Light is all that counts / Wedding Photography Secrets #6
Wedding Photography with "Available Light"
| Dirk Weber | Wedding Photography Secrets
Available light photography, by definition, is taking photos with available light only, usually meaning natural light. It sounds very simple at first. And it actually is. No heavy lighting equipment and no complicated setups - you work with what is there. And many ideas for photos come naturally.
But that doesn't always work. Sometimes it's simply too dark. The ISO capabilities of cameras are getting better and better, but they are still limited - especially if you're an Olympus photographer. But even if there is enough light, it's often unusable for photos - light coming from the wrong direction, the light color horrible or the light quality is bad. And sometimes the available light is just boring.
So how can wedding photographers cope with insufficient, bad or boring light?
Well, you do what you do all the time in wedding photography: improvise! We simply take "Available Light" literally:
Available light is any damn light available.
So what kind of lights are available at your weddings? Open your eyes! Sources of light can be found by simply exploring the wedding location. For example, you could kidnap the candlesticks from the single's table, you could grab the torches from the gardens or steal whatever lightsource the location has to offer. Some colleagues will quickly fetch their old speedlights from their photo bags. Other will set up their Profotos and their most beloved and impressingly expensive light shapers and consciously stage their lighting.
Too complicated? Then let guests help you. Hand them your speedlights and use them as "human lightstands". Alternatively, guests themselves can become light for you - for example, the maid of honor with the flashlight of her smartphone. Or even entire groups with a load of sparklers. Speaking sparklers, sparklers are actually a great idea. Always. Here we go!
Everything is allowed -having light is all that counts.