[Blackink]

I don't have a lot of time so here goes:
My son is getting married today. It's an informal wedding and the "real" wedding with a ceremony and guests will happen in 2022 but he's tying the knot today.
He and his new bride will be outside in regular clothes, coats, etc... for the reading of the vows.

There will only be 6 people there.

Here's my problem (but maybe I'm fretting over nothing): The wedding is outside in a park next to the water. We got 6" of new snow over night and into today so everything will be white. Even the water has ice on it so that will have a layer of white on it.

My son and his fiance want to be facing away from the water (the snow/ice will be the background) so when I take pictures with the K-50, the ground and the background will be 90% white!!!!

Will there be a problem with white balance with all of this white background?

I will try to shoot pictures in TAv and/or Auto.

I am a newbie with this camera, I have warned my son that this will be the first time that I will be taking pictures that mean anything to me or him.

Is there things I need to watch for in regards to having the camera set to Auto White balance? I will be using one of the kit lenses that came with the camera but I won't know which one until I get to the wedding spot, the park and see where they will be standing.

Sorry for such short notice but I didn't think of it earlier.

The only way I have access to my emails is at home and I will be here until 2pm-ish EST.

Thanks,

Steve in Central Vermont

[Fenwoodian]

.
You need to be more concerned with exposure than white balance.

As far as WB is concerned, shoot RAW image files then you don't need to worry about WB. If you must shoot JPG files, auto WB should work OK.

As far as exposure goes, your camera will want to underexpose the image, so, dial in +1 to +2 exposure compensation. Assuming you don't have a handheld light meter, it might be best to bracket exposure so you can be sure to nail it.

[pres589]

I would set the white balance to 5000K manually and not use auto white balance. Shoot in RAW. I think I'd shoot in Av mode with ISO set to auto. And when in doubt, under-expose, and push in post.

Hopefully others see this thread and add information / opinions to weigh.

[c.a.m]

Steve,

I'll make this short. Apologies for the abruptness.

Two potential issues -- white balance (i.e., correct color temperature) and exposure.

Suggest you shoot in TAv and let the ISO adjust automatically.


Exposure
With a lot of snow in the scene, your camera will want to underexpose. You could take a couple of test shots, check the histogram in playback, and apply exposure compensation depending on how much snow is in the scene. Alternatively, let the camera do its thing, then increase the exposure in post processing. My rule of thumb is to increase exposure by 1/2 stop if snow occupies a third to half of the scene, or 1 stop if snow occupies 3/4 of the scene. Depending on how much of the scene is occupied by people, exposure might not be an issue.


White Balance
Depending on the sky conditions (sunlight, cloudy, etc), the snow may cause the images to take on a slight bluish cast. Okay to use Auto White Balance, but you should shoot in RAW (DNG or PEF) + JPEG, and adjust the color balance when you post-process the RAW files. I often use clean snow in the image to set a white balance point.

What's your weather and skies like today?

- Craig

[Blackink]

I should have mentioned in the beginning I will be shooting in JPEG only. I don't even have any software installed on my computer to make any changes to RAW pictures or to any pictures, except in Paint!!

And it will be cloudy here all day.

---------- Post added 01-02-21 at 11:42 AM ----------

Steve,

I'll make this short. Apologies for the abruptness.

Two potential issues -- white balance (i.e., correct color temperature) and exposure.

Suggest you shoot in TAv and let the ISO adjust automatically.


Exposure
With a lot of snow in the scene, your camera will want to underexpose. You could take a couple of test shots, check the histogram in playback, and apply exposure compensation depending on how much snow is in the scene. Alternatively, let the camera do its thing, then increase the exposure in post processing. My rule of thumb is to increase exposure by 1/2 stop if snow occupies a third to half of the scene, or 1 stop if snow occupies 3/4 of the scene. Depending on how much of the scene is occupied by people, exposure might not be an issue.


White Balance
Depending on the sky conditions (sunlight, cloudy, etc), the snow may cause the images to take on a slight bluish cast. Okay to use Auto White Balance, but you should shoot in RAW (DNG or PEF) + JPEG, and adjust the color balance when you post-process the RAW files. I often use clean snow in the image to set a white balance point.

What's your weather and skies like today?

- Craig

My son's name is Craig!!!
Thanks for the tips....
Not much time left for checking this thread!!!

[Lake]

Enjoy the wedding. I often have reasonable results using spot metering on people when the background is too bright. You could also use manual mode and check the image on the display and adjust as needed, be sure to turn on the histogram as well.

[stevejo]

I should have mentioned in the beginning I will be shooting in JPEG only. I don't even have any software installed on my computer to make any changes to RAW pictures or to any pictures, except in Paint!!

And it will be cloudy here all day.

---------- Post added 01-02-21 at 11:42 AM ----------



My son's name is Craig!!!
Thanks for the tips....
Not much time left for checking this thread!!!

I would suggest shooting in Raw + Jpeg if that is an option even if you cant currently handle RAW. You can always get the software to handle RAW files later, but if you haven't got the RAW files you can't. As it is a wedding you will only get one shot at it!.

[c.a.m]

And it will be cloudy here all day.

Cloudy skies will be to your advantage. The camera should work reasonably well in Auto White Balance.

Good luck, and congratulations to all!

- Craig

[Parallax]

White balance isn't likely to be a problem. Set it to Auto or Daylight and relax.
As others have said above, be sure to dial in some exposure compensation. I normally use +2. If it were bright sunlight coming from behind your subject I'd suggest even more.
Another way to handle this is to get close enough to your subjects that there is little or no snow visible in the viewfinder. Set the camera on manual and set the exposure. Just leave it set at that regardless of where you're actually shooting from.

[jgnfld]

I should have mentioned in the beginning I will be shooting in JPEG only. I don't even have any software installed on my computer to make any changes to RAW pictures or to any pictures, except in Paint!!

And it will be cloudy here all day.

---------- Post added 01-02-21 at 11:42 AM ----------



My son's name is Craig!!!
Thanks for the tips....
Not much time left for checking this thread!!!

Even if you cannot process RAW files now, having them allows you later (or an expert) to recover details you may miss now.

I shot a wedding for a friend of my daughter once. She was leaving for Europe the next day with her new husband to take a postdoc in France. I did print up a number of JPGs for them but I included a thumb drive with the RAW file of every single activation. She has had some of them reworked over the years very successfully. Additionally, new software can process old RAW files to bring out things old software could not.

For my part, I've used Silkypix now through about 6 iterations (version 3 or 4 to now version 10 Pro) and where they are now simply has no comparison to where they were in 2015. Totally better processing options now. However if I didn't still have the old RAW files, I'd stuck with whatever I was able to do years ago.

Think about it anyway. Storage really is dirt cheap.

Aside re. storage: In grad school I analyzed a NIH national drug treatment outcome database. It was contained in 2 full trolley carts of punch cards weighing hundreds of pounds. Don't remember now after so many decades, but I doubt there were more than 100 of megabytes of data. Maybe less. Later we got the data on six 9" tapes. I think each tape (early IBM 9 tracks) held like 20 mB each though less in practice given the decisions one had to make back then about block size, etc..

[MrB1]

Set the camera to save Raw + JPEG image files, and follow the advice in posts above for Exposure and White Balance. If some of the JPEGs are not as good as you hoped, the K-50 allows you to ceate new JPEGs from your Raw files in the camera, which can be fun! If you have the K-50 English Operating Manual, the instructions for processing Raw files in-camera begin on Page 198.

All the best.

Philip

[Paul the Sunman]

But don't forget to enjoy the occasion!

[C_Jones]

I would set the camera to Daylight (white balance setting), use TAV, set the AF Focus Point to Spot (center), and when you shoot the people just make sure your original focus is on one of the persons there, not the snow. Of course you are going to have to set your shutter speed, but I would not wander much past 320 if possible, that should handle most frequent movement. If it was me it would be alright to shoot JPEG.

[gatorguy]

I would suggest shooting in Raw + Jpeg if that is an option even if you cant currently handle RAW. You can always get the software to handle RAW files later, but if you haven't got the RAW files you can't. As it is a wedding you will only get one shot at it!.

That and TAv, auto-ISO is great advice IMHO.

If the OP is serious about his photography he'll want software for processing RAW images much sooner than later and some of it is 100% free. We have so many resources and discussion threads here at PF discussing processing programs and how best to use them.

Shooting RAW will make life so much easier.

[Parallax]

Set the camera to save Raw + JPEG image files,

Excellent advice!
Think of jpegs as prints and raw as the negatives.