Shooting in low light situations at weddings

[Rooster]

Hi there,

I've got a wedding coming up in three weeks time and I went to check out the venue the other day, it's a city-centre hotel. The ceremony will take place in a function room which has virtually no natural light. It has a low white celing so I'm thinking I'll light this by aiming on-camera flash straight up and use the whole ceiling to bounce the light down, is that right? I tried a few test shots while poking about and it seems to give a good even light. Other shots will take place in a dimly-lit bar and another function room which has pillars which light up. The first dance will take place here. I want to retain some of the ambient lighting in these rooms while still illuminating the subjects properly. I'm planning on using an ETTL off-camera flash using an ETTL trigger with rear-curtain sync firing through a portable softbox. I'm concerned that the ambient lighting will be warm but the flash light will be cold and white, is this a photoshop job to selectively warm up the subjects or can I gel the flash to warm up its colour or what? Any suggestions on lighting would be welcome.

 

[Yv]

Suggestion A - have a plan B for the ceremony, not all registrars are fond of flash. Be prepared to crank up the ISO and use the fastest lens you own just in case.

As for the rest, use balanced flash & ambient in whatever way you are most comfortable with, don't try anything new to you on the day unless you are supremely confident it will work. You can gel the flash if you want, but to be honest, I've never found it a problem, you get a naturally lit couple from the flash, surrounded by warm ambient.

 

[modchild]

Use a fast lens instead of flash during the ceremony. I shot a wedding in July in a very dull church and no flash allowed. I used a f2.8 lens and upped the ISO to suit to get a shutter speed fast enough. I did another wedding in November that was at a registry office and although flash was allowed I was asked to keep it to a minimum amount of shots. I did 6 or 7 of the most important shots with flash but the rest were again with fast lens and upped ISO. Be sure to shoot in raw as well as there may be a colour cast from the lights, there was an awful yellow cast in the registry office I shot the second wedding in and if I'd just shot jpeg they would of been ruined.

As for the first dance, just use ETTL flash with a shutter speed slow enough to catch the ambient light in the shot. I tried an off camera flash at the reception in November and found it more hassle than it was worth. I just went back to on camera flash and it was much easier to get the shots I was after. HTH.

 

[Rooster]

Yeah, I usually just use high ISO and f/4.5 during the ceremony but I'll have to crank it up really high for this one. I'll collar the registrar and see what's allowed. Think I'll experiment with dragging the shutter but I'm scared the shots will be blurry. Are we talking tenths of a second exposure to let the ambient light be captured?

 

[modchild]

I did the 'first dance' and most of the other night shots with my 5D3, 24-105 f4L IS and 580EX II and most of my shots were at 1/60sec and between f4.5 and f6.3 using ETTL and got loads of shots with the ambient light showing plenty of details in them. Also with the first wedding, the one in the very dull church, I was using the 5D3 and Sigma 24-70 f2.8 EX HSM and with any shots at f4.5 or above I was up around ISO4500 for a decent shutter speed, even at f2.8 I had to go up to ISO2500 in the really dark area while they signed the register. Thankfully the 5D3 is very capable at high ISO's and the shots were still very good, the Bride & Groom were over the moon with them anyway. What camera and lens are you using for the wedding?

 

[KIPAX]

surely first dance wont have the same lighting as when you looked around... would imagine curtains shut. lights off disco lights on....

 

[KIPAX]

surely first dance wont have the same lighting as when you looked around... would imagine curtains shut. lights off disco lights on....

sigh.. in case thats taken the wrong way

I mean.. perhaps you should consider the possibility that the lighting will be a lot different in real life situation of last dance and not as it is when looking around?

 

[indiabravo]

If the room had virtually no natural light, be careful to work around the lighting being used. A lot of these modern city hotels use the small halogen spotlights/downlights which can cause very harsh shadowing if you're not using flash.

 

[Rooster]

sigh.. in case thats taken the wrong way

I mean.. perhaps you should consider the possibility that the lighting will be a lot different in real life situation of last dance and not as it is when looking around?

Oh yes, I realise the conditions will be different on the day. I will have to capture a moving subject in low light conditions. I could do this easily enough with TTL flash but I'd like to do it without nuking them with white light if possible and retian the warm lighting. I'm thinking I'll put my ETTL flash on a tripod controlled from my camera and shooting through an umbrella or softbox. I'll have time to set up and experiment I think, if it doesn't work then it's on-camera ETTL at a decent shutter-speed, maybe bounced off the ceiling.

 

[Rooster]

I did the 'first dance' and most of the other night shots with my 5D3, 24-105 f4L IS and 580EX II and most of my shots were at 1/60sec and between f4.5 and f6.3 using ETTL and got loads of shots with the ambient light showing plenty of details in them. Also with the first wedding, the one in the very dull church, I was using the 5D3 and Sigma 24-70 f2.8 EX HSM and with any shots at f4.5 or above I was up around ISO4500 for a decent shutter speed, even at f2.8 I had to go up to ISO2500 in the really dark area while they signed the register. Thankfully the 5D3 is very capable at high ISO's and the shots were still very good, the Bride & Groom were over the moon with them anyway. What camera and lens are you using for the wedding?

I'll be using a 5D II and probably the Canon 24-70 f/2.8 L. Decent at high ISO but probably nowhere near as good as the mk III. Fortunately my mate who is second-shooting for me has a mark III so between us we should be able to nail it.

 

[Rooster]

If the room had virtually no natural light, be careful to work around the lighting being used. A lot of these modern city hotels use the small halogen spotlights/downlights which can cause very harsh shadowing if you're not using flash.

Yes, I noticed a case of raccoon eyes from downlighting when I did some test shots a few days ago, think they are too weak to show up in a flash-lit shot though, they should be overpowered.