photographyworkshops
On the 21/22nd February the PWacademy 4 delegates enjoyed 2 days of informed and creative wedding photography. We tackled difficult lighting conditions and took control.
On the 21/22nd February the PWacademy 4 delegates enjoyed 2 days of informed and creative wedding photography. We tackled difficult lighting conditions and took control.
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| Speedlight from top right. f18 @ 1/60s ISO 100 |
The combined joy and despair of shooting a wedding is the potential problem when the light is not working for you, bright harsh sunlight, and no shade are what nightmares could be made of, especially if you do not know how to control it.
I am regularly told that wedding photography is just a bag load of pressure and many find no pleasure in shooting one. This may well be the case for those who have no interest in this genre however it can be one of the most rewarding experiences any photographer can have and requires a considerable degree of skill to complete one successfully.
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| Bad posing, bad light f16 @ 1/160s ISO 100 |
On many occasions the sun will not join your party and do what you want it to do so using the speedlight as a fill flash is the way to go, with ambient at f18 you can set your flash to produce f16, filling in the shadows. The delegates were instructed on controlling their dedicated flash guns with Flash Exposure Control, a simple process (once you understand the basic concepts), learning to work with the available light and adjusting their flash output appropriately.
If you are shooting in Aperture priority and have a dedicated flash that offers HSS (High Speed Sync) you will be able to track the changing ambient, adding flash on ETTL and maintain a correct exposure, a technique taught on the day.
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| Shooting directly into the sun can produce flare and washed out images. f2.8 @ 1/640s ISO 100 |
The image on the left was shot in manual mode metering for the Sarah's face that allowed the background ambient to overexpose and produce a high degree of flare. This situation can be controlled to some degree with the use of a reflector, bounding the ambient light back into here face and exposing accordingly.
My preferred method is to use a combination of flash and shutter control enabling greater control over the situation. The common criticism when using flash is the harsh lighting it can produce therefore it needs modifying to produce a softer light. The catch light in the eyes demonstrates the use of a shoot through umbrella to soften the flash. The shutter speed was restricted to 1/200s as the flash being used (Yongnuo yn-560ii) was not dedicated to the camera as delegates were shooting on both Canon and Nikon.The flash was placed at about 45 degrees top left allowing the sun light to pass through Sarah's hair and veil. It is possible to take much greater control of the ambient if you are using a dedicated flash unit on HSS allowing your shutter speed to exceed its maximum flash sync speed.
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| Adding flash to control the background light and a shallow depth of field f5.6 @ 1/200s ISO 200 |
With a truly dedicated system it is possible to use your maximum shutter speeds on the camera, maybe up to 1/8000s which can virtually turn day into night. When shooting at these extremes it is vital you take full control of the flash, both in intensity, positioning and quality, all subjects taught on our workshops.
The one thing everyone understands about photography its its subjective and any image may not be to everyone's taste, however the process here is one of learning and as such its the techniques that are important. Naturally we always try to produce an image that appeals and that is a subject any wedding photographer will discuss with any bride before the wedding day.
On the second day we travelled to a private location in Malmesbury where the delegates set up lights and shot a bride and groom on location. Whilst a little wet underfoot and dodging the hail storms we all shot a variety of images balancing both to the ambient and overpowering the ambient in a shaded area.
Part of the process when shooting a wedding is to research your location as you will be amazed at all the options that are available. I very often
like to shoot the bride against texture or "grunge" enhancing here softness. The shot on the left is quite a hard gridded light, designed to produce the shape of
the light enhancing the texture of the wall. If you find the light too hard than it can be produced with a softbox however the pattern of light will be different.
The shutter speed in both the left hand images has been lifted to the maximum sync speed to help reduce the level of ambient in the shot.
The beauty of this shot is that it can be replicated in either the Church, after the ceremony or at the reception venue.
When you understand how to use your flash creatively it is possible to create distinctive images that stand out from the crowd.
The one thing everyone understands about photography its its subjective and any image may not be to everyone's taste, however the process here is one of learning and as such its the techniques that are important. Naturally we always try to produce an image that appeals and that is a subject any wedding photographer will discuss with any bride before the wedding day.
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| Inside the Church shooting creatives for the Bride. The stained glass window was metered in the camera and the flash modified with a shoot through umbrella was set balanced to match. f16 @ 1/60s ISO 1600 |
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| Shot with a gridded 9" can with the Elinchrom Quadra, pulling out the texture in the wall. f16 @ 1/200s ISO 200 |
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| Softbox on Yongnuo yn560ii f14 @ 1/200s ISO 100 |
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| A combined shot with the Bride and Groom using and gridded Elinchrom Quadra on Sarah and a gridded Yongnuo yn560ii on Mark. f16 @ 1/200s ISO 200 |
like to shoot the bride against texture or "grunge" enhancing here softness. The shot on the left is quite a hard gridded light, designed to produce the shape of
the light enhancing the texture of the wall. If you find the light too hard than it can be produced with a softbox however the pattern of light will be different.
The shutter speed in both the left hand images has been lifted to the maximum sync speed to help reduce the level of ambient in the shot.
The beauty of this shot is that it can be replicated in either the Church, after the ceremony or at the reception venue.
When you understand how to use your flash creatively it is possible to create distinctive images that stand out from the crowd.
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f5.6 @ 1/200s ISO 200Forthcoming Flash workshop
8th March
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