Reply To: Learning, curious to see how I'm doing

[MrsManiak]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/125310041@N02/14832634659/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/125310041@N02/14996817266/

I’m back with questions. These were taken not for composition, but for technical side, so I’m very aware that the background is a hot mess. I was practicing with my speedlite (Yongnuo, I’m not spending $300 for a flash at this point).

Some background as to why I was practicing: My photog friend has recruited me to be a second shooter for a wedding she’s doing in a few weeks. I’m nervous as hell because she’s actually going to pay me. The first one she had me tag along for was a tiny outdoor wedding for about an hour and a half, this one is going to be 7 hours and a mix of indoors and outdoors. I’m going to need to use my flash, and I want to get it right.

So, on to the questions.

Lighting: How was it? First image: I had the flash angled slightly towards the mirror, but mostly straight to the left with the bounce card out. I haven’t seen inside the venue, so I’m not sure what lighting conditions will actually be like until the day of the event. The second image was speedlite pointed directly at ceiling with bounce card deployed as well. I did a color edit on the first one, mainly to see what looked good in that lighting, so I know roughly what I’m going to do for the wedding photos (I’m fairly certain she wants me to edit my own for experience). No color edit on the second image, just slight straightening of image (I’m still working on that, sadly).

Second. Holding my camera. For portrait/vertical orientation, holding it with grip down feels more natural to me, but I’ve found that when I hold it grip up, I have more control over camera angle. Is there a right way, or is it just preference of the person shooting? Am I even doing this right? lol