Wedding - 1st Dance lighting

[Jump]

Interested in seeing how you guys light the first dance!

I have recently started experimenting a little more with flash and in particular OCF, I must admit I don't like flash that much and try to avoid it at all costs when shooting a wedding however I really want to add the wow factor to my first dance images and feel that OCF may give me just that....

Any tips, examples, set up shots etc would be very much appreciated

 

[Dave.L]

My last wedding was forecast to rain all day ......... thankfully it didnt ..... so as a precaution I took my Interfit studio lights with me ...... to get some decent interior lighting ......... decided to set them up for first dance either side of the dance floor angled at 45 degrees to each other with simple shoot through brollies ........ the same can be set up with strobes..... fired with Yongnuo triggers, this gave me some really pleasing shots, well the B+G thought so.


Fairly new to weddings so others will probably have different/better ideas.

Sample shots ...

[/url][/IMG]

[/url][/IMG]



Dave ....

 

[narcotiks]

flash during the first dance can give some pretty dramatic lighting. the way i see it, this will be a fairly fast moving part of the wedding so a high shutter speed is paramount. I also dont like to take chances with the first dance as lets face it, its only going to happen once so i prefer to be safe.

none the less, pre-planning is key to success, as a photographer you should always be in what i like to call the 'Jason Bourne' mode. Always taking notes of how your surroundings will benefit you. Even something trivial such as where you will be positioning yourself will make a huge difference.

 

[chrisgeary]

I usually shoot with available light. Last weekend's wedding available light was just about acceptable. 1/125, f1.4, ISO9000.

It's a little grainy but I quite like that. Using flash is quite intrusive, so I use it as a last resort only. One venue last year in late October, it was so dark that I had to use studio flash:

 

[Moos3h]

Controversial mode: In my opinion (dons flame retardant suit) people that say "I don't like flash" often don't know how best to deploy it, dramatic but sometimes true.

Firing flash at very low shutter speeds (1/15) SHOULD give you some lovely natural-looking shots where the B+G are frozen against a pleasing background but you will have to be comfortable with the technique in that setting, so practise on some other guests and move yourself to simulate the face that there will be movement in shot.

In my opinion it's crucial to have some 'setting' to the shot - the ones shown above where the bride and groom are isolated are lovely shots, but I'd never personally go for that, preferring ones like the others posted where you see some context of those watching - you get some lovely expressions.

 

[chip]

Backlit by speedlight