First Dance, off camera flash

imagesliveon · Sep 4, 2014

Guys,

I am fairly new to the world of photography (last few years) and in the last six months I have tried to become serious to produce better results. I am currently shooting weddings, however an area I have always struggled with is keeping the atmosphere in the first dance.... until I tried off camera flash. Although I appreciate this isn't new to most of the people here I have totally enjoyed experimenting with it.

Most of my tuition comes from online tips/lesson's or even here however I still feel I need to tweak my lighting a little more.

This shot was taken at a wedding last month with a fantastic couple. My settings were 1.50 f5.6 @ IS0 320 with a single flash on 1/8 power (or 1/4power not sure).

I have noticed other photographers seem to take these shots at really high ISO settings like 6400... What is the reason for this?

Can you guys offer any good tips to tweak my settings in future or even suggest what works for you? :blushing:

your thoughts on this image would be greatly appreciated?

Very kind regards in adavance.

Wedding Dance! by Simon Clarkson Photography, on Flickr

Regards

Simon

Derrel · Sep 4, 2014

Pretty good image. Shame the woman video-taping or photographing at the left edge is cut-off...the edges of the frame are very important, and anything on the edge is almost doubled in visual weight. The background is important in this shot; the woman approvingly watching them dance, chin-up, and looking happy for them, is well-lighted, and I think the placement of the flash to light the people in the back is VERY nice!!! The tiny bit of light on the bride's face is really nice, and the groom's head being silhouetted by the balloons is excellent. Often times this old, 1980's era "stick a flash behind them and light up their hair" look comes across to me as very tired, shopworn, and cheesy, but in this case, it works out really well because it's not overly hackish...the dark side is dark, but the light (flash) side is not heavy-handed on the bride as it so,so often is.

I think this shot is pretty successful. I just wish there were more angular view behind them, to see more of the people watching the first dance. If there is more of the woman using her smartphone to shoot, I would show more of her. Cropping her off ruins it,. and then it looks like one, single person watched the first dance. I can see another person's eye socket area behind the approving woman, but he looks kind of ghostly, so I think keeping him in shadow rather than lightening him up is a good decision. Overall, this is a good image to have in the album, for sure. it turned out much better than many of these I have seen, where again, the tendency is to "light up the night!" and really cheese up the shot. It's wonderful that you handled this so much more-subtly, and with much more grace.

Vince.1551 · Sep 4, 2014

Great shot. Excellent mood. Crop or burn away the lady videotaping on the left.

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imagesliveon · Sep 4, 2014

Thanks for the feedback. I think it works well in colour too.

I guess most shots like this are luck of the draw right. I must say the rest of the set are also very pleasing.

Regsrds and again thanks

Vince.1551 · Sep 4, 2014

Agree that sometimes you just can't do much with what is available. I feel it's a great shot by virtue of the capture at that moment. In other words, an image is judged by virtue of the moment and mood when it was being captured thus giving reasons to ignore the subtle 'flaws'. That said, it can be enhanced by reducing such 'flaws' in post.

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