outtakes, you never know when you will need source material from them. This is why I jump up-and-down about not shooting a Wedding until you are ready. Weddings sound so easy to do. "You have a nice camera!! You must take awesome Photos!!" I hear it all the time. Especially when I walk around with my huge Nikon D4s and 24-70 lens mounted: To give you an idea of scale, that's a 27" iMac. The Nikon D4s is WAY bigger & heavier than your D5100. Weddings combine all sorts of photography, Photojournalism, Macro, Sports & Action, Event, Portrait, Family/Groups Photography...it all intermingles & intertwines. You need to be a Jack-of-all-Trades type of Photographer, be really good at one or more of them, and be really decent at the others. Even to this day, I'm still working on my "Detail Shots." I'm used to capturing emotion and drama, shooting wide...not small and precise. My Ring Shots are a little better, but I still need work in that dept. That's a form of Macro Photography. Instead of Bugs or other small things, you are photographing Rings and trying to make them look interesting, which is harder than you think. So I can give you pointers, but in the end, you are in the hot-seat. I won't be there shooting next to you. That's why I'm telling you to "Shoot what you know." as you are used to Photojournalism. Don't worry about the list; well worry...you don't want an un-happy Bride, but tell the story of the day. Beginning to Middle to End. Every good story has each of those. Right now what concerns me is your "Blurry Photos." Actually it downright terrifies me that you don't know why. When you shoot Raw, and you should, there is a certain degree of wiggle-room to save your Ass in Post. If you blow focus or have subject movement, there is nothing for you to recover from. That shot is lost...for good. So let's concentrate on these blurry photos that you speak of. I think that will help you out the best at this point. Saturday is coming quickly. Yep! Actually, these setting that I've recommended you will probably end-up using the majority of the time. Or not. You need to fiddle with them in place today and tomorrow. Even if it's just a photograph of your Coffee Cup. Photograph SOMETHING. You need to fiddle and practice. I want to see well exposed and in focus photos. Take your kid to the park or go to one. Photograph running kids and make them Tack-Sharp. Pay attention to what Aperture, what Shutter Speed and what ISO you were at. All that stuff. Photograph moving Cars, flowers if it's windy...ANYTHING. These shots aren't meant for IG or other social media, they are for you to learn and pick-apart. Hell, photograph a lamp against a lamp on a blank wall and try to make it interesting. I'm originally from NJ, which partly explains my bluntness and honesty (other part is genetics.) I currently live just outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. If you want to see more of my photos, I'm on IG: @jennie.brian.seetheworld

Thanks so much for taking a look at that. I had gone onto LG's website, looked at the specs and the 4K user manual but I don't know enough about Gamma to make an informed decision. Gamma 1 and Off are close, but the Off setting matched the prints a bit better. This was the same for both monitors. I changed it - thank you!

Worked on this most of the day and my conclusion the room is to dark. To come to that findings, I took the photo outside and looked at it and thought it looked good. Came back in and looked again, looked dark. So, in front of me I have a curtained window. I pulled the curtain back, looked at the picture again and it looked good. At this point I figured since this is the first for lab prints, I did a factory reset. I brought down the brightness to where I thought it was a good match. Originally I had been using sRGB for the preset mode for the display. Still the color of the shorts still didn't match. Instead of using the sRGB preset, I used the color temp and dropped it from 6500k to 5700k which made a better color match. I then closed the curtains did couple more recals to get the brightness set to where I thought it was good. Ended up on Spyder, somewhere around 87. Now, this brings me to finding a way to get lights on the desk. Room is to large even for the 3x100w in the ceiling fan to get enough light, so I need to bring the light to me. Desk/floor lamp about the only option as the ceiling is high and vaulted. Sorry for being winded on the path I took. Wanted to let you know how I got to the point of being dark.

Open it with liquify, which will stretch the iris all weirdly. But that's ok. Once you've liquified the eyelid to where you like it, you'll copy the other iris across and mask it in.

It mostly did, but I did adjust the red channel a tad to make it match better. Thank you!!

Can't make the change. Thanks for the info. It was helpful.

Oh thank goodness ❤️ Wow, that's SO much better.

Drop the Text Size to the smallest "A". And choose "100%" for User Interface Scaling". Then quit Bridge and restart it. Hopefully it will make everything smaller, so that you've got more room for photos on your screen.

It's impossible to tell on the basis of just one photo. Don't worry about it for now. If I see a pattern of darkness in your raw class posts, I'll let you know.

Yes, for cases where cloning isn't an option.

Hello from Connecticut. I'm looking forward to learning Lightroom, ha ha....jk. To learning bridge for easier workflow between Adobe softwares, and then onto your other courses. Thank you for this having this forum.

Hello from Montreal! It only took me almost 2yrs to finally get here. Please don’t hold it against me! Ha ha. I’m ready. I have time. And I desire to be better. Thanks for the place/platform to allow for this.

No. That's just marketing trying to convince you that more is better. It also gives fodder for the "Measurebators" to argue / start flame-wars in online forums. LOL!! While it's true that you will get more detail the higher the Megapixel Count of the sensor, you have to consider where those images will be viewed. FB or Instagram on a Smart Phone? Maybe Flickr or 500px? You really don't need THAT MUCH in terms of MP. What more Megapixels do is allow you to crop in Post. Sometimes this works to your benefit, but most other times it allows people to be lazy and not move themselves to a better spot and re-compose. One of my biggest regrets when it comes to a camera purchase, is my Nikon D850 and it's stupid 45.1MP. You see, the more Megapixels you have, the larger the Raw files, which means the more resources from your computer will be required to support said files. Let me clarify... I bought the D850. I used my existing 24-70 f/2.8G and 70-200 f/2.8G lens. Turns out the D850 is hungry for the absolute best glass and my trusty old lenses really couldn't keep up. So add a new 24-70 f/2.8E and 70-200 f/2.8E. That's about $4000 or so after the D850 purchase. THEN the Raw files increased from around 26MB per file to almost 100MB per Raw file. My existing computer, which worked fine with my D4s and D700 practically cried out in pain. So I had to buy a new computer, upgrade it to 64GB, and then purchase a 12TB External HD. So that's a few thousand right there. See where I'm going with this? Not to mention I had to buy all new memory cards, because 32GB was equivalent to 8GB cards on my old cameras, and 64GB / 128GB have become my new normal. That stupid D850 has costed me so much money. If I had to do it all over again, I would have never bought a 45MP camera! Believe it or not, I have friends who have shot for Toyota and other manufactures doing commercial work...national campaign stuff and they are shooting with 12-16MP cameras!! You know what 45MP (or larger) cameras allow you to do? Be lazy and give you the ability to crop severely. The measure-bators will argue with me and tell me about all the fine detail and blah-blah-blah. Honestly? I'd rather you have a 24MP-ish camera and Professional Grade Glass vs a high MP camera and consumer-grade glass. Make sense? I've been published with a 12MP and 16MP camera. Flagship cameras that photograph the Olympics are around 20MP or so. I think of a 45MP camera body like a WWII "Bomber" and a Pro-Grade body like a Nikon D4s like a "Fighter Jet." When I shoot with my D850, I'm forced to slow down. Fortunately, my D850 is just for traveling and landscape work. When I shoot weddings and racing events, or anything important, my go-to body is my D4s. My next camera will probably be a Nikon Z6 II with 24-70 f/2.8 S. That's 24MP. Oh, Billboards...you don't need much in terms of resolution. In reality, you can print ANY size if you have at least 12MP or larger. Even 10MP is fine. The DPI on Billboards is between 5-7 DPI. That's right...single digits.

Correct.

Yep, use the latest version of Bridge CC.