Most of us love the look for natural light. It makes our job way easier, right?!? We try and fit all the portraits during sunlight since it is the best and most flattering light. Find out how to get bright and airy images with off camera flash.
BUT when it comes to night receptions or ballroom weddings, how can we get those images to match? Artificial light just looks so harsh sometimes
#1 Pick the right lens
Most of us like using longer lenses for portraits since they are more flattering. Well, the same principle applies to reception details. So I try and stay away from my 35mm and use my 58mm. Longer lenses have that sweet compression and make the background look closer to the subject AND creates that real shallow depth of field. Just like making the background look super soft, it will also make our OCF look super soft and diffused instead of flashy and commercial looking.
#2 Wide Open Aperture
I usually shoot at 1.4 the whole day! That is, unless I have more people in my frame or more details that I want to show. Both my camera body (D4) and my lens (58mm) can handle it. Shooting at 1.4 creates that creamy bokeh with the off camera flash too! So it makes that OCF acting like my backlight super soft. YES, this picture below has ZERO NATURAL LIGHT. It’s all OCF, BABY!
#3 Try and recreate natural light
Apply the same principles when shooting in natural light when it comes to setting up OCF in a reception room with no windows. Just like I always use backlight when shooting in natural light, I will have one OCF acting as that backlight. And to make that light fall softly around the room, I make the stands pretty high. Find out how I place my stands to create the backlight magic in a ballroom when you sign up below:
Are you tired of having flashy looking pictures? Or dark reception images that you need to black and white?!?
Sign up to get our 5 minute set up to get bright and airy images with NO natural light HERE!
Find out:
- Settings for both camera and speedlights
- REAL wedding set up with pictures
- Create bright and airty images with artificial light
