Wedding photography – Dealing with the DJ’s lights
As wedding reception venues and DJs are becoming more sophisticated in their lighting, there’s now the added challenge of spotlights and lasers and other lighting effects that compete with the simplicity of just using flash.
So how do you deal with this? You just deal with this. One way or another.
You can either embrace the colors (as in the example above),
or you can use flash to neutralize some of the wild color casts.
Just how do you do that? Well, there’s a little bit of homework at the end of this.
Very often, I shoot towards the DJ’s booth, so that the wild colors become splashes of color, whether I add (on-camera bounce) flash, or not. This way I don’t have to directly compete with the lights, but they become an enhancement of the image.
With lasers skimming around – my advice is to shoot a lot to make sure you have enough images, in case some were spoiled by bright green dots. Also, learn to love photoshop and the Healing Brush.
With up-lighting that becomes quite prominent – well, there’s the little bit of homework to do at the end!
And if anyone advises you to use specific settings such as (for example): 1/60 @ f/4 @ 1600 ISO to cover every situation, they are fools who are misleading you. There are too many variables for generic camera settings. Scenarios and situations change. You need to adapt.
You’re not a passenger of your camera’s settings. You control them to allow more ambient light in, or less. And if you allow less ambient light in, you need to add additional light, whether flash or video light.
A little bit of homework
- Step-by-step, how do you “neutralize the wild color casts” of any up-lighting or DJ lights, using your flash?
Related articles
- Shooting in low light – flash and incandescent light
- Dealing with the videographer’s light
- Bounce flash photography at wedding receptions (bride: Juana)
- Bouncing on-camera flash in manual mode (bride: Julie)
- more articles about Wedding Photography
- more of my work: New Jersey wedding photographer
Final thoughts
If this all seems like a bit of a stern lecture, you’re quite correct. My reply when asked for specific camera settings is that there is no real value in the numerical value of camera settings. But, there is value and insight in the thought-process.
Back to my seemingly non-advice advice to just deal with things (since you’re a professional who took on to photograph weddings) – You are in control. You decide and you make it work. Innovate and adapt and be creative. You’re not a passenger of your camera’s settings.
To limit the color cast, reduce the ambient by underexposing and use bounce flash to bring up the exposure.
Great article Neil. Any pro shooting weddings with OCL need to understand the dual nature of these types of exposures, and how to tweak each (ambient vs flash). It’s a game of ratios with no default setting but once you “get it” then you can find a creative solution no matter the situation. In this case the DJ lights are simply part of the ambient exposure, and we have control over the extent of its effect on our subjects. Good stuff.
thank you for another great article.
I actually love Dj’s light as a backlight
I ask the DJ to turn off the laser/spotty lights for the first dance and then go nuts from there.. No inclination to PS off green spots in the first dance. As to me the “party lights” are great for everyone on the dance floor but not the first dance .. and saves me a heap of money not wasting time on otherwise great images (hopefully!) Love working with bounce flash and the videographer’s light.. If they don’t have one I tend to set mine up on the other side to get some pretty backlighting too
Same here. I always like framing a shot with the parents in the background of the couple, and sometimes that puts me right next to the DJ. I can usually overpower strong color casts, but the little green laser dots can be such a pain. If the DJ gives any push back, I remind them that their first dance photos are more important than a green laser light. After the formal dances are done, they can do whatever they want lighting wise.
I sometimes shoot at a really low shutter speed with 2nd curtain flash – great for freezing the subjects but allowing the motion of the lights to register – sometimes as low as 1/15th. Word of caution when working with lasers in the room – there is an inherent risk involved shooting into lasers – it WILL f*** a sensor up when working with slower shutter speeds. I might add that I shoot DSLR video as well sometimes and we have it written into the contract that there are to be no lasers pointing towards the cameras. Across and coming from behind is ok though. Another thing that I coordinate with the dj/lighting guys is spotlights. I always push for plain white lights – no colours during the first dance at the very least for the first half of it.
I might add too, that mist/fog machines are a pain in the ass too – some DJ’s just can’t seem to comprehend that the fog is a physical object and that when a flash goes off it more often than not results in an picture of the mist with people in it. That’s why I always push couples to go for the dry ice. That too though it’s only an issue during the main program and conclusion of first dance – when the dance floor is open then it’s fine.
I completely agree with Neil….. most people would be worrying about the colour casts n stuff. But hey why not just make it part of the image. Everyday in advertising and movies, television we see it, but we accept it.
As im always saying photography isn’t just an art…. its YOUR ART….. make the art YOU WANT. Too many people are hung up on what settings are for what situations etc. I used to think like that. Neil convinced me to ditch my light meters. At the end of the day if you don’t like what you see on the lcd screen….. change it….. we have the power to do so.
I mean, if the happy couple have hired a DJ with flashing lights and lasers…. they will expect to see it in the shots. Conversely if they have a candle light reception…. they’ll want to see the atmosphere.
I don’t worry about anything like this anymore because it stops my fun and enjoyment of being a photographer….. capture the moment, whatever it is!
I suppose its a bit like shooting bands in a small poorly lit club where the stage lighting is the main light source, you’d be daft to use your flash to overpower that lighting which is intrinsic to that event at that location. Similarly, when you have function where the DJ’s light is the atmosphere builder, why would you do anything – when shooting to cover that event – that might compromise the lighting and hence the atmosphere. The image at the top of this article works primarily because it has utilised or worked with the light at the venue – rather than eliminating it.
Still haven’t washed my camera by the way Neil!
Maybe I take a “lighter approach” to my clients day. I don’t rule with such an iron first directing the DJ with how to run their day. I would be very taken back if a DJ ever asked me to change the way I photograph an event because it didn’t work “best” for his approach to the day….I don’t think I have any right to manipulate how a “professional” vendor see’s it fit to execute is theirwork. Would you ask a videographer to turn of their video light during a first dance? Or would you work around it?
Quickly building a working relation with the DJ, videographer etc… can easily allow everyone to work with & around one another. As Neil states….I love shooting into the DJ lights! Keeps the lasers going….I’ll shoot a ton of shots and just brush heal any spots on the face and leave the rest alone. This is the party my client wanted….I’m not going to be the party pooper because of x,y and z. As we did in the military…..”Adapt and Overcome”
Just as im about to shoot i pull all the lighting cables out of the DJs light rig, making sure im standing next to a small child to pass the blame to ;) !
For the first dance in my last wedding i asked the dj to turn off the lazers, he quite happy to do so but i still ended up with large colured dots from the lights. These were fine in colour, i didnt like the look in the B&W conversions though as they just formed shades of grey dots. BUT, they are part of the reception / dance so i accept that, to an extent, this is what the couple have hired and will want to see. For the part time i embrace thelights and ensure that i use a slow shutter and OCF to create movement / blurred lights….
Cheers again neil for sharing the wisdom
Hi Neil! As the DJ lights are blue, to neutralise the B&G you can use a CTO gel on a speedlight or a Straw coloured gel as you use.
Use a faster shutter speed and/or lower the ISO to reduce the effect of the up-lights and DJ lights. Careful not to make the room go too dark. Then point the speedlight backwards and up to bounce it from behind you onto your subject and out into the room as well. They will be lit more evenly thus avoiding extreme color casts on parts of the skin and clothes that would be less exposed from the flash if you had bounced from the left or right sides. If you work it just right, the DJ lights will give you a subtle, colored rim light on some of the edges of your subject.
Yes, working around the coloured led lights that are so popular wiith DJs and function bands can be very challenging. Very intense colours, especially the primary blues and reds which burn out the respective channels on the sensor so easily. Tend to concentrate on composition and capturing the moment knowing that the images will probably end up as monochrome.
I’m yet to find a DJ that isn’t willing to first show me his intended lighting for the first dance and then amend it if necessary. The lasers are the usual one that I request are turned off. Thanks for the info.
Question about LED based up lighting. I have done a lot of receptions where the hall makes use of color spots which are aimed upward and positioned around the perimeter of a room to color the whole space. To the naked eye, you see a color bullet shaped spot of bright color that fades softly along it’s edges. However, what I see on the back of my Canon 7D is a very ugly blob of dark color with jagged edges which transitions to to other hues of the color as it fades away. It really looks terrible. This does not happen with bulb based up lighting, only the spots which have 50 or so LED’s in them. What is causing this?
I totally agree!! Using the DJ’s lighting is great for so many reasons! Aside from creating visually stimulating images, my clients appreciate seeing themselves whirling around on the dancefloor in beautiful color that, let’s face it, They Paid For! While fluffing out a dress so the beading on the train is more visible, covering the reception, or incorporating decor into portraits by way of framing or another tactic, I explain my reasoning as I shoot, “you invested in this… Let’s show it off!” The clients (and whatever parents are footing the bill) really appreciate this. I think it they understand that I care about their day. That is good customer service, which leads to referrals = $$$$$$. Also, the DJ’s appreciate photos for their marketing, never hurts to get a referral by a fellow vendor either.
I’ve only spotted a couple of responses to the “homework” conundrum set in this post – but to be honest I am not entirely sure myself… A go to answer would be to gel but I don’t think you would be able to do that unless you can rip them on and off at the same frequency as the lights ;).
As for a step-by-step approach hmmm, you mention that the flash can be used to “neutralise” the lights but the only way I see this being done is to constantly adapt to the prevailing colour – or just ‘go with it”. My gut feel would be to 1/2 CTO from the outset but I have a doubt…
Please enlighten us… (especially as I have a wedding soon!). Anyway by now you should be sufficiently jet-lagged after your trip back to the US from this wide-brown-land to be sitting at the PC in the wee hours.
I almost made it to Melbourne by the way…
Correction 11 & 12 also came up with a response – which kinda make sense!