Lighting Help!

smoke665 · Jun 10, 2019

Some senior friends of ours from Church are getting married in July. As a gift I'd like to shoot the wedding. The problem is this is an old Church and the light is horrible, the walls are an ugly shade of yellow, the carpet is a darker mix of reds and yellows, the ceiling is white, but lighting consists of consists of hanging globe fixtures with incandescent lights, and the stained glass windows are various shades of gold. I've tried shooting here before and even with a speedlight and post WB correction, the images still had the yellow tinge coming through.

Do I move higher powered strobes in to completely overcome the ambient, gel my strobe and set my camera WB to tungsten, or both? These are senior citizens who don't see a lot of sun, so I'm thinking a CTO gel as opposed to a CTS.

tirediron · Jun 10, 2019

If bringing in strobes is an option, than I would definitely do that, provided you'e able to do it in a manner which isn't going to interfere with the proceedings. I agree with the use of CTO vice CTS if they're pale. If you're able to completely overpower the tungsten lighting, then IMO, there's no need to set anything to tungsten, rather set everything to daylight, and then hopefully the light from the stained glass will render accurately.

smoke665 · Jun 10, 2019

tirediron said:
If bringing in strobes is an option, than I would definitely do that, provided you'e able to do it in a manner which isn't going to interfere with the proceedings. I agree with the use of CTO vice CTS if they're pale. If you're able to completely overpower the tungsten lighting, then IMO, there's no need to set anything to tungsten, rather set everything to daylight, and then hopefully the light from the stained glass will render accurately.

Actually, in rethinking this, I'm leaning toward staging the shots before the actual wedding. That way I can kill the overhead incandescent, and bring in the studio lights, without infringing on the service. If I shoot it in the evening I should be able to eliminate the ambient light from the windows, and not even have to gel????

The reception I can probably shoot the day of because it will be in the Fellowship Hall which is considerably more "light friendly"

tirediron · Jun 10, 2019

Hey if they're good with staging it, that's a win for sure! That said, sometimes the colours from stained glass can really add a 'church-y' look to the scene, providing they don't affect skin tones.

smoke665 · Jun 10, 2019

tirediron said:
Hey if they're good with staging it, that's a win for sure! That said, sometimes the colours from stained glass can really add a 'church-y' look to the scene, providing they don't affect skin tones.

I've wondered about that, but the windows are not the pretty stained glass, with scenes, but rather solid panes of colored glass. I'm thinking adding light post where I can control it might be a better choice.

tirediron · Jun 10, 2019

Ahhh... okay, that makes sense.

Derrel · Jun 10, 2019

I would not worry too much aboutWhite balance or the colors that you might pick up from odd lights versus keeping everything perfectly color correct.

My experience has been that people are a lot less concerned with color balance perfection then they are about expression and emotion.

smoke665 · Jun 10, 2019

Derrel said:
I would not worry too much aboutWhite balance or the colors that you might pick up from odd lights versus keeping everything perfectly color correct.

My experience has been that people are a lot less concerned with color balance perfection then they are about expression and emotion.

This could be considered the "perfect storm" for horrible light. Between the windows, the color of the walls, and the overhead fixtures, it literally hurts your eyes. The old members that picked out everything have reached the age where they can no longer object, so hopefully before long we'll be able to repaint and remodel. Would have already except we were waiting for things to settle in the conference, before we spent any money.