Wedding Photo Bright Mid-day Sun Blowout

[a_kraker99]

Sign of either a lazy or inexperienced photographer to not take the time to setup proper lighting, especially at the reception, where 99% of the time it is TERRIBLE.

Churches are low light, but not *that* low and often you can get away with raising ISO with a good camera and get good results... kinda like what I did this weekend using no flashes with settings of ISO 800, F/2.8 and 1/100th:

But receptions are very poor, like this test shot I took at ISO 800, F/2.8 and a WAY too slow 1/15th shutter speed and still well underexposed... that was what I had to work with... that and VERY wierd lighting which would have rendered any ambient only shots totally useless:

Had I not setup my lighting (basic 2 light source at opposing corners of the room... gelled lights to a full CTO, I would not have been able to get this shot at ISO 800, F/3.2 and 1/100th shutter speed (I later went up to 1/200th because that rear pink/blue ambient was just ugly and slightly bleeding through into my pics as you can tell below. Raising the shutter speed totally killed it):

You can see my speedlight in the top right side of the shot, this is what I used as a rear lighting source for the evening. I would have loved to see what any pro photographer did in this environment without off camera flash... maybe they would have just stuck a flash on camera (ugh!) in a lame attempt to get at least something... lol

Assistants... NO REASON NOT TO HAVE AT LEAST ONE! I do not know what it is like there... but here in Montreal, if you put out the call for a "free" assistant, you will get at least 30 people scrambling to help, just to get the chance to get a little experience. Some, like me, with a darn good amount of photography experience to boot!

Jerry, I cant see the ceiling color from your photos but it looks like a good situation for bounce flash if not using off camera speedlights.

 

[JerryPH]

Jerry, I cant see the ceiling color from your photos but it looks like a good situation for bounce flash if not using off camera speedlights.

It was not an option in this case... most of the ceiling in the center was one big mirror and the sides were angled. Besides, bouncing obliges you to carry on camera flash. The way that I did the last shot was place 2 lights at opposite corners of the area and walk around with nothing more than a Pocket Wizard in the hotshoe of my camera... and I could shoot WAY LARGER areas (like the entire dance floor), in one shot. Bouncing, you cannot do this. Also, in most reception halls I've shot so far, the ceilings are 15-20 feet high. You waste a TON of power trying to bounce in these conditions.

Once I moved into the other room, or way too far out of the range of the light, then I could have used a simple bounce card and TTL. Definitely NOT my favorite, but it does work well. Use what works is what I say:

Like here, there is nowhere to bounce off of, and you want/need some fill... CLS/off camera flash using an SB-800 and a big DIY foamcore diffuser can do a more than acceptable job. SOOC except for a light vignette and conversion from RAW to JPG, that's it!

I find results more pleasing with a big bounce card (foamcore) than bouncing flash off of the ceiling or walls, even under ideal conditions.