Re: Lighting a Wedding?

E

ectobuilder

Veteran
Re: Lighting a Wedding?

What is your take on lighting a wedding (What you think should be and how things are in reality).

I just got myself an LED light and is it ever wonderful. I have complete control over my lens with great lighting (i.e. depth of field, shutter speed).

However for weddings, obviously it is a once in a life time special moment for the Bride/Groom and family members, so how practical or possible is it to introduce external lighting at a wedding (include all aspects of a wedding such as the pre-wedding routines and reception)?
 
ectobuilder said:
What is your take on lighting a wedding (What you think should be and how things are in reality).

I just got myself an LED light and is it ever wonderful. I have complete control over my lens with great lighting (i.e. depth of field, shutter speed).

However for weddings, obviously it is a once in a life time special moment for the Bride/Groom and family members, so how practical or possible is it to introduce external lighting at a wedding (include all aspects of a wedding such as the pre-wedding routines and reception)?
Click to expand...

My take is this:
1. An actual wedding is not the place to find out where you went wrong. You're going to need to practice the use of that light/s in some other environment to satisfy yourself on the light/s abilities.

2. From a Wedding photographers standpoint, we do use adjunct flash often, but flash guns and strobes tend to be much more powerful for that split second than any LED light you might be carrying with you on a video camera.

3. Why do we use adjunct light? In Stills shooting it is just to open up the scene, get rid of raccoon eye shadows and the like, and give it some pop. In Video I think it becomes more of a challenge with the ever changing environment.

4. The ever changing environment: Of Light, can easily reduce your shoot to looking like you carried a light around and lit things. Which may or may not appeal to you. But most times we want adjunct lighting to blend with the ambient, almost making it look as though you just happened to find perfect light.

5. The ceremony most often will have NO adjunct lighting, or lighting allowed.

6. Outside or inside? That will be a huge difference. I would imagine that outside would be the easiest to contend with, and yet I can also imagine that the adjunct light would have little impact to the overall scene. Inside, if you could see some of the cracker boxes I have shot in....you'd probably either give up or resort to ISO6400 and deal with it.

7. I have shot in sanctuary's with NO outside windows at all! I kid you not. No windows and only candles burning, and no flash photography allowed. Splendid!

So really your question is about lighting and I cannot think of a subject that I love better, and that can F**k with you more! And like you said, a very special day that cannot typically be repeated.

Good Luck!
 
For video, in which there usually is no family group posing (photos), in my opinion and experience with weddings in particular, i have gotten away, and with excellent results with only a single on-camera light. Now i know that there are many who would say that a single light source is too harsh and is mostly used for run and gun type shooting like news reporter ENG type, but consider what you really trying to achieve in capturing the day's events. Unlike a photographer that has to really watch what he's doing. especially in the lighting department of group shots ( notably interior, dark venues) in places that have high ceilings, the videographer can get away with much less gear to carry around. It is practical and possible to introduce extra lighting in video but there are many important considerations to take into account.*
Will the maitre'D allow external light(s) mounted on stands, or will you have to badger him, plea, bargain, beg etc. to have him say yes you can ? Many venues do not want anything that either may topple down, annoy the guests or spoil the ambiance of the dimly set scene. Do you have insurance ? very important question. If you don't and many don't, do not even think of anything plugged into wall sockets or light stands. One little tripod falling down or someone tripping on wires will end your career very quickly. I one was working with a photographer who had no insurance and was extremely careful because of that fact. The wedding was over, guests started leaving the reception, his only camera case was packed and laid down next to him at the exit door as he was waiting for the valet to get his car. A guest from the wedding did not see the black cordura case on the floor ( the carpet was a very dark color too) and tripped on it, fell down, not seriously hurt but bruised up a bit. The photographer was lucky, no charges were filed but what if the guest went ahead and sued him ? In another event, I was the photographer and witnessed a tall light stand with a powerful halogen light fall squarely on an empty table that was caused by one guest tripping on the AC wire to the light, even though the light was taped down on the carpet. Insurance is a must. If you do have insurance, then deciding to use extra lighting will will be easy. If the place is like a coal bin and you need that extra background brightness, then go ahead but check with the maitre'D. Do you want rim lighting effect on the dance floor area, then one or two powerful lights directed on the dancers will do it. Pre wedding routines rarely need extra lighting, as a matter of fact, most of my shoots are with available light as the photographer almost always does not want any videographer's light on his posed subjects during bridal and family group shots. In the situations that I must light up during the bridal prep, I bounce the light to the ceiling ( usually low ones) with great lighting. Today's cameras are great with low light. I personally prefer to travel light with no tripods, umbrellas and assistants. I do, however carry a spare camera, extra batteries and chargers just in case. I use my custom made led on-camera light that outputs 3400 lux and gives me a whopping 40 feet distance for the entrance shots. It houses *2 power class leds for wide angle coverage and 2 leds with narrow beam reflectors that shell out 8400 lux. Blinding ? yes, but even the sun is blinding if you look directly at it. In a nutshell, yes, you can do a wedding with just a single light, make sure it is bright enough with a dimmer.*
 
The clients I work with like my style of being as out of the way as possible. I'm not part of the event. For that reason I never setup lights during wedding videos if I have any way to avoid it. Sometimes I can't, and an on camera is necessary just to get useable exposure. For indoor sections the lights have been arranged in a way the venue manager finds pleasing, and if I start throwing my own lights around it becomes a film set. Not desirable. On camera lights also conflict with my kit's purpose of being non-intimidating so that people don't change their behavior and notice the camera. But that's for my style and my clients. Yours may be different.
 
I partner in a wedding video company, and I have worked for several other wedding video companies in the past. For the most part I have shot DSLR weddings, and a few weddings with conventional cameras. There have only been a few situations where light was actually needed. These were: a) lighting the bride and groom during the reception while they listened to toasts, where we used small LED panels on the table shining up at the subjects at a low dim that allowed us to remain under 800 ISO, b) lighting the dance floor during the reception, where we used a 1x1 LED panel from one side and shined it directly at the dancing crowd, and had on camera LED lights to give some more light to the dancers, c) lighting various other scenarios during the reception where it was dark.

This is my take on things: they are paying you GOOD money to shoot their wedding, which means they want a GOOD product. So if you have to (softly) light a few things, go for it. I think that LED lights with dimmers work the best, so you aren't overpowering the subjects or the atmosphere. I would rather throw a couple of LED panels underneath where the bride and groom are going to be standing for the ceremony (before the ceremony starts) and get the shot, than not take action and end up with unusable ceremony footage and negative reviews from the couple and their guests.
 
Having filmed weddings now for over 12 years and just recently purchased on camera lighting as well as 250w Lowel lights on 9 - 13' booms, I can say i will NEVER shoot another wedding without them... That is when warranted. We use 4 DVX100b's and until purchasing the lights the footage at receptions mostly was a post production nightmare. I was always able to deliver a very nice product, but man it killed me in the studio. However with the Lowels focused on the dance floor and primary areas of the reception and controlled remotely ($20 switch from Lowes) our product went from great to GREAT!!! Yes we have insurance, and yes we use sandbags on the stands to ensure stability. Generally we are able to place them in or near the vicinity of the DJ's equipment with little or no intrusion. So far the brides have loved it.
 
tom_wise said:
7. I have shot in sanctuary's with NO outside windows at all! I kid you not. No windows and only candles burning, and no flash photography allowed. Splendid!
Click to expand...

What this stills... if so, was the shutterspeed down around 1/10-1/4 sec.? In the case of digital video, one is stuck at 1/24 or 1/30 (shutter at as close to 360 deg. as possible), or more standard, 1/48, 1/50, or 1/60. And so that, along with ISO, and f-stop, sets how 'wonderful' such a situation can be.

I personally would shoot at 1/8 sec. and three in a row, when tripod and light were not available. And very frequently I'd get a 'good enough' shot, maybe occasionally 'very nice shot'... but often it would be blurry on someone's part, either subjects moving, or me...
 
skinners1 said:
Having filmed weddings now for over 12 years and just recently purchased on camera lighting as well as 250w Lowel lights on 9 - 13' booms, I can say i will NEVER shoot another wedding without them... That is when warranted. We use 4 DVX100b's and until purchasing the lights the footage at receptions mostly was a post production nightmare.
Click to expand...

Yeah, dance floor shooting and the 'romantic darkness' are sort of anathema... at least for 'good photos/filming'...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top