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Tangents

10 – just ambient light


flash photography techniques
more examples ~ just ambient light ~ which flashgun?

At this point I just want to show that I’m not actually addicted to using a flashgun, (all evidence to the contrary), and actually do know when to switch it off … especially when the officiant states that no flash will be allowed during the ceremony. An understandable sentiment.

Also, when the available light is perfect, there is no need to try and enhance it or control it with light from a strobe. And then there are times when using flash would destroy great ambient light.

And as with the other pages, the idea is that we be very aware of the quality of the light and direction of the light.

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With this wedding, the rabbi informed me a few minutes before the ceremony, that he won’t allow flash. That is when those f1.4 optics come in really handy!

Specific settings: Nikon D2H; Nikon 85mm f1.4
1/100th @ f1.4 @ 500 iso / manual; matrix metering / ambient light only

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Here I asked the bride and groom to dance along the path, away from me towards the grass. I took a series of photographs, and in this one image, the dress lifted perfectly. In this scenario I didn’t bother using flash since I knew they would be some distance from me. Also, this image is more about the movement and gestures, rather than details in faces.

Specific settings: Nikon D2x; Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR
1/500th @ f4 @ 400 iso / manual; matrix metering / ambient light only

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This photograph was taken in the hotel lobby, using only the tungsten light mounted inside a strip, as part of a pillar.

I asked the bride to lean in towards the pillar of light, and then had the groom snuggle in closer.  Flash would’ve been completely superfluous here and destroyed the mood.

specific settings:
Canon 1D mk2N
Canon 24-70mm f2.8
1/125th @ f5 @ 640 iso
manual; matrix metering
ambient light only

I kept the WB purposely very warm here, since it adds to the mood – instead of aiming for a ‘correct’ WB.

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I took a series of photographs here using flash – on-camera and off-camera strobes – but when the videographer moved behind the bride and groom, I switched it all off, and used the video light as back-light.

specific settings:
Canon 1D mk2
Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS
1/125th @ f2.8 @ 800 iso
manual; eval metering
ambient light only

Once again I kept the WB purposely very warm. It just looks so much better than the ‘correct’ WB where the veil is white again.

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Here too I used the videographer’s light – and it helped a lot in that it created a spot-light effect on the couple’s faces.

The rest of the light was just the available incandescent lighting of the room.

specific settings:
Canon 1Dmk2
Canon 50mm f1.4
1/80th @ f1.4 @ 1250 iso
manual; eval metering
ambient light only

… and back to using a flashgun .. but which one?

 

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