Tangents

wedding photography: positioning your flash for the formals

February 7, 2013

wedding photography: positioning the lighting for the groups & formals

In setting up the lighting for wedding formals in the church, the question often crops up – where do you place the lights. How far from your subjects do you place the lights.

The photograph above shows how and where I place the flash with the umbrella – about 3 pews in, just behind me or to my left (or right). This is approximate though. Two pews in would be fine. Of course, if you’re shooting the wedding formals elsewhere in a different location, just use the same idea.

The closer you bring the light, the more you risk having the light come from too steep an angle, and giving you shadowed eyes.

In positioning my light here, I can be slightly forward of my light – no chance of lens flare - and I have proper perspective for full-length photos. You really do not want to shoot full-length portraits with a wide angle lens. Step back, rather than zoom in!

Placing the light relatively further back like shown here, does bring the light in at a fairly low angle – but it gives open, clean lighting. This is how it looks:

camera settings:
1/100 @ f/5.6 @ 400 ISO

Here I used two speedlights with the single 45″ shoot-through umbrella, to give a wide swathe of light. Both speedlights were gelled with 1/2 Straw CTS – 20×24″ gels (B&H) to help compensate for the Incandescent lighting. I used the RPS Light Bar (B&H) to mount the speedlights together, as described in this article: mounting multiple flashes / speedlites.

The light is spread quite even – even enough for a small group.

The lighting really is meant to be straight-forward. No cross-lighting. No weird shadows. In a large group, no one is half-hidden in someone else’s shadow. The light is meant to be quite flat. You risk few problems this way.

equipment used

Nikon D4 (B&H); Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G (B&H)
(2x) Nikon SB-910 Speedlight (B&H)
RPS Light Bar (B&H) to mount the speedlights
45? white satin umbrella (B&H)
1/2 Straw CTS – 20×24″ gels (B&H)

- a simple lighting setup for photographing the wedding formals
- using off-camera flash for clean predictable results
- the benefits of using off-camera manual flash
- further articles on wedding photography
- NJ wedding photographer

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21 Comments »

Neil,
I assume you are using the 70-200?? Also how many people will you shoot with just ONE light?? How large does the group have to be before you add a second light?? ty, Mike

Comment by mike — February 7, 2013 @ 5:49 pm
Hi there Mike …

I would photograph a group staggered in two rows with this setup, but then I’d push the power of the flashes to maximum, and also raise my ISO to get the necessary depth of field.

I shot the photograph of the couple with the 24-70mm, but racked towards the 70mm setting.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — February 7, 2013 @ 5:50 pm
Thank you for posting this. Yes, I’ve had shadow problems when putting lights on the side, even when having two lights (one left, one right).
My question is, what if the client wants a large group shot (say 20-ish people). Will the 3-pew distance be enough? If you use at least 50mm to get the group shot, will the light stand be in the way?

Comment by Leo Dj — February 7, 2013 @ 5:56 pm
For larger groups, I might move the flash back a bit … but then I bump the ISO to give me more depth of field.

However, I do my homework, and if there are really huge groups – like such as in this article: lighting large groups – then I bring more powerful lighting.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — February 7, 2013 @ 5:57 pm
Yes, my question also. I don’t shoot many weddings anymore, but used to set up two umbrellas for more even lighting for groups. Loved using one Starfish for couples and smaller groups, often placed closer to the front of the aisle so more of the church would be in the background instead of just the altar.

Comment by Colleen — February 7, 2013 @ 5:58 pm
Hello Neil. Quick question: in the last photo, didn’t you feel the need to bump your ISO higher to add more ambient light to your background (plus flash would participate less via TTL)? Was it a subject-backround separation choice?

Comment by Iosif — February 7, 2013 @ 6:15 pm
Yup, I could’ve done that. But I didn’t want to risk too much mixed lighting, even if I did gel my flash. But you’re right, a higher ISO would’ve brought in more of the ambient light. This would’ve made the background brighter.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — February 7, 2013 @ 6:30 pm
I like to do a very similar setup with a just the slightest touch of on axis (hot shoe) fill.

Comment by Davis — February 7, 2013 @ 6:33 pm
may I ask if you could use TTL here or do you choose manual?

Comment by Colleen — February 7, 2013 @ 7:19 pm
Colleen, in a scenario like this, where your subjects remain in a fixed position (in relation to your light), it makes absolutely the most sense to shoot in Manual with your flashes. TTL is handy when the distance changes.

Here’s more: TTL vs Manual flash

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — February 7, 2013 @ 7:46 pm
Neil – I would love to hear how you deal with flat marble or wood walls at the back of the sanctuary & the reflection/specular highlights you get in that situation. Thanks.

Comment by Neville Stringer — February 7, 2013 @ 8:12 pm
Mike, just for you: Mounting multiple flashes

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — February 7, 2013 @ 8:28 pm
Neil, in this particular image, you are using a shoot through. Would that be prefered over a 60″ bounce umbrella you’ve referenced in past posts?

Comment by David Hall — February 7, 2013 @ 8:34 pm
That would work too. It would probably be a lot more efficient than the shoot-through umbrella that bounces a lot of light back into the room.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — February 7, 2013 @ 9:09 pm
oh that’s exactly how I do but I’m too lazy for an umbrella. I just zoom the flash out all the way & at 1/8 of the power at pretty much the same settings on the camera.

Comment by Victoria — February 7, 2013 @ 9:28 pm
Neil,
Can you share the set up for the two flash units with one umbrella?? two flex tt5s??? what bracket did you use?? thanks

Comment by mike — February 7, 2013 @ 10:27 pm
This is quite a challenge!

Here is an example where I placed two flashes (Quantum flashes), high up and behind me. This way I didn’t see the specular reflections in the wooden paneling.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — February 7, 2013 @ 10:29 pm
I found this video interesting:
http://fstoppers.com/how-light-wedding-posed-pictures-church

Basically he bounces studio strobes into the church to get beautiful clean light.

Comment by Michael — February 7, 2013 @ 10:31 pm
Is the image of the couple cropped? (It may not be but for some reason looks like one; just idle curiosity.)

Comment by parv — February 9, 2013 @ 4:15 am
It should be full-frame, however, I do straighten the formal photos as part of my regular post-processing workflow. So there might be slight cropping because of that.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — February 10, 2013 @ 2:16 am
I added a photo of a larger group, to show how even the light is with this lighting setup.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — February 12, 2013 @ 4:50 am