Two Questions about the Sun and Outdoor Ceremonies

Yeah I just had one where the bride was in the sun and the groom was in the shade.
They weren't horrible until the bride ducked her face into the shadow from the grooms head.
Without flash on the grooms face they would have been a total disaster.
Flashed them, reduced contrast and pumped up the exposures. They came out acceptable.

On the really bad ones go black and white and reduce contrast and use the shadow highlight tool conservatively to even everything out....then increase black point conservatively to taste.

had this problem this weekend... what did i do about it... nothing. I didn't choose the location.

I was so far back on camera flash wasn't gonna make much a difference and I dont' set up additional lights during the ceremony. I find them tacky and distracting.

i'll post up a photo or two soon.

I'm of the mindset of educating my brides BEFORE the wedding shoot -- and then letting them live with the consequences. I explain to my brides what soft light and harsh light is -- why soft light is DEFINITELY what they want, and that they've probably never seen a harsh lit photo for a reason. I make it clear that a common denominator in almost all of my imagery is soft light. I don't shoot engagements or day after sessions before two hours before sunset ever -- and explain this to be the reason.

Since I do this, I have the majority of my brides checking with me as to when they will get married. I'd say 80% of my brides last year checked with me about their wedding times? And they were willing to change if they chose a terrible time.

I'm sorry, but that is a TERRIBLE situation you were in. I know there are lighting gurus like Lloyd who would be able to make that work, but trying to fix that terrible situation would stress me out and make me shoot worse for the rest of the day (mainly because I wouldn't believe that all my work in lighting it would make it look any better -- if I believed differently, I'd of course do it with less stress).

So again, I tell people what makes great photography and what looks bad (harsh light as shown in your images). They tend to listen every time

Bobby

_______________

San Diego Wedding Photographer (blog)
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the Raddest Photo Trip Ever!!!
Come on the next one Dec 6th-19th 2010!!!!!

[QUOTE=bnlearle;104430​73]I'm of the mindset of educating my brides BEFORE the wedding shoot -- and then letting them live with the consequences.
Since I do this, I have the majority of my brides checking with me as to when they will get married. I'd say 80% of my brides last year checked with me about their wedding times? And they were willing to change if they chose a terrible time.
So again, I tell people what makes great photography and what looks bad (harsh light as shown in your images). They tend to listen every time

Bobby (QUOTE)

That is cool that you can get away with that.
I tell them I can shoot in whatever they throw at me. I wouldn't even think about trying to tell a bride she should change her timing to accomodate my need for better light to photograph her wedding.
We do mention it to them if they want to have the ceremony between 12 and 4 that the light will be crap and it will be hot....and we have had a couple change the time to later in the day.
Our brides seem more concerned with the over all schedule and leaving lots of time for the dinner and reception.

Likewise, I educate my couples on the quality of light during those magical (and un-magical) hours of the day. While they might look to take advantage of those times in trying to find a window for a few nice portraits, I've never had anyone adjust their entire schedule to accomodate it. Indeed, 90+% of the time, they've already booked the venue and are locked into a schedule by the time they come see me.

romphotog wrote in post #10450863
ok, so why didnt you get closer? I hate both photos. horrible. The groom is sweating like a hog, the bride's face isnt lit. Why f3.2? Flash could've resolved the problem.



who cares.

Where did this come from? WAY over the top if you ask me, or am I missing something...?

Shockey wrote in post #10447330
That is cool that you can get away with that.
I tell them I can shoot in whatever they throw at me. I wouldn't even think about trying to tell a bride she should change her timing to accomodate my need for better light to photograph her wedding.
We do mention it to them if they want to have the ceremony between 12 and 4 that the light will be crap and it will be hot....and we have had a couple change the time to later in the day.
Our brides seem more concerned with the over all schedule and leaving lots of time for the dinner and reception.

I think you misunderstood me. I'll shoot anything. However, that doesn't mean I don't have a preference. You pretty much said the exact same thing that I said. I tell them what makes good photos, what makes crap photos, and then they tend to revolve a lot of their wedding day around that (as the photos are very important to them). There's no command on my part -- just education

Bobby

_______________

San Diego Wedding Photographer (blog)
Twitter -- Facebook
the Raddest Photo Trip Ever!!!
Come on the next one Dec 6th-19th 2010!!!!!

romphotog wrote in post #10450863
ok, so why didnt you get closer? I hate both photos. horrible. The groom is sweating like a hog, the bride's face isnt lit. Why f3.2? Flash could've resolved the problem.


who cares.

1. I can't help the sweating, the space was tight and I didn't want to stand between the family and the couple, and as I said I could've obviously shot with a more narrow aperature but elected not to.

2. Just letting people know why the pictures will be little red X's in a little while.

romphotog wrote in post #10450863
ok, so why didnt you get closer? I hate both photos. horrible. The groom is sweating like a hog, the bride's face isnt lit. Why f3.2? Flash could've resolved the problem.

Ohhh, this is an easy fix...

Photog - "HEY! Whooooa, stop the ceremony, we got sweat here! Somebody get the groom a paper towel. I can't take photos of him sweating! Just ain't gonna happen. I'm not gonna do it."

few minutes later, Photog again - "HEY HEY HEY, Hold up, sorry to interupt again but Bride, you need to move. The natural sunlight in this location you decided to get married in isn't working. Move a few steps over. Thanks, carry on."

You know, some people don't want the photogs to get closer to them. Maybe it was possible here, maybe it wasn't. We don't know. He was where he was and that is that. Some people don't want additional lights set up around them during their ceremony. I wouldn't. They choose their outdoor locations for a reason. For their natural beauty. You start erecting black metal poles, soft boxes, and big umbrellas and that is all gone. Sometimes, you got to work with what you got.

Could this have been done a little different? Sure. I would have moved to shoot over the brides shoulder for a few shots and then over the grooms shoulder for a few shots. Exposing for the faces I was shooting and not caring about background blowout. Shots would have accomplised capturing the emotion of the the subject without me using any sort of flash or getting closer. The brides face would have still not been lit but would have been the main focus and properly exposed. No flash needed.

I'm not sure if the OP did this or not but I would have consulted with the bride & groom on locations, pros & cons, perhaps setting some sort of white tent over the area to diffuse the light or at worse case, setup 2 or 3 wireless triggered flash heads to fill light. I hate doing any shoot and going through each shot trying to fix it PP, I feel if I have to spend more than a minute on a single shot PP, I should have taken a better photo period. Some photos, you'll spend a lot more than that making it better or adding some kind of wild effects but that's by choice not because you have to.

sctbiggs wrote in post #10452892
Ohhh, this is an easy fix...

Photog - "HEY! Whooooa, stop the ceremony, we got sweat here! Somebody get the groom a paper towel. I can't take photos of him sweating! Just ain't gonna happen. I'm not gonna do it."

few minutes later, Photog again - "HEY HEY HEY, Hold up, sorry to interupt again but Bride, you need to move. The natural sunlight in this location you decided to get married in isn't working. Move a few steps over. Thanks, carry on."

yup; photojournalism at its best!

enrigonz wrote in post #10452981
I'm not sure if the OP did this or not but I would have consulted with the bride & groom on locations, pros & cons, perhaps setting some sort of white tent over the area to diffuse the light or at worse case, setup 2 or 3 wireless triggered flash heads to fill light. I hate doing any shoot and going through each shot trying to fix it PP, I feel if I have to spend more than a minute on a single shot PP, I should have taken a better photo period. Some photos, you'll spend a lot more than that making it better or adding some kind of wild effects but that's by choice not because you have to.

The location and setting were already set by the couple before they ever came to see me. In retrospect, I probably could've done something with a remote speedlight closer in manual, but space was very tight as was time for the purpose of setting up and metering.

Peacefield wrote in post #10453180
The location and setting were already set by the couple before they ever came to see me. In retrospect, I probably could've done something with a remote speedlight closer in manual, but space was very tight as was time for the purpose of setting up and metering.

Years ago when I did video, I was shooting an indoor wedding where a stray light beam dutifully appeared through a tiny isolated window at 2:30 p.m., precisely when the couple stepped together to recite their vows. The bride had a bright streak across her right cheek the whole time. Damndest thing. If only they had stood an inch or two forward or to the rear...

Like I said... sometimes it just "is what it is".