Weddings & "Bad" Light

So you're doing wedding and the ceremony is lit teribly. Fluorescents beaming down right above the bride and grooms head. What is a wedding photographer suppose to do? Make the most of it and do the best you can even if the images are turning out very flat looking? What about that awful gradient fluorescents cause in the image, how do you combat that without introducing flash? By the way, the ceremony is taking place in a medium sized church with white walls. I shot the wedding a few days ago actually.

Thanks!

What about removing the ambient light with your shutter and scattering flashes around the church with maybe a lower powered on-axis flash for fill. That's about several hundred dollars though. What did you end up doing?

Ps. I don't do weddings, so take it with a spoon of salt.

Organise an electrician friend's help so there just happens to be a power cut during the ceremony.

While everyone is panicing, save the day with a whole box of candles that you just happen to have in your car "for another shoot". Give one to everyone in the audience to hold and place the resr around the church, one or two hundred candles burning should give a nice ambient warm-yellow glow, no direct-fluoro light to ruin anything.

Then pull out a 1DX/5D3/6D with an 85/1.2LII, shoot at ISO1600 or so, and have the best damn wedding photos ever.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dr Croubie

Organise an electrician friend's help so there just happens to be a power cut during the ceremony.

While everyone is panicing, save the day with a whole box of candles that you just happen to have in your car "for another shoot". Give one to everyone in the audience to hold and place the resr around the church, one or two hundred candles burning should give a nice ambient warm-yellow glow, no direct-fluoro light to ruin anything.

Then pull out a 1DX/5D3/6D with an 85/1.2LII, shoot at ISO1600 or so, and have the best damn wedding photos ever.

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Love it;)

Nice one. :-)
If candles are not an option, have everybody turn on their phones.


Arnt

Quote:

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Originally Posted by andnowimbroke

What about removing the ambient light with your shutter and scattering flashes around the church with maybe a lower powered on-axis flash for fill. That's about several hundred dollars though. What did you end up doing?

Ps. I don't do weddings, so take it with a spoon of salt.

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Well, that's not a bad idea! I don't think the bride and groom would appreciate flashes going off during the ceremony. Of course, I could just ask them if that would be okay. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dr Croubie

Organise an electrician friend's help so there just happens to be a power cut during the ceremony.

While everyone is panicing, save the day with a whole box of candles that you just happen to have in your car "for another shoot". Give one to everyone in the audience to hold and place the resr around the church, one or two hundred candles burning should give a nice ambient warm-yellow glow, no direct-fluoro light to ruin anything.

Then pull out a 1DX/5D3/6D with an 85/1.2LII, shoot at ISO1600 or so, and have the best damn wedding photos ever.

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.... Wow, that sounds epic! I've got the 5D III but I'll have to save a while to get the lens and candles. ;) We'll see if I can talk the bride and groom into that next time I shoot. ;)

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Originally Posted by ahab1372

Nice one. :-)
If candles are not an option, have everybody turn on their phones.


Arnt

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Nice backup plan! ;)

I have done a couple weddings and all of them had the situation you are referring to. Lightroom 4 helps with it's ability to use the adjustment brush to fix lighting, but it takes a lot of work and still doesn't turn out perfect. Most weddings don't allow flash during the ceremony, so you are stuck with the lighting you have. Shoot in RAW. I have always had someone stand directly where the bride and groom will be prior to the wedding starting with the same light it will have and have them hold a gray card. You could stand there and do the gray card trick yourself also. That way you'll at least have the light the temp you want. (just don't forget to set it back later if you choose this path). The other option is black and white. Here are a couple examples of my black and white stuff. You can see the light shining from up above. It was nasty light. I shot this with a 7D, 70-200 f/4 IS at f/4 and either ISO 1600 or 3200. Can't remember specifics since it was a couple years back. Processed in LR3 and CS5.

Its not the best solution, but the one I chose. I don't shoot weddings for a living and hardly do much photography anymore. Maybe someone else who shoots weddings for a living can give you a better pointer.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-a...98%2520adj.jpg

I do weddings and have done so for years with all sorts of bad light.
I've come to expect that bad light during the ceremony is the rule.
I would be glad to review some of your shots and give suggestions.
I usually work the ceremony with a 24-70 and a speed light.
Except when flash is not allowed I rely on my 24mm 1.4 and 85 1.2 but watch your dept of field,
Luckily most of the wedding party is not moving so a low speed can usually work
I would definately push the ISO before dropping the speed below 100 or AP less than 2.0
The 5DIII is an extreme shot saver and I can shoot in church at 6400 with no real degredation of quality.
As far as florescents overhead, I try to turn them off if they are above the bride and groom, no amount of white balance can fix the hair once lit with the florescent.
I also have a second assist use a 70-200 from the back of he church and/or from the balcony.
I will convert to BW when I really want to keep a shot but have poor color.
You had the advantage of white walls to use for a bounce which can work in your favor.
Weddings are a unique challange and if you are not completely confortable you really need a second experienced photographer.

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Originally Posted by Jayson

I have done a couple weddings and all of them had the situation you are referring to. Lightroom 4 helps with it's ability to use the adjustment brush to fix lighting, but it takes a lot of work and still doesn't turn out perfect. Most weddings don't allow flash during the ceremony, so you are stuck with the lighting you have. Shoot in RAW. I have always had someone stand directly where the bride and groom will be prior to the wedding starting with the same light it will have and have them hold a gray card. You could stand there and do the gray card trick yourself also. That way you'll at least have the light the temp you want. (just don't forget to set it back later if you choose this path). The other option is black and white. Here are a couple examples of my black and white stuff. You can see the light shining from up above. It was nasty light. I shot this with a 7D, 70-200 f/4 IS at f/4 and either ISO 1600 or 3200. Can't remember specifics since it was a couple years back. Processed in LR3 and CS5.

Its not the best solution, but the one I chose. I don't shoot weddings for a living and hardly do much photography anymore. Maybe someone else who shoots weddings for a living can give you a better pointer.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-a...98%2520adj.jpg

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Thanks for all the tips, Jayson! =)

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Originally Posted by iND

I do weddings and have done so for years with all sorts of bad light.
I've come to expect that bad light during the ceremony is the rule.
I would be glad to review some of your shots and give suggestions.
I usually work the ceremony with a 24-70 and a speed light.
Except when flash is not allowed I rely on my 24mm 1.4 and 85 1.2 but watch your dept of field,
Luckily most of the wedding party is not moving so a low speed can usually work
I would definately push the ISO before dropping the speed below 100 or AP less than 2.0
The 5DIII is an extreme shot saver and I can shoot in church at 6400 with no real degredation of quality.
As far as florescents overhead, I try to turn them off if they are above the bride and groom, no amount of white balance can fix the hair once lit with the florescent.
I also have a second assist use a 70-200 from the back of he church and/or from the balcony.
I will convert to BW when I really want to keep a shot but have poor color.
You had the advantage of white walls to use for a bounce which can work in your favor.
Weddings are a unique challange and if you are not completely confortable you really need a second experienced photographer.

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Wow, that all makes a lot of sense! Thank you!

I'd love for you to look at some of my images. I've never gotten any professional criticism whatsoever. Here's an image of ceremony. Straight out of the camera except for a little exposure adjustment:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8372/8...7d036e85_b.jpg

Here's a wide shot to show you the building:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8090/8...13277672_b.jpg

And here's my best work. The first image is of the bride was shot in the same place that the ceremony took place in the above images only I bounced the flash off the wall: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Wedding/7846561

Thank you for your help and info, I really appreciate it. Do you have a website I could visit? By the way, if you're ever looking for a second shooter or someone to hold stuff I would be very interested in getting the job. ;)

I have studied your photos and will give you an honest critique.

Watch your backgrounds: I usually ask the minister to step to a side for ring exchange, vows, and the kiss.
Else you end up with an unwanted third party in the most important photos of the day.
If you had a second camera ready to go you could have snapped a shot of the couple's hands only close up in your first photo.
Did you notice the groom has a microphone coming out of his neck in that photo, and the is more detail of the minister than the bride.
The day is all about the bride and secondly about her dress.
Don't recall seeing the eyes of your bride in any of the photos, nor did I see her smile.
I only move the boquet up to the face for a head shot and keep it at the waist for three quarters shots.
You have too much desaturation going on in most of the shots. Did you set a white balance for this setting?
There is also a background problem behind the groom the the BW colorized photo.
Focus problems in the hand/boquet photo, may be your DOF was narrow.
The photo of the church during the ceremony is busy, I see too many folding chairs.
I would have preferred shots from the ailse for the wedding party even if it meant not getting the enitre group.
Some good shots of the audience on the front row close up is usually nice.
All in all you need to study some more work out there and develop a style that you really like.
Good luck

Quote:

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Originally Posted by iND

I have studied your photos and will give you an honest critique.

Watch your backgrounds: I usually ask the minister to step to a side for ring exchange, vows, and the kiss.
Else you end up with an unwanted third party in the most important photos of the day.
If you had a second camera ready to go you could have snapped a shot of the couple's hands only close up in your first photo.
Did you notice the groom has a microphone coming out of his neck in that photo, and the is more detail of the minister than the bride.
The day is all about the bride and secondly about her dress.
Don't recall seeing the eyes of your bride in any of the photos, nor did I see her smile.
I only move the boquet up to the face for a head shot and keep it at the waist for three quarters shots.
You have too much desaturation going on in most of the shots. Did you set a white balance for this setting?
There is also a background problem behind the groom the the BW colorized photo.
Focus problems in the hand/boquet photo, may be your DOF was narrow.
The photo of the church during the ceremony is busy, I see too many folding chairs.
I would have preferred shots from the ailse for the wedding party even if it meant not getting the enitre group.
Some good shots of the audience on the front row close up is usually nice.
All in all you need to study some more work out there and develop a style that you really like.
Good luck

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Ask the minister to move. That's so simple. I'll do that next time.

Second shooter, got it. I plan on having one for the next wedding I do. So I'll have her go in and get some close ups of the hands.

I did notice the microphone and would've removed it in Photoshop but I wanted to give you the raw image so you could see the lighting. I'll make sure I move things like that next time as well.

I did notice the minister had better detail than the bride. I have no excuse and will work on that next time.

First priority: Bride. Second priority: Dress.

I had the white balance on auto and like I said, it's unedited but even the edited versions turn out with bad color. It's because of the lights and just the overall quality of light I'm sure. Again, no excuse.

I noticed the bad background behind the groom and will work on that next time.

Now that you mention it I can see a bad focus in the bouquet image. I'll work on that.

Too many folding chairs, yes. I've been finding out how important a clean image is and will work on that.

I actually got some okay images of the wedding party coming down the aisle when the ceremony finished, I just didn't post them here.

Front row audience shots I did not get but makes perfect sense now that you mention it. I'll do that next time.

Study more work and develop style. Yes sir.

Thank you so much for the help! I'll read this again and write it all down before the next wedding. Thanks again!

I am glad that you took the critique on the positive side.
Too many times I see false praise when that does you no good to develop and progress.
I will be glad to look at some more of your photos.
Before your next session you can start to work on some of these things.
Realize each wedding is unique and you have to have a master plan before the day starts.
Think if you were the coach of a football team and you had to have a strategy, consider yourself the wedding planner,
who is where and when, how much time will there be for shot sequences at certain times, meet with your bide ahead of time and set up expectations,
go to the rehearsal, don't be afraid to address the bridal party and give them directions (they expect it).
There is so much to this day that you need to consider.
I try to photograph the entire day, I go to the brides house, I get the grooms men dressing, bride ready, the ceremony is a very small part of the day.
Break the day into sessions, Ex: Bride getting ready, groom ready, church before ceremony, ceremony, ..... Have some set shots you want to get at each of these times, then practice them. Practice shots in dark churches, practice taking shots of hand holding (what looks good, study other works, then develop your style)
Know your equipment, the wedding day is stressful, its not time to not know something about your camera or lenses.
Study groups settings that you like, ask yourself what settings and what lenses you would use.
Be glad to look at more of your photos.

Thanks

You're the first real photographer to critique my work and give feedback so I'm loving it.

I'd love to show you more images but I really don't have a very large portfolio at the moment. All my best work is on my website: http://calebroyerstudio.com/ I'm going to a wedding on the 6th and they're going to let me photograph on the side lines (they already have a photographer) so I'd love to hear anything and everything you've got to say about those. How many wedding pictures do you usually give your clients? I real have no idea how many I should keep.

A master plan, yes, I'll definitely work on that one.

Thank you for even more information! It's going to be so much help! I'll try and follow it as best I can. Thanks again!