Photoshop Insider

Shooting With David Ziser on Saturday (and today’s news)

By Scott on Monday, July 30th, 2007 at 10:03 am | updates.

I got lucky enough to spend the day shooting and learning from one of the hottest Wedding photographers in the industry today—the amazing David Ziser. David was hired to shoot a huge black-tie wedding in Cincinnati and was kind enough to invite me to come up and spend the day with him so I could see behind the scenes how he shoots a wedding of this scale.

It was really an amazing experience—and even though I was technically there just auditing the wedding, I still wound up shooting about 1200 frames (it was a really long day—-we shot for five hours before the ceremony even began, and didn’t leave until after 2:00 am).

The shot above (click on it to see a larger version–then scroll down to the next post for a slideshow from the wedding) was taken about three hours before the wedding, shot handheld at 400 ISO using a single Nikon SB-800 flash to light the bride (I had the flash set at full power, aiming nearly straight up. It didn’t really bounce (the ceiling was too high), but the flash spilled just enough light onto to her that it worked. It took a number of test shots to get it where it didn’t light the aisle too much, and I added a little vignette effect in Lightroom to help darken the aisle carpeting a bit.

As for the wedding shoot itself; David was amazing (a true master); I kept taking notes all day, I really learned a lot, and I can’t remember when I’ve worked that hard (and had that much fun).

Now, it’s time for the news (Scroll down to the next post for a slideshow of some of other wedding and reception shots, then the post following that is today’s news update).

Comment form for this post

^#1

Is it photodot.com, rather than photodoto?

The Sea Dragon Photosynth demo runs less choppy at this site: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/129

Al Marsh on July 30th, 2007 at 10:33 am

^#2

WOWWWWW!!!! Amazing shots, so you did all that with just 1 sb800? Did you use any diffusion devices????
Would love for you to share more details! what an experience you must have had!!!

Best Wishes

Carlo on July 31st, 2007 at 2:56 am

^#3

Awesome shots and it sounds like the most awesome day as well!

Erik Bernskiold on July 31st, 2007 at 4:09 am

^#4

Nice shots, Scott!

Greg on July 31st, 2007 at 6:36 pm

^#5

Good work!

Sam on July 31st, 2007 at 7:20 pm

^#6

Scott - Cool that you were in my neck of the woods - looks like that was a great wedding.

In that shot are you sure it was just straight in the air flash? Looks like it’s coming in from above and to the left, from a wall maybe? Either way, looks awesome.

Ryan Dlugosz on July 31st, 2007 at 10:37 pm

^#7

Hey - I forgot to add that I’ve been to a seminar by David Ziser and he’s definitely a pro when it comes to the wedding industry. Money & time well-spent if he comes to your area.

Ryan Dlugosz on July 31st, 2007 at 10:41 pm

^#8

Just spent a week with David taking his Master’s Class and had a fantastic time. (Had to drive 7 hours to get there!)

He’s a perfectionist and has his “system” down to a science.

Well worth the investment!

Mike McNellis on October 17th, 2007 at 11:48 pm