Flash during ceremony question

Hi all,

Im doing my 4th wedding this weekend. To date, I have not used an flash during the ceremony. That said, the banquet hall that the ceremony will be in is not exactly going to be bright. I could jack ISO and shoot with 2.8 lenses, but was wondering if anyone shoots ceremony with on camera speedlight when its allowed? Ceilings are around 10ft (will double check during wedding rehearsal).

Some people do, I do not. 2.8 may not cut it. Hopefully you have an 85mm, which is what I typically use. However, if you have a 5d3 or similar, you can jack up the iso on the 2.8 zoom and hope its good enough.

Thanks Nick. I do have a 50mm 1.8. I can also borrow an 85L and 135L from my brother in law if needed. I guess Ill play around with it during the wedding rehearsal.

Very rarely do I use flash during a ceremony. With modern cameras and fast glass, having enough light isn't much of an issue. However, if the quality is poor, I'll introduce the idea of using some slight fill or bounce. In the last four years as a professional wedding photographer, I think I may have used flash twice during a ceremony.

Trent Gillespie wrote in post #16309238
Very rarely do I use flash during a ceremony. With modern cameras and fast glass, having enough light isn't much of an issue. However, if the quality is poor, I'll introduce the idea of using some slight fill or bounce. In the last four years as a professional wedding photographer, I think I may have used flash twice during a ceremony.

Thanks Trent! On the 2 times you did use flash, was it distracting to the actual ceremony? The B&G say they are totally fine with it but dont want to distract from the important event. Im planning on bouncing. I honestly am trying to avoid borrowing an 85L and 135L because they are not on my insurance plan. I thought about renting something faster as well but I am on tight budget. I think what i will do is ask the bride to have lighting set up for rehearsal tomorrow night the same way it will be during ceremony and even try a few bounce flash vs jacking ISO on my cameras. I will have a 40D, 50D and 7D to shoot with as well as a second shooter helping me out.

johnandbentley wrote in post #16309283
Thanks Trent! On the 2 times you did use flash, was it distracting to the actual ceremony? The B&G say they are totally fine with it but dont want to distract from the important event. Im planning on bouncing. I honestly am trying to avoid borrowing an 85L and 135L because they are not on my insurance plan. I thought about renting something faster as well but I am on tight budget. I think what i will do is ask the bride to have lighting set up for rehearsal tomorrow night the same way it will be during ceremony and even try a few bounce flash vs jacking ISO on my cameras. I will have a 40D, 50D and 7D to shoot with as well as a second shooter helping me out.

I didn't receive any negative feedback regarding the flash, but I don't think it was favorable. As long as you aren't banging out 8 frames in 2 seconds, you should be fine. If you decide to use flash, think through each shot so you only need 1 or 2 frames to nail it. You also should talk to the officiant in regard to using flash.

Lastly, if you have access to it, you might think about setting up some constant lighting for ambient fill. A few well placed lights could solve your problem.

My attitude regarding flash (and I should mention that I'm definitely of the non-intrusive school) usage during ceremonies has relaxed slightly in the past year or so.

When there are cases for which adding lighting will dramatically improve the quality of the images such that they would then be coherent with the look my clients expect from me I'll totally use it. If you have clients who trust you and the venue allows it, most will say 'do what you need to do'. Thankfully I don't have to use flash very often--I'd say 10% of the time.

Just remember to distinguish between 1)quantity and 2) quality of light when making the assessment. Fast glass and modern cameras may help with (1) but they do zilch for (2).

As long as you are selective in your use of flash and you have it set to low power to balance whatever ambient you have its not particularly intrusive. Ideally you would go natural light but some venues are just not lit well enough for that.

Thanks for the advice everyone, much appreciated!

150 odd ceremonies, used flash once. Once was in a hotel function that was practically dark, so I used two strobes. Never needed it in a church. If you can't get 2.8 1/100th ISO3200 then light it.

On my last wedding two weeks ago, I had one body with a flash + 24-105 on it, and one with a 35mm 1.4. It was relatively early in the day (11 am) and there were a few HUGE windows backlighting the couple. Happy I used a flash and gave myself the option. The shots without a flash came out great, but there's a handful that really stand out on the flash shots, that I wouldn't have been able to make otherwise.

Of course I talked about this with the couple beforehand. Explained to them that my style is usually to get relatively close and "dance" around juggling two cameras. They were totally on board with this.

I can't remember the last ceremony I used flash at. Maybe once in the last 100+ weddings. Fast glass and high ISO capable cameras are what I use. Two, three or four bodies as necessary. Generally three during the ceremony most times.

With 2.8 glass and ISO 3200, it should be enough for most events.

Be careful with going lower than 2.8 on long lenses - the dof will be razor thin. In dim conditions, you're focus is going to have to be dead on.

i have not used a flash in ceremony but may be using flash on an overly bright ceremony.
currently only has speedlites but might have to get some soild lights to kill the bright sun - Dislike.

dark you can use flash, overly bright you do need flash to get decent photos too. of course, overly bright can work without flash too.

I ended up having my assistant park in row four aisle seat with flash and wide angle lens to get the coming down aisle shots. Then I did ceremony with 70-200 and no flash with ISO at 1600 on 7D while he set up two flash/umbrella stands and his camera on tripod and snapped 1 shot of each pair coming back down the aisle. The minister said it was fine to use flash and she was used to it... still, I wanted to keep us photogs from being any kind of distraction to the ceremony.