favorite image from the weekend – romantic bridal portrait
When possible during a lull in the wedding reception, I like to sneak the bride and groom away for a few minutes to do romantic portraits. Since time is usually tight, and the couple wants to enjoy as much of their reception as possible, I like to work efficiently. Jessica and Michael had their reception at a venue where I hadn’t worked before, so during dinner time, I quickly went around the venue with my assistant, to scout a few places to photograph the couple.
In the basement of this venue, I noticed the light shining through gates … casting interesting shadows on the wall. I thought this might be ideal to pose the couple, and then light them beautifully with a hand-held video light.
Here is the test shot with my assistant, Jessica, more or less in position. I wanted to see if my pre-visualization would work.
Yup, the patterns on the wall looked interesting .. at these exposure settings.
1/30 @ f3.2 @ 1000 ISO
Jessica, my assistant-with-an-attitood was under-exposed at these settings. Perfect scenario for video light to light up the couple. Because video light has a fast light fall-off to the edges, it is perfect for lighting up just the couple, and not washing out the patterns on the wall. Bounce flash would’ve been unconfined, and would’ve lit up the entire place .. and I would’ve lost those interesting shapes on the walls.
The test shot confirmed that my idea would work. Then it was a quick set-up with the couple when I had them there. We could shoot fast, and move on.
Image details:
1/30 @ f3.2 @ 1000 ISO … with video light; no flash
Nikon D3; (B&H); Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 AF-S (B&H)
Litepanels MicroPro LED video light (B&H)
more articles on wedding photography …
more articles on using video light for photography …
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Also join us on the Tangents forum for further discussions.
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If you find these articles interesting and of value, then you can help by
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Interesting. You metered for ambient light and then let the video light be your light source. How would you know if the video light would provide enough light, since you’re not relying on TTL?
Comment by Stephen — October 11, 2010 @ 10:47 pm
Comment by Neil vN — October 11, 2010 @ 10:49 pm
Hi Neil. Did you use a monopod? I see that you’re not mentioning it anymore in your gear. Regards!
Comment by emopunk — October 12, 2010 @ 1:12 am
Comment by Neil vN — October 12, 2010 @ 1:48 am
Neil, you Litepanel must have been very close I’m guessing – any pull back shots?
Also, with continuous light you are not freezing motion so 1/30 seems a bit risky to me handheld no?
Comment by George — October 12, 2010 @ 8:00 am
Comment by Neil vN — October 12, 2010 @ 12:29 pm
I like the effect, while a lite panel is not in my camera bag, I can see its value. Having read this blog for about a year now, Neil, thank you! You have expanded my horizon on how to take pictures in varied light conditions. Such conditions would have scared me off a year ago. With the tools that I have at my disposal I would have to use a snooted flash unit which would have retained the shadows on the wall at the expense of harsh light on the subject.
Thanks again,
Robert
Comment by Robert — October 12, 2010 @ 6:25 pm
A snoot/ grid on the flash would have worked as well right? The shadow transitions on the couple would have been a bit harder perhaps.
Can’t beat the video light for set-up speed though…
Cheers!
Bogdan
Comment by Bogdan — October 13, 2010 @ 10:01 pm