Shoot Weddings Like a Pro: There Is No Retaking Wedding Photos. It’s Got to Be Right the First Time!
- The Trick for Low-Light Shooting in a Church
- Getting Soft, Diffused Light with Flash, Part 1
- Getting Soft, Diffused Light with Flash, Part 2
- Use Your Flash at Outdoor Weddings
- Keep Backup Memory Cards on You
- Formals: Who to Shoot First
- Formals: Where to Aim
- The Trick to Keeping Them from Blinking
- Reception Photos: Making Them Dance
- Your Main Job: Follow the Bride
- Formals: How High to Position Your Camera
- Formals: Dont Cut Off Joints
- Formals: Build Off the Bride and Groom
- Formals: The Trick to Great Backgrounds
- Shooting the Details (& Which Ones to Shoot)
- Change Your Vantage Point to Add Interest
- Finding That Perfect Bridal Light
- How to Pose the Bride with Other People
- What to Shoot with a Wide-Angle Lens
- Back Up Your Photos Onsite
- If Shooting JPEGs, Use a Preset White Balance
Use Your Flash at Outdoor Weddings
One trick that wedding photographers have been using for years is to use fill flash outdoors on sunny days. I know, it sounds crazy to use a flash when the sun is bright in the sky, but wedding photographers add flash to these daylight shots to help eliminate those hard, harsh shadows in their subjects’ faces, and make the bride and groom look more natural under these undesirable lighting conditions (plus it will usually add nice catchlights in the eyes of your subjects, as well). Make sure you check the results in your LCD monitor to make sure your light is properly balanced. Here’s a shot of me taken while shooting a recent wedding. Notice the flash doesn’t fire straight into the wedding party’s faces. Instead, the head is rotated to the right (or left) and tilted 45°, so the flash fills in the shadows yet doesn’t have that harsh look you’d get by aiming the flash straight at your subjects. As long as you’re not more than 8 or 10 feet away from your subject, don’t worry—the flash will still be effective, even though it’s not aiming straight on.