Wedding Conundrum - Lighting?

tapetheescape

tapetheescape

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Tom
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No doubt a subject done to death but I have some specific difficulties.... one being that I am almost totally new to using a flash (yep, I know...).

I am helping a pal out at his wedding next weekend, no budget, yada yada.

The ceremony itself is in a castle with poor lighting. The light the room does have is all from the left hand side of the hall coming from tall windows.

I was thinking I have two options for lighting:

1) try and keep it natural and place a wirelessly triggered flash gun up on the windows with a diffuser and set the power manually as to not over expose and make it look artificial. I couldn't use TTL here because the flash doesn't know how far away it is from the subject, right?

2) use the flash gun in TTL with a diffuser on camera – but will this give me artificial looking shots?

I appreciate the above is rather simple and I may have made a faux pas... but any advice or direction would be much appreciated. Don’t worry, the happy couples expectations have been realistically set!
 
What's the maximum ISO you can realistically use to get an acceptable A4-sized print from and what's the maximum aperture of whatever lens(es) you're thinking of using for the ceremony?

And how sure are you that using flash during the ceremony will be acceptable?
 
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Queries such as this make me thank my lucky stars:)

A wife of a friend asked me to do the photos at her sister's wedding (no money etc etc). I reluctantly said yes.

I was able to be third (yes - third) photographer at another wedding to give me some practice, but with no pressure.

Shortly afterwards it turned out that my friend's wife hadn't actually asked her sister about me doing the pics and they had already got another family friend to do it.

My relief knew no bounds:)

The current position is that if the official (family friend) photographer dies on the morning of the wedding and they have no-one else to do the pics then, under the circumstances of 'anything is better than nothing', I will do them:)
 
I've just been to 2 weddings in the last 3 weeks. No flash was used in the ceremony in either.
 
WelshNoob said:
I've just been to 2 weddings in the last 3 weeks. No flash was used in the ceremony in either.
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FWIW I've never once used flash during a ceremony and I wouldn't, even if the celebrant did allow it. If it's light enough for the celebrant to read their script or any readers to read their reading, it's light enough to get a worthwhile picture. Off the top of my head, I think our personal best for a ceremony was 1/6th at f1.4 on ISO 3200.

But anyhow, I'm beginning to wonder now if the OP's concern is primarily the perceived lack of light, or the fact that it's all from one side ...
 
Serendipitous Sid said:
What's the maximum ISO you can realistically use to get an acceptable A4-sized print from and what's the maximum aperture of whatever lens(es) you're thinking of using for the ceremony?

And how sure are you that using flash during the ceremony will be acceptable?
Click to expand...

In the rehearsal (it was very rushed, we were kicked out very quickly...) the test shots were at ISO 6400 which is not what I want to do. Max of 3200 I reckon.

I checked with the registrar and flash is fine as long as its not during the ceremony - I guess Im asking about the processional really.
 
Serendipitous Sid said:
FWIW I've never once used flash during a ceremony and I wouldn't, even if the celebrant did allow it. If it's light enough for the celebrant to read their script or any readers to read their reading, it's light enough to get a worthwhile picture. Off the top of my head, I think our personal best for a ceremony was 1/6th at f1.4 on ISO 3200.

But anyhow, I'm beginning to wonder now if the OP's concern is primarily the perceived lack of light, or the fact that it's all from one side ...
Click to expand...

Its more the lack of light than the direction of it (I think).

I have a 24-70 2.8, a 70-200 2.8 and a 50mm 1.4. With the movement, I'm a bit concerned that if I shoot at 1.4 I will miss the focus, was planning to use the 24-70 at 2.8 but of course open to suggestions.
 
OK, as I understand it the problem boils down to getting a decent shot of the processional when the light's not wonderful. As problems go at weddings, believe me that's not much of one, but anyhow ...

You're assuming that the ceremony doesn't start until the star of the show is up front, but you may well find that, on the day, the officiating registrar has other ideas, so if I was you I'd forget all about flash - particularly as you say you're not experienced with it.

Assuming that you're going to be up front and off to one side of the celebrant, and also assuming that you're only using one body, your best bet is to use your 24-70/2.8. Set ISO 3200 and see what the light's like at f2.8 when you're in position. As long as you can get 1/60th or better and you take maybe three shots, you're in with a chance with the subject coming more or less towards you.

I honestly wouldn't sweat it, particularly if you're not getting paid. It's only one shot, and if the bride's obsessional about it because it's her and her dad (or whoever) coming up the aisle together, just tell her now that it's iffy. Her choice is to accept that or pay for a pro. Besides, you can always do a set-up of the two of them outside the room immediately prior to the processional and she can be happy with that.

BTW, be prepared for (a) her coming towards you faster than you were expecting and (b) her and her dad being wrong way round.
 
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Interesting thread.

I think, if I were you, I'd try to get access to the venue and have a practice. If you can't get access, go and practice in some other church / dark location. Knowing your limits really will pay dividends!

With regards to using flash, most registrars will allow the use of flash during the processional / recessional, but not during the ceremony. Personally I try to avoid using flash during any part of the ceremony - but sometimes you may have to e.g. I've worked in churches where the couple are positioned directly under a spot light. In crap scenarios like these, I'll take a few shots with flash (if I have permission) - but only a few. At the end of the day you want to be as near as invisible as possible :)

Just make sure that the B&G have realistic expectations - and I would also have a contract in place!!!!!

Good luck :)
 
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What Dav said really. Flash for processional, recessional and the register signing. Most celebrants will not allow flash other than that, and I wouldn't want to either. My job is to be invisible during the service, as best I can. That means no moving about and no flash, all eyes should be on the B&G.

And if that means max ISO then I have no problem with that, better to have a noisy image than a blurry one or a badly flashed one (you don't have the experience to do a beautifully flash lit one).

I ought to have in my signature 'No bride ever complained about noise in their pictures'.
 
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WelshNoob said:
I've just been to 2 weddings in the last 3 weeks. No flash was used in the ceremony in either.
Click to expand...

I don't even ask any more tbh. I've never known flash to be permitted during the ceremony in a church, only sometimes for the (staged) registry signing. Ceremonies in other venues are often more accomodating but I don't even bother asking as I prefer using natural light and there's usually enough of it.
 
I thought I'd come back and let you know how it went....

I'm really pleased with the final results, given the circumstances.

I ended up being brave and avoiding the high ISOs. I put a flash on top of tripod and bounced the light off one of the white walls, shooting at F4 and 125/sec.

And I couldn't check with the B&G as it was a G&G! I'll post some snaps from the day when I'm back at my computer.
 
tapetheescape said:
I thought I'd come back and let you know how it went....

I'm really pleased with the final results, given the circumstances.

I ended up being brave and avoiding the high ISOs. I put a flash on top of tripod and bounced the light off one of the white walls, shooting at F4 and 125/sec.

And I couldn't check with the B&G as it was a G&G! I'll post some snaps from the day when I'm back at my computer.
Click to expand...
Glad to hear it went OK. It would be good to see some pics when you've caught your breath :)
 
A couple of quick examples of my lighting choice....

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14vnt4n.jpg
 
tapetheescape said:
That bad? :eek::D
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Nope. Perfectly OK as far as I'm concerned :)

If you had more experience of weddings I'd have something to say about those flowers in the first shot, but you did well to avoid the obvious pitfalls in the second!
 
Phil V said:
The question mark was a 'how do you not see that?' It's not like me to use so few words.
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Atypical brevity notwithstanding, I did realise that. I merely sought to expand a little for the OP's benefit ;)

Ref blocking it out of the mind, there's many a pro wedding snapper well capable of doing the same. In fact there's one based not a million miles from me who's been famous for that for at least the last 15 years ...
 
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