HELP! How do I make my bride not look like the Angel Gabriel?

I'm asking all Wedding Portrait Experts for help.

I'll be shooting my fourth wedding this coming Thursday. The first three were shot with great success but mostly in natural light. This wedding will happen at 11:30am with portraits at noon (!) in mid-day sun. Of course, I will look for shade but I'm clueless as to when it comes shooting in harsh daylight with a flash and there will for sure be some couple and family shots that will be shot in the sun.

I tried a few test shots and am not doing well. My model bride looks like her dress is burnin' bright like an angel even with flash underexposure compensation and with camera exposure compensation. I've tested with direct flash and with my cloudy lightsphere.

So, my questions are:

#1: When shooting portraits or candids in mid-day sun, what's the best use for an external flash in regards to direction, diffuser and settings? How can I get a proper exposure; retaining the detail of the dress but also the lightness of face? How do you shoot, be it manual or AV or TV?

#2: What's the best metering mode for bride and groom portraits? Would this change if I used my grey card?

#3: Any other tips for shooting mid-day sun? UV filter? Etc...?

I really appreciate any tips you can give me! I'm not familiar enough with RAW to risk it for the wedding so will be shooting jpeg.

GEAR: 40d, 20d, 17-50mm f2.8 Tamron, 85mm f1.8 Canon, 70-200 f2.8 L Canon, 430EX, bounce card, lightsphere, UV, polarizer

First, shoot raw + JPEG. The raw will give you lots of leeway, and the JPEG will serve as your backup. You can process the raw image with the DPP program that comes with your camera.

Second, underexpose the dress drastically for natural light while underexposing slightly for flash. This will help keep the whites from being blown out. You can bring up the exposure selectively in post processing. If you are limited to handheld flash, use a flash bracket to get the flash above and to one side of the sight line.

Bracket your exposures! With flash, this often means manual bracketing, but bracket anyway.

Thanks 20Droger. I ahve a bracket for my flash and will use it.

But if I underexpose the dress then the face is so dark, I imagine even post processing won't do the trick. Is this what you do? Do you ever use a light meter or grey card?

Might want to see if you can get someone to hold a scrim above the bride to help soften the light that the overhead noon sun will give.

Good question! I will be watching this. I just have to say your subject title made me LOL..

If you have the option of using flash, why are you doing it outdoors anyway? The light would be much softer indoors (vs. mid day sun), and everyone would probably be more comfortable.

Shoot in manual mode and keep taking test shots until the dress starts to blink on the histogram then back off a little. As long as the dress isnt in more light than the brides face you should be fine.
The only problems the bright sun should give you is harsh shadows on the face. For that you can just use some fill flash, reflector, or diffusion panel to make some shade.

There is a reflecting pool at this temple and the bride and groom are insisting on having portrait and family shots standing over the pool...at 12pm. Oy. I've managed to convince them to let me take more shots elsewhere but want to make sure these are great as well. Thanks so far for the tips.

britt wrote in post #5771674
I tried a few test shots and am not doing well. My model bride looks like her dress is burnin' bright like an angel even with flash underexposure compensation and with camera exposure compensation. I've tested with direct flash and with my cloudy lightsphere.

My first guess would be that the overexposure is caused by the ambient: If you don't use HSS, the flash will limit your cameras shutterspeed to the sync speed (1/250 or so, depending on camera).
If you are using ISO 100, that would mean you will get overexposure by daylight if your aperture is wider then about f/11 or f/8 (sunny 16)

Whenever possible have the sun at your subjects back. If you use flash, it will be much more effective. Have a very good lens shade for you will be facing the sun. Be aware that doing this at high noon the sun can sometimes clip noses. You might be pleasantly surprised at how well this can turn out. Way over 1000 weddings & this technique has rarely been a problem for me. Good luck......