Ceremony during at dusk?

[viewing-the-invisible]

Hello all,

I have a wedding coming up for this summer where the ceremony is set to kick off at sundown and all the bride and groom portraits are set to be shot after the ceremony. I am just wondering what you would do to combat this shooting in the dark. For example, easy portable light setups, specific equipment you would suggest, general technique and maybe some examples of work in a similar situation?

The wedding will be shot in the bride's backyard in a small country town.

Current equipment list includes: Canon 20d (hoping to upgrade shortly and use the 20d as a back-up), canon 70-200 L, 24-70L and 18-200mm tamron and the Canon 580 flash. I will end up renting other equipment that may be suggested.

[viewing-the-invisible]

Thanks for moving this. I don't know how I mixed that up.

[viewing-the-invisible]

Any thoughts?

[dugcross]

I don't have any thoughts on this but I'm going to keep an eye on this post because I'm in the same situation. I have my first ever wedding shoot on March 15. It's and outdoor wedding at 7:00pm

[rowdyred94]

Is there some reason you can't shoot beforehand? I'd get my hands on an 85L f/1.8 or 50 f/1.4 to catch some natural light shots while you can.

[Tee Why]

I too would think doing the shots before the wedding during the late afternoon before the ceremony may be a good idea.

If you have to shoot in the dark, maybe constant lighting source maybe a good idea so you can see while posing the subjects and they don't go blind from the strobe going off.

[dugcross]

Well as for my case in the wedding that I'm shooting, as tradition goes, most brides don't want to be seen by the groom until the actual wedding. So that in itself poses a problem of taking photos before the wedding.

[rowdyred94]

I thought that convention went out with the Johnson administration.

[viewing-the-invisible]

The Bride and Groom not seeing each other before the wedding is precisely the reason I am having this issue. They are adamant in their decision but I am willing to work with them on it.

I am doing some photographs like groom alone, bride alone at seperate times before the wedding. But the actual b&G shots have to be done afterward and in the dark.

More thoughts on technique, maybe a light set-up?

[viewing-the-invisible]

I really wish they would let me post this in the wedding section...

[rammy]

I don't do weddings but I'll try some suggestions.

I would suggest getting the 580 and two 430's to act as slaves to the 580. Look at getting a couple of 500W lights. Use diffusers to disperse the lighting. You may be able to hire this equipment if you start looking now. Think about the background too. You don't want a blacked out background so getting something to put on the floor and some background artifacts or look for a spot that has something nice in the background that you can light up.

Make sure you have the same bulb types so you don't have to worry about white balance that much.

Take a practise out your back yard. See how the 580 acts and look at the light fall off. See where the dark areas are.

Ask the B&G for a daylight shot of the backyard and think about where you want to position them. Look again at what is in the background that will be distracting or a hindrance or maybe help make the shot. If there is no pleasing background then maybe you can hire a backdrop but they look tacky for weddings IMHO.

Can you arrange to do a photo shoot the day after if they are not heading straight off to their honeymoon, although most do?

[viewing-the-invisible]

I'll agree that renting a backdrop would be tacky and I do not plan on doing so.

Lighting up the background sounds like a good idea. But I wonder how it will look when you actually do it. Also, power supply becomes an issue. Any thoughts on that?

I'll definitely be practicing with whatever setup I get. I just need to figure out a setup.

[Zansho]

I'd strongly consider getting a few 580EX flashes and doing a strobist setup, you can see quite a few of their setups in the lighting section. Just have the 580's shoot with an umbrella to diffuse the light, and try to mix it in with the ambient light as well. By the way, there's no reason why you can't use the natural light to your advantage, sometimes silhouetted shots can be really awesome if done right.

[ZeroOne86]

I'm not much of an expert on this, but I agree with everyone suggesting the lights. I went with my wife to a wedding which ended up being our last for this reason among others. The wedding took awhile to kick off and it ended up being at night. At this time we didn't have any external flash. We only had to small lights they used to light up the area and our crappy on-camera flash. Other then that it was pitch black. Needless to say the photos didn't turn out that great and sadly the bride was disappointed. So that's why were leaving the wedding photography to other people with the equipment to do it. Wish you the best of luck with it.