ok i been begged and offered $800 to do a wedding up here after this lady saw my other photos. The after wedding photos i have no problem with its the ceremony. Ive been told its 2pm in afternoon, blazing sun by a gazebo in a backyard ppl in chairs no cover. my first thought is midday sun, no light modifiers to help with that as its the ceremony How to take decent enough pics this time of day middle of open ground. ? all i see in my head is eye shadows ect
I'm sure a pro can give you better advice, but try explaining your predicament to the bride & groom? See if they'll let you use a flash. In super bright conditions, they probably won't notice it as much as opposed to being in a dimly lit church. A friend of mine asked me to shoot their wedding, it was outside and the sun seemed like it was right on top of us, but they didn't mind use of the flash. I'm not a pro and don't do weddings so YMMV.
Suggest parasols. As the photographer, whether you are paid nothing or millions, you have a duty to offer advise. Whether or not your client takes said advice is another story/legal battle.
My hats off to Wedding photographers I cannot for the life of me be put in a situation of pressure to get great shots on the couples most important day. It's not like you can reshoot a wedding 800 is small fry for the work you do to get those images to the couple anyway back on topic. I don't really think the couple are going to notice too much if its harsh light or not By concern is getting enough fill light for any shots were the couple are backed towards the sun perhaps scout the venue and check for best shooting positions b4 hand?
Don't even ask about the flash, explain they'll look like Skeletor if you don't use it for fill. The flash won't really even bother them considering how bright it will already be. You can't make the local park at high-noon look like a sunset wedding on a headland overlooking the beach. But you might get lucky with an overcast day. You can't even afford to hire a couple of helpers to hold up a bedsheet between two poles for some extra shots after the ceremony. At least you'll give them something better than the snapshots taken by all the guests.
I've done some of my best people stuff in mid day and late afternoon (pre-sunset), really great lighting imho to rock the boat, just not for point and shooters
Yup, cant really choose time or location. Whether its crappy LED lights or fluros @ 60hz <--hate With regards to 2pm midday Sun... pray for a cloudy day? Works for me...hahaa. Alright if I was in that situation here is what I would do. 1. Check out the location. Look for trees / shade areas. In a perfect world the B&G is situated there. 2. If there is no shade at all then look for some background that is close to or -1EV as the B&G face vs the bride and grooms face. move the chairs around the gazebo if possible so the the sun is hitting the back of the bride and groom. you want the to create a nice rim lighting effect when it hits their heads and you will have that -1EV BG ground to make it stand out. 3. If they dont want to then take few shots with a person and explain to the wedding planner that their photos will be poorer. *Try not to stress out the B&G with details about shadows..its their happy day after all. Most of the time they will move. 4. Buy parasol(s). Have the best man and maid of honor hold it above the B&G heads. Disruptive way to solve the problem but u get your shots.
If youre getting $800 anyway buy a SB900 or 580EXII etc, or at least hire 1.. and if you know how to light, hire 2 and drag 2 people to hold them for you and a ST-E2 (for Canon.. Nikon has it's own thingy iirc for that... or TTL triggers). Also ND filter so you can have flash sync + shallow depth of field, or at least shallower than f/11.
I personally disagree with a lot of the suggestions in here... Just expose for any shadows on their faces etc and dial back -1/3. Highlights will blow... so let them. Use shallow depths of field to deliberately soften unwanted background highlights. Then in post you can correct that -1/3 in the midtones using curves, a dash of recovery for the blowouts, and even a little touch of split toning to bring colour and life back into areas where the isn't any. Everything I've said above I would suggest for the ceremony only. Once you get into the posed shots (etc) then by all means use flash to your hearts content. I would still avoid reflectors like the plague though - just get more creative with areas in shade.
yeah i have lighting equip. I have my portable ranger RX set + sony 58am off camera flash ( i think probably similar to SB 800s ) Osiris that might not be a bad idea From what she told me today its in the backyard of her friends place and its bare. gazebo in the middle When she told me that i was like hrm. the after wedding shots is NP already said to her will have issues with sunlight at that time during ceremony (unless overcast) and will have a think about what i can do there. yEAH $800 is cheap. When i told her an initial price for her she fell over as i also catered for a second shooter. She said she only have $500 to $800 max for photos else she just wont get photos. I believed her as she works at my kids childcare and i know she earns stuff all there.
Alessiman: yeah i did 1 wedding so far for free. they really loved teh photos but damn not even getting paid i was loosin hair, going grey ect. I really didnt want to shoot a wedding again and now she is also paying me for this 1 i have to make sure i do a job im happy with
Thanks arch. Ill haev 2 camera with me mine with a 85mm or my 50mm f1.4 on it and borrowing friends 7d and his 70-200 f2.8 as i had the idea to , for really bokering the backdrop
Reckon the 70-200 would be great - it'll give you the range, and you can also be confident that it's nailing focus. Middle of the day it might be tempting to bring up the aperture, but I'd personally be hovering below f/4 for ceremony shots. In fact since I'm comfortable with the calibration on my own 70-200 I'd stick to f/2.8. There are plenty of ways to enhance/isolate subjects in post, but my main reasoning behind the wide ap is purely to lessen the distraction caused by background highlights. There are also plenty of ways to use strong/direct lighting to your advantage. Both the 50 1.4 and 70-200 2.8 both give quite attractive lens flares (IMHO anyway), so you could always shoot almost directly into the sun if you wanted? Found a quick pic from my wedding in November. We got married on a property at 2pm, and the lighting was very unforgiving. Reason I post it is because the photographer (Stewart Ross) has pretty much done exactly what I was suggesting in my post above. Click to view full-sized image! Certainly wouldn't win any awards as a portrait, but when you consider it under the conditions in which it was taken it is quite acceptable, and one that the couple (ie, us) will be adding to the album.
I thought the same thing when I was asked to do a Mid Feb Afternoon wedding, on the same weekend as the Black Saturday Fires from 2 years earlier when it got to 47/48 degs. So I prepared. What I got was a 21deg day, entirely overcast, and the fog (it was in the foothills) only lifted an hour before it started. so dont assume, cover your ass.
ah yeah thats still come out good despite the blown high lights from the harsh sun still captured a really nice moment. 98% of my natural light portraits have all been f2.8-4 so am pretty comfy working in that range
abadonn: yeah im prepared for bright and sunny if its overcast thats a bonus for me as i like it overcast
easy mate if its in a backyard the background will likely be either a fence or trees or something, whatever it is will be darker than them in direct sun. the problem with sun is when people have to look into the camera they will squint but they will be looking at each other... just expose for their skin and she'll be apples
