Camera : Nikon D3 Iso : 1600 Aperture: f3.5 Shutter Speed : 1/50 second Light : Tungsten ambient Light
Photography by Brian Mullins
As wedding photographers, we often do not have the luxury of waiting for that “perfect light” to get a great portrait. In fact, many time are expected to get professional results in the most downright difficult of conditions. I’ve used a saying I heard some time ago constantly when faced with difficult conditions that helps me get past the initial worry… “The worse the light, the more dramatic it must become”.
For this portrait, the sun was going down, we had 5 minutes before my bride had to walk up the aisle and the “holding” area for the bride had very old tungsten bulbs and concrete walls. So, in short, pretty terrible and contrasting existing light conditions, no time to setup external lighting. The solution I came up with was to use the existing lighting (tungsten) as my primary lighting source. Adding a flash, besides shortening my time I could work with my client on, would add yet a third color temperature into the mix. By using tungsten light, and making sure she was surrounded, as much as possible, by tungsten light, eliminated color casts on her face and added a unique balance of colors to the photo by showing the blue highlights coming thru the open air archways.
What would you Change if you were to do it again?
If I could reshoot this I would of brought in a video light and waited until later in the day to shoot to have more flexibility. As this was for a wedding however, you have to use what you have got and a good working knowledge of lighting, color temperatures and posing to accomplish your goals.
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