Friday I worked with Stephanie and Wendi at John and Maggie's wedding. John and Maggie are extremely detailed, and I knew that I'd have some great environments to shoot. Since we had three shooters, I knew that I'd be able to really work creatively.
Before the ceremony, I worked with nothing but natural light.
The church was surprisingly dark (ISO 3200 @ 2.8) - it didn't really look that dark to the eye! I worked hard on creative focusing and using the available light to my advantage. (I exposed for the candle, letting John & Maggie be slightly underexposed, as well as out of focus, to show the symbolism of the unity candle).
Usually during the formals, I work with a single off camera light, and an on-camera light as fill. This time, I went old-school. I used vivitar 285s with radio triggers (you know, the same flashes that have been lighting weddings for 35+ years?). The manual modes allowed me to use these just like studio lights.
This image of Maggie was done with 2 lights - a main to camera left, and a fill back and to camera right. An umbrella helped soften the shadows from her hair, but I love the directional light. Honestly, doesn't it look like a window?Here we were having a little fun. I had John pull Maggie over the edge of the pew, and I put a hard light just out of view behind all the pews to the left, and a main light with an umbrella to the camera right. I love the warm light through the window, the shadows of the pews on the floor, the highlight on her shoe - just fun!
Now, the reception is where I really had fun. I set up 4 lights around the room, all set at 1/16 power. I wanted them to be turned way down so I could capture some of the ambient light, since the DJ had set up 3 rear-projection screens. All I had on my camera was the trigger - extremely freeing!
On the dance floor, I always had good light. ISO 400, f4.0 - check these out!This one was off the floor. Since I didn't have lights all around, I kicked up the ISO to 800, and opened up the f-stop to 2.8. All the light reflected off the dancers and gave me a very nice, soft, directional light.
Here you can see the setup - two of the 4 lights. The other great part - since my camera never flashed, people didn't know when I took a picture! It's much more discrete than you might think!
Is it soft light? Is it hard light? Well, the answer is both! Since light is coming from all angles, you rarely have deep shadows. Light also bounces off the people around your subject, giving a soft look. The highlights have this dramatic feel, and there's no doubt that this was no snapshot!
I'll be doing more of this style lighting in the future, no doubt. It takes a little time to set it up - 10 minutes or so - but the freedom and results I think speak for themselves.
Oh, and if you're wondering - these are all straight out of the camera. No retouching, no adjustments - just awesome!
Always working to get the best I can for my clients. Hope you get a chance to try this!
Now to give credit where credit is due, I can't take 100% claim on this lighting style. While we have used vivitars for years off camera, Rick Delorme is the first person who told me to get the lights completely off the camera. I had never had good reliability with my old radio slaves, and my old flashes didn't have any manual settings but "full", so it was never a true test. I'm not sure he drags the shutter to get ambient light in, or if he goes full flash, but I have to say thanks for the encouragement and ideas!
Shan
This entry was posted
on Sunday, December 2, 2007
at Sunday, December 02, 2007
and is filed under
wedding reception lighting hollywood style
. You can follow any responses to this entry through the
comments feed
.
Archives
Contributors

- Shannon Smith, 831 Photography
- Akron, OH, United States
- Photographer, Trainer, Geek. Don't even get me started about lighting techniques!
Categories
- 831 photography engagement session chicago il fun photo
- Adobe
- Akron Civic Theatre
- Akron OH
- album design
- albums WPPI 2007 convention rock-it banners products la-vie asuka coffee table
- alien bees
- Anthe's Event Center
- babies first year
- Bat Mitzvah
- Beach Wedding
- bh photo shopping nyc lenses
- bibble pro digital workflow raw processing
- birthday party
- Bob Davis
- British Virgin Islands
- business practices digital negatives
- BVI
- Canon 40D sample images high ISO
- canon 5d replacement destined evolution teaser marketing enigma
- Chenoweth Country Club Green Valley United Methodist Church outdoor portraits
- children
- cleaning the house friends visiting personal
- collage
- content aware fill
- contest winner northeast ohio
- country
- CS5
- customer gtg
- Cuyahoga Falls Riverfront
- dairy barn reception
- democrats
- destination
- destination wedding
- DeYor Theatre
- Disney Vacation personal Thunderbird Air Force Epcot rain
- engagement session
- engagement session video 831 photography camera shy
- Ernest Perry
- Event Planner
- eyes
- family
- farm
- february
- firefighter wedding
- flashwaves
- foss
- fruity marshmallows
- fun stuff
- funny
- funny first dance video
- fusion montage
- geek quiz
- Get together
- gimp
- glamour
- goals wppi speaker convention dreams deadlines
- good days
- GTG
- guest blog post
- Guy's Party Center Akron
- hand raised butterflies Lake Forest Country Club Hudson
- happy thanksgiving
- hard light
- hawaii
- henna mehendi ceremony Maya Anjum artist hindu indian wedding traditions
- hi
- hollywood
- How It's Made comments
- humor
- ice skating
- initial impressions
- inspiration
- introduction
- intuit
- Jenny
- Joe
- Kenny Kim
- kids
- kubuntu
- lake anna barberton
- las vegas
- legend
- lightroom replacement
- linux
- Long Bay Resort
- LW Special Events
- mark nancy wedding
- Master Your Craft
- maui
- mccain
- Mike Colón
- monte zucker
- morgan eric wedding marti stutzman 32 ford getaway car fun formals
- mpix
- Mr Anthonys
- New York
- New York City
- newborn
- no class holiday enjoy your family
- no mac no cheese
- no mac no cheese digital photography back button focusing canon 40d vertical grip af-on button * button ae lock button swap
- no mac no cheese digital photography canon 40d af point auto focus selection method quick controller thumb wheel finger wheel custom function
- no mac no cheese digital photography canon cp-e3 battery pack flash recycle time rechargable batteries
- no mac no cheese digital photography conference mpix video
- no mac no cheese digital photography dragging the shutter high iso av mode aperture priority mode
- no mac no cheese digital photography fluorescent light color shift white balance shutter speed frequency
- no mac no cheese digital photography google reader subscribers [b] school blog comparison [b]ecker honored humbled stunned
- no mac no cheese digital photography hard drive backups
- no mac no cheese digital photography high speed sync outdoor portraits av mode aperture priority
- no mac no cheese digital photography how-to canon 40d menu settings
- no mac no cheese digital photography how-to flash diffuser lightsphere
- no mac no cheese digital photography how-to hard light umbra penumbra contrast rembrandt lighting classic technique one light
- no mac no cheese digital photography how-to location background distractions
- no mac no cheese digital photography lightning thunderstorm daytime nighttime bulb mode images
- no mac no cheese digital photography macro close up photography extension tubes shallow depth of field
- no mac no cheese digital photography mirror lock up reduce shake
- no mac no cheese digital photography optimal lens sharpness aperture depth of field stopping down
- no mac no cheese digital photography photoshop
- no mac no cheese digital photography photoshop grunge effect texture blending modes
- no mac no cheese digital photography single light hard light source shading angle off-camera
- no mac no cheese digital photography soft light diffuse umbrella contrast control light falloff
- no mac no cheese digital photography tutorials high iso grain vs blur motion blur noise
- no mac no cheese digital photography tutorials tv mode shutter priority motion blur waterfall
- no mac no cheese digital photography tutorials using a tripod
- no mac no cheese digital photography vertical grip problems how to fix
- no mac no cheese digital photography white balance cap custom white balance generic expodisk
- no mac no cheese digital photography wppi competition print
- no mac no cheese episode tutorials digital how-to photography
- no mac no cheese episode tutorials digital how-to photography back button focus
- no mac no cheese episode tutorials digital how-to photography backgrounds location
- no mac no cheese episode tutorials digital how-to photography battery pack al jacobs vivitar flash
- no mac no cheese episode tutorials digital how-to photography contrast control fill flash blue sky outdoor photography
- no mac no cheese episode tutorials digital how-to photography cropping aspect ratio
- no mac no cheese episode tutorials digital how-to photography custom white balance 40d mixed lighting
- no mac no cheese episode tutorials digital how-to photography faststone image viewer sort select images software
- no mac no cheese episode tutorials digital how-to photography flash bounced foofing directional light
- no mac no cheese episode tutorials digital how-to photography flash gel color balance
- no mac no cheese episode tutorials digital how-to photography getting ready for a wedding
- no mac no cheese episode tutorials digital how-to photography google picasa
- no mac no cheese episode tutorials digital how-to photography low light slow shutter handheld
- no mac no cheese episode tutorials digital how-to photography overcast day flash kick light direction pop
- no mac no cheese episode tutorials digital how-to photography photoshop create an action
- no mac no cheese episode tutorials digital how-to photography vivitar flash 285HV automatic mode
- no mac no cheese episode tutorials digital how-to photography white balance
- no mac no cheese episode tutorials digital how-to vivitar 285 hv broken foot replacement
- no mac no cheese premier episode tutorials digital how-to photography
- no mac no cheese snow day
- no mac no cheese tutorials business custom framing
- no mac no cheese tutorials digital photography FTP software filezilla how-to website upload
- no mac no cheese will return after a short break
- NYC
- NYC New York Macy's Santa Santaland kids natural light 50mm
- obama
- off camera flash
- OH
- OH Our Lady of Perpetual Help Aurora
- OH slideshow
- OH slideshow dollar dance cake auction
- open source
- os discrimination
- Pentax Optio W30 underwater camera
- personal
- personal attempted boating trip murphy's law
- personal class digital photography training no mac no cheese wedding portrait general second shooter
- personal touches
- personalized wedding
- photographer
- photography
- Picasa 3.6
- politics
- print competition
- quickbooks
- radio slaves
- radio triggers
- random post
- raw workflow
- recent work guys party center Trinity Mission Baptist Church Akron
- reflector
- remodeling framing in home consultations decorating fine art
- remote flash
- republicans
- responsibility
- resynthesizer
- review
- sailboat
- Second Baptist Church
- senior portraits
- Sheraton
- sick forums mpix cruise
- Silverlake Country Club
- St Louis Church of Louisville
- Stacey Adams
- Stacy Al wedding holiday weekend
- Stamford CT
- Stamford Yacht Club
- Stan Hwyett
- studio
- stupidity
- teacher
- technology
- the galaxy restaurant
- The Gorge Metro Park
- the happy dance
- the nerd husband
- Tortola
- Tortola BVI destination wedding cliffs exploring photography
- tortola BVI fun sailboat snorkeling underwater photography BVI
- Tortola BVI fun sea cliffs waves breakers
- tortola destination wedding BVI island beach photography
- triggers
- tutorials photoshop DPI high resolution
- ubuntu
- video
- vivitar
- vivitar workshop
- Washington DC destination engagement session sunset monuments night portrait sigma 24-70 2.8 50-150 2.8 travel
- website hacked backup local
- wedding
- wedding brad melissa Raintree Country Club Portage Lakes
- Wedding Pictures
- wedding reception lighting hollywood style
- wedding slideshow
- wedding stop motion video linux slideshow
- wedding wadsworth united methodist church
- workflow
- workshop
- wppi
- WPPI 2007 passion Carl Caylor
- WPPI 2008 club rouge party speakers boudoir
- wppi mpix presenting Las Vegas
- Youngstown OH