Orion Photo Group Success Story Podcast
Orion Photo Group Success Story Podcast
Mastering Midday Sun: Navigating Outdoor Wedding Photography Challenges
We're not just discussing surviving the scorching sun, but also the balance between creating memorable moments and ensuring guest comfort during outdoor ceremonies. We share our personal experiences of stunning views and beautiful settings that sometimes come with unexpected challenges. On top of that, we're revealing a game-changing technique involving the use of on-camera flash to alleviate harsh shadows and create flattering light on couples' faces. Additionally, we're providing guidance on how to test your lighting setup ahead of time, ensuring you're fully prepared when it's time for the main event. From seasoned pros to those just starting out in wedding photography, this episode promises to be a treasure trove of invaluable tips and insights.
Hey everyone, hope you're doing well out there and you're enjoying the summer in whatever part of the country you are at Quick tip coming at you today. You know we all encounter that really horrible direct sun ceremony midday walking down the aisle lighting situation it is the. In my opinion it is probably the hardest lighting situation to deal with, which, ironically, you wouldn't think would be the hardest, would be so difficult, considering it's bright sunlight. And why would that be hard? You could use something like the sunny 16 rule to help you figure out your lighting scenario and kind of go like that. But the problem is that brides and grooms and couples plan their wedding day and imagine themselves getting married in some field, someplace or some lavish landscape where there's a beautiful view and, you know, on paper sounds like a great idea. But if you are like me, who did most of his shooting in the, in the in the northeast, summer wedding will contain anything from bugs, mosquitoes, the grasping too long, hard to walk in, just all those general outdoor things that we don't really plan for when we're going to a wedding, when we're dressed formally. So you know it has its challenges. When it's a nice day, it is a beautiful thing when the sun is falling in the right place to either side of them, let's say, or it's a cloudy day, so the lighting is really easy and people aren't squinting or anything like that, and then it's, and then it's perfect. I went I actually was a guest at a wedding this past October. Everything was outside in Vermont, on the side of this beautiful hill, the foliage was at peak and it was just absolutely gorgeous to be a guest at the wedding. Of course, you know it presented the challenges. It was about a quarter mile walk up from the hotel on a gravel road was not fun for guests to walk up to. But you know, I was kind of laugh at those situations because you know couples plan these things and expect it to be the most beautiful thing in the world and then, you know, provides these challenges.
Speaker 1:Okay, getting back to the photography part. Okay, a bright sunlight middle of the day, it's right over you, or even if it's morning or evening, that sun is going to be at some point in the wrong place where you needed. And especially when it's bright sunlight, you're going to have things like people are squinting. Quick tip there's nothing you can do about people squinting. And it's even worse, I think when they wear sunglasses. So my advice is always to tell them to take their sunglasses off, because I just don't think that looks really great for pictures and then they're squinting. So I always tell them to take their glasses off and then go outside and get their eyes acclimated, because a lot of times what happens is they sit inside some place and then they're going out to walk down the down the ceremony aisle and their eyes have an adjusted and they can't even see. So my first thing I always say is get acclimated to the Sun or stand someplace where you're in the Sun without your sunglasses on. That's always good tip for pictures in and of itself.
Speaker 1:Now, from a lighting perspective, all right, the worst-case scenario is the Sun is just blasting straight on them and it can't, or it's coming from the side, or it's directly above and they've got raccoon eyes. This is my main tip from a lighting perspective how you can kind of alleviate some of those shadows or you know what have you? Just bad lighting in general, not flattering lighting on their face. Best thing that I used to do is I would use my on-camera flash with a small dome on it, some kind of diffuser on it, but not all the time, and I'll get to that in a second. What I would do is just a small dome on it, something that's not going to cut the amount of light coming out of the flash too much, but and then I would point it directly at them. So not up or off to the side, where it's not direct, it's direct on-camera flash and if it's a really bright day where the shadows are really harsh, take all your diffusion off and just go straight flash out them.
Speaker 1:Now, the trick here is going to get that amount of flash right so it doesn't look like you're just completely burning them out with flash, and it's gonna look like flash. It's the, it's the, it's the dialing in of either up or down to get it where it looks like you're adding something, but it doesn't look like you're adding something. And here's the way that you do that. Okay, best way to do it is in manual exposure and stand where you're going to stand when they're doing their precession and their recession shots. Okay, so precession shots probably the most important one You're gonna manual flash, you're gonna put somebody in the aisle and you're gonna take some you can take some test shots of them and you're gonna dial it to where you you feel comfortable with it. You generally want to do this about half an hour before, because the light's not gonna change too much, and you only want to do this when, on a day where the clouds are not going in and out, so it's a bright, sunny day, no clouds, the light's not gonna change that much. You're gonna set it in manual and forget it, and that is my best advice on the worst sunny day. It's funny because I was looking on YouTube. I'm gonna give lots of YouTube links.
Speaker 1:Nobody covers this. It is a really it's an expert mode and it takes a lot of tweaking and practice, and my best advice to it is that, if it's not working, when you're chipping on the back of your camera, just go back to available flash, available light, and get it to where you want it to do. So, if it's not working, don't play around with it, just shut it off and go to available light. When you practice it, though, it does work really well and it really does alleviate a lot of like really bad shadows. This will also work when Couples are walking down a shaded area and you've got that modeled light and he's like burning up in one spot and Shadow in the other end and stuff like that. This is when you know that really helps. This is when you can use that diffusion because you don't need as much light. So that's that's my advice on that, and Really really play around that.
Speaker 1:Now, if it's from the shut side or or you know things like that, you can also use the same scenario. If it's backlit, you probably want to use some diffusion Just to fill in their faces, and that's really easy to do. Backlit is always great, or you could overexpose, so you're exposing for their faces. Again, you can use that same technique where just put somebody, put an assistant or a guest, just ask them to stand up. Hey, I need to do some lighting test. Can I take a couple pictures of you about where you're going to grab each person coming down the aisle, and that will really help in Lighting them, lighting them well.
Speaker 1:Okay, this is again it's expert and it takes some tweaking and it sometimes it just doesn't work for you. But on a bright, sunny day, to add some on camera flash, it does make a big difference, especially if it's direct overhead and they've got those raccoon eyes, it's really gonna help make a big difference. Now, the only caveat to that is that Generally, on a bright, sunny day, if you're shooting in TTL mode, it is gonna require a lot of battery power. So another thing you could do is use an off-camera light on a stand to the side. This is a little bit more obtrusive and you got to be careful with it and I don't recommend it all the time. It's really hard to do. However, using a battery pack, so you're getting quick Recycles on that out camera flash. 100% recommend it also helps to you know, so that you don't have to change your batteries during the day too. And you know you're gonna be putting out almost full power charges in this scenario, so you may not recycle fast enough, but again, if you're in manual mode, you're gonna recycle faster. So that's my other tip on that.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm gonna put some YouTube videos In the show notes. Please check them out. They're super helpful. I have a friend named Taylor Jackson who does some full wedding YouTube videos. They're totally free, they're really great, and I'll put a couple other videos too for you to watch.
Speaker 1:They don't really cover what I was just talking about, which is why I wanted to make these, make this this podcast, and I hope this helps to you, for you and if it does, I'd really love to hear and or email me some examples of what you, what you've done and if it was helpful for you. And if you need a little explanation, I'm also happy to jump on a call with you. That's a benefit of working with OPG. You've got use me, use my technical experience and help you get better and grow. J group with two peas at Orion photo group, calm. Let me see those photos from, from those open lit ceremonies, of shaded ceremonies, models, lighting ceremonies, and good luck out there. Happy summer. Talk to you soon. Hey, do you have a tip or trick you want to share with us? Please email me. Jgroup at Orion photo group, calm. I would love to hear your tips or tricks and we'll even send you a Nicely reward for doing so. Until then, thank you you.
