Terrified of Lighting Conditions at Beach Wedding

<p>I'm shooting my second wedding solo next month. It's on the beach and the ceremony starts at 4pm. I will be taking some formal shots of wedding party around 3pm. I'm terrified of harsh shadows since the sun will be so high in the sky. I'm seeking advice on the best set-up to eliminate harsh shadows. I have two external speedlights, but no light stands or umbrellas. I also don't own any type of reflector or diffusion panels, so I plan on making a purchase. I've never shot a large group in harsh lighting conditions, and have always relied on my gary fong lightsphere diffusion dome when using fill flash. I would really appreciate some advice before I run out and make a purchase or hire an assitant if I need to.<br>

Based on my limited knowledge of lighting techniques I've come to two possibilities:<br>

1) Use my slave speedlight on a stand (my camera acts as commander, so I could have two speedlights on stands) and shoot through an umbrella (what size and what color?) to soften shadows<br>

2) Hire an assistant to hold a refector panel (what size?)<br>

The wedding party is small, 6 people not including the bride and groom. Family portraits (on both sides) shouldn't be more than four people, not including bride and groom. But then there are candids...she wants some photojournalistic, candid shots of the wedding party after the ceremony. So I would love to be equipped with something versatile, just don't know what that is. Thanks in advance for your advice!</p>

<p>Do some searches. Here is one pertinent thread.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.photo.net/wedding-photography-forum/00N7yS">http://www.photo.net/wedding-photography-forum/00N7yS</a></p>

<p>First off, let me say that umbrellas outside, unless you have an assistant to hold it constantly, are useless--maybe for individual and close-up couples shots, but otherwise, particularly for group shots, your flashes (even 2 speedlites) will not be able to provide enought light against the bright sun at the distances you need to photograph a group--even small groups, if they are full length. I'd forget umbrellas--they also blow over at any hint of wind.</p>

<p>Second, your flashes will have enough trouble against the sun, and even two of them will barely provide the fill you need at 10-12 feet, exposing for the sun. If you use off camera flashes, you need to use them bare headed.</p>

<p>Third, the shadows are already hard from the main light source--the sun, so softening the shadows will not even be noticeable. Again--might as well just leave the flash bare headed.</p>

<p>Fourth, reflector panels are also useless for groups--maybe OK for individuals and couples, half lengths and closer. Reflectors also make people squint, particularly on the beach, if the sand is white or light colored.</p>

<p>Fifth, the sand provides some fill already. If it is white, maybe the difference between sun and shadow is only about 2 stops. If it is, consider yourself lucky, because that taxes your flash less. You could do longer subject distances. With some post processing you could almost go flashless if you keep the subjects' faces in even shade and deliberately blow some of the rim highlights. But if you can't control positioning, you will not be able to fudge this way.</p>

<p>Sixth--leave the lightsphere at home.</p>

<p>I might bring an off camera flash--a higher powered one, to use with my on camera for the groups. Otherwise, bare headed fill flash all the way. Plus--maybe a battery pack, because your flash will be working hard and recycling times will be affected.</p>

<p>What Nadine said, and I would add to that to mind your exposure. It's been said many times on here, but I'll say it again; spend some time at PlanetNeil.com. Bringing the flash levels up to equal (give or take) the highlights caused by direct sun will give a much more pleasing look, even in such conditions. And knowing how ISO, aperture and shutter relate to each other, specifically in flash photography, will go a long way toward getting good results. PlanetNeil.com talks quite a bit about that.</p>

<p>I just had a similar wedding at a lakeside yesterday. Early evening, but the sun was blasting off the sky and lake. Head table was facing away from the lake, so I wanted to balance the sky and lake with the exposures of the faces. I could easily expose for the faces, but the sky and lake would have been entirely blown-out. The key is to reduce ambient (existing light) exposure using reduced ISO and the fastest shutter speed your camera will do in flash sync. My Nikon D700 does high speed sync at 1/320th, but at the expense of loss of flash power. So I use 1/250th, which is its highest native sync speed.</p>

<p>I reduced the ISO to its lowest setting, set shutter to 1/250th and messed with the aperture a bit until I got a properly exposed sky and lake. Then, using my twin SB-800s, I cranked them up to achieve a good balance of ambient light and flash. I could get into a long post about why flash is more easily controlled with aperture and ambient light is more easily controlled by shutter speed, but, I would be willing to bet you're more interested in the what rather than the how.</p>

<p>If you're comfortable reading histograms, you can tell quite a bit from those, as well, and really fine tune an exposure. Maybe someone more histogram savvy will chime-in and offer an explanation.</p>

<p>Basically, keep your ambient highlights and your flash highlights balanced and you'll eliminate the harsh appearance of direct sunlight and the resulting shadows. But I totally agree with Nadine; leave your umbrellas at home. Your reflectors might be of some limited use, but they're very situation-dependent. The Lightsphere? Leave it home, too; aside from having nothing to bounce off of, it will rob you of precious flash power.</p>

<p>I'd recommend going to the beach ahead of time and spending a couple hours with your camera and speedlights, messing with the ISO, shutter speed and aperture. You'll be amazed at how subtle changes in any or all of those can make drastic changes to an image.</p>

<p>Good luck to you!</p>

Oh, and bear in mind, what I described above was specific to my situation yesterday. Your needs and results will vary from situation to situation. I started shooting the reception around 5 when the sun was still fairly high and bright. The reception finally ended after 10 in total darkness (it was an outdoor pavilion), so being able to adjust on the fly is a great skill to have.

<p>Michael brings up a good point. You <strong>do</strong> know that you will be at around f11, 1/250th, ISO 100 (bright sun exposure) and that the reason for the 1/250th is that it is where most cameras' fastest flash sync is. On the beach, you sometimes need to close down even more, because it can be really bright--glare on the ocean is <strong>bright</strong>.</p>

<p>Most people are dismayed at the fact that they are stuck with f11. Today, the trend is to use wide apertures to blur the background. You could use High Speed Sync, but your flash begins to lose power once you to into High Speed Sync territory--the faster the shutter from the native sync speed, the more you lose power. So Catch 22--you need all the power you can get but you want blurred backgrounds? The answer is ND filters, plus, let me say that if you are using the ocean as a background and don't have any near background objects, it doesn't matter that you won't get that extreme blur--what do you need to blur out of a plain blue sky and ocean? Also, if photographing the ceremony, it doesn't much matter that candids of this nature have wider DOF. You also are in a better position to blur backgrounds using telephotos, even without the widest apertures.</p>

<p>You can use High Speed Sync if you are close to your subjects. Pay attention to the distances shown on your flash's LCD when you have High Speed Sync on. But not for groups.</p>

<p>Yep. Kiss your bokeh goodbye.*</p>

<p>* (In most cases.)</p>

<p>You can get a more shallow DOF with telephoto lenses, but you had mentioned formal shots. I pretty much never shoot formals with anything longer than 85mm. Most of the time it's in the 35mm to 50mm range (depending on the group size). For my own tastes, I'd want the sky and ocean in focus in the background. It's certainly not "cluttered" and, I think, will add to the vibrance of the shot, if done correctly.</p>

<p>Let us know how it goes.</p>

<p><strong>G </strong> :: single strobe --lots of batteries --- try not to further yourself more than 8 ft from subjects ......practice Manual flash and Ettl/Auto .....I suspect 250/ 11 > most strobes just do not deliver that F11 power ..you will Fill ~~ just not a shadow less Key. </p>

<p>You've got alot of good info above, I'd suggest one more thing. If you have some occasional clouds, be sure to take advantage of them when you can. The ceremony will likely happen as it's scheduled but when you have some control/flexibility over the time, try to time the formals and other posed situations for the moments that the sun is diffused by a cloud. Be open about your strategy and let the bridal party know what you're attempting to do. Be patient and wait for the right conditions rather than feeling rushed to get the shots. Also, don't be afraid to shoot some "in the sun" images and allow them to just keep their sunglasses on to avoid getting the squinting eyes.</p>

<p>Wait for the post wedding to shoot your groups. That's what I would try to do.</p>

<p>Failing that, keeping the sun at their backs or 45degrees from behind will work, the use flash to balance. I would take my AB1600 and Vagabond with to do the fill part. Your speedlights will do ok, but not great.</p>

 

<p>400ws Lumedynes do very well for this, but they are costly, but definitely worth it. Manual exposure, in full bright beach your camera will be all over the place. Calculate your exposure an adjust it yourself. Again it might rain ;)</p>

<p >Wow. Lots of good stuff. And thanks for that thread Nadine.</p>

<p > </p>

<p >I usually shoot aperture priority or shutter priority, but am comfortable using manual considering the 1/250^th, f/11, ISO 100 sunny day rule and to expose background for ambient light and add flash for subject. However manual flash is over my head. I always keep my flash set to TTL and rely on flash compensation (and aperture/ISO if needed). Does anyone see this practice a disaster for sunny beach wedding? If so please let me know because otherwise I have one month to figure out manual flash.</p>

<p > </p>

<p >Also, I’m wondering about off camera flash. I’ve never used off camera flash for fill. For example, what position should my flash be in relation to the subject if I’m trying to get rid of harsh shadows? And in what situations should I consider using two speedlights off camera? And bare bulb it will be. Should I ever position flash head fully forward towards subject? I always thought of this as taboo.</p>

<p>Manual flash is not necessary for filling on sunny days. If you know your flash well, and how it responds in TTL, you can shoot in TTL and be fine. The only time manual flash is really, really good is when you have static subjects such as formal groups, and you want extremely consistent output.</p>

<p>Since you are filling, you want a one stop less fill, so practically speaking, if you are standing 10 feet from your group, set the manual, partial power down until you see about 7 feet distance. Since 7 feet translates to about 1 stop less flash, leave it there.</p>

<p>I would use off camera flash as key, not fill, although you could use it as fill as well. It would best be done with manual flash. Again--one stop less fill. Remember--you cannot get rid of harsh shadows--you can only fill them so they aren't so deep.</p>

<p>Don't know where you got the idea that bare bulb should be used. It will not be enough power. Two speedlites off camera can be used for group shots, but I would consider that unnecessary. Or a key/fill situation. I've done that before if I want to create directional light on evenly shaded subjects. You 'should' position the flash head fully forward--any modifier will rob the flash of the power needed.</p>

<p>Actually, I don't really know what bare bulb is. What I meant to say, as you suggested, is that I will be using "bear headed fill flash." I understood that to mean no diffusion anything on the flash head. </p>

<p>I just use Speedlites for this. I shoot in manual mode on the camera, just underexposing everything by a tiny bit to saturate the sky. Then have the flash on ETTL set to minus 1 (or thereabouts) to fill.<br>

High noon beach wedding:<br>

http://www.photo.net/photo/6056199&size=lg</p>

<p>G.--OK--bare bulb is something else entirely. You can do bare bulb with the Lumedyne someone mentioned above. That is using the long, bare bulb of the Lumedyne without the reflector. This spills the light all over, and does cut the working power of the flash down, so it isn't a good idea outside in the bright sun, although a Lumedyne is going to have more power than a speedlite, for sure. You might be able to use bare bulb with close subject distances.</p>

<p>G<br>

There is a lot of information here. So I'll just mention what I do in those situations. I use nikon equipment and to make sure that I don't get caught with the wrong aperture/shutter speed I use the flash on or off the camera bare headed and dialed down one stop. Then I put the camera on program. Nikon then works everything out for you.<br>

If it's the first time you have done this type of lighting etc, then you might find this to be the least headache way of making sure you don't have to worry too much in the midst of setting groups up, making sure uncle Jacks eyes aren't closed etc.</p>

<p>Good luck on the day.</p>

<p>All very good advice. Now, you have some time, and if your close to the beach, bring a friend of family member and go there around that same time of day and do some experimenting. There's nothing like the confidence of knowing what you can get with your gear so you can focus on the wedding party itself. Sounds like fun btw. Have a good time.</p>

<p>The execution of Fill or Key depends on your subjects ---if you shoot strictly PJ > may be a problem. But..it only takes a few seconds to turn them a few degrees ---</p><div></div>

<p>I believe ETTL would had only<em> Filled</em> > lowering the value of the shadow on their faces >> down a full stop... usually I have a T5d Quantum for bright days ..the 580 barely delivered ...another 1ft or so back and ??</p>

<p>Moved beyond the KEY range of the Canon strobe here -- you can see the shadows creeping into the faces on the second row already --- to reach 11 ft > you need a strobe one stop more powerful ( Norman/Quantum/Metz 60 /etc) ...If the client has the budget , you could spend the time to dodge/edit each face ...but, seems easier better to do it right the first time . Know the limitations of your gear >-)</p><div></div>

<p>Bring one of those little pop-up pavillions and create some open shade?</p>

<p>I always used to do the group shots after the ceremony. That way its the group celebrating whats happened with the couple. In fact I used to sequence the shots to go with the flow of events:<br>

Arrival, getting out of the car (veil on), bride and father together on the steps and then going in, the bridal march, the groom, maids of honour and groomsmen looking down the aisle, the start of the ceremony, the parents in tears, the veil comes off after the exchange of rings, the first glance at her revealed face, the kiss, the turn to face the congregation, the couple walk together through the church again amidst the celebrating congregation, the waiting crowd outside, the emergence with the rice and confetti, a total group shot. Then a group shot only with the parents, a group shot only with the bridesmaids and groomsmen, then some intimate shots in the grounds as the couple ponder their lives and love together, a solitary kiss away from the crowd, the getting into the cars. The arrival at the reception, the fun at the reception, the speeches, the bridal dance, the father and the bride dance, his loss and the mixed emotion...and the big one...the bride and groom leaving and the toss of the bridal corsage.</p>

<p>This is the action flow and tells the wonderful story in proper order. The photos should should be done as close to this order as possible. You are recording the story of the happiest moment in peoples lives. This advice came from my grandfather who spent 40 years shooting weddings from 1920 to 1960. And I carried it on faithfully. He was the best in this country and never varied the sequence. He said the key was to not make the wedding events suit the photographer, but to accommodate whatever happens. He also said that if the light changes then so be it, as its part of the story. Many times he started out in bright sunshine and used his skills in the darkroom to bring out the shadow detail, and then used flash at dusk, and in his day, there was no fancy auto flash at all. And the above sequence fits any location...its what happens every time.</p>

<p>So in answer to your question, do the group afterwards and don't worry too much about the sun and shadows. Mitigate it as best as your equipment can do, as its part of the sequence...And this part is the most important: <strong>Remember that the first time the groom should see the bride on the wedding day is as she is being brought to him at the start of the ceremony</strong> . <strong>The part of the magic to record is to see his face as he see's her in all her beauty when she is given to him by her father (or whoever)</strong> . Don't break the sequence. You are just recording what happens, thats all.</p>

<p>The one thin it's provably worth mentioning here, and I'm speaking not from experience but by articles I came across is the fact that remote flash outdoors in a sunny day may not always work. Seems like the infrared light from the master might get lost in open ares and not reach the other flash.<br>

I would hate to rely on something that might not be too reliable. If I where you I would consider that option but not as the only one. I think the idea of the ND filter has a lot of potential.<br>

Best of luck and do your self a favor and do practice shooting in similar light conditions.</p>

<p>Alex--you don't have to use the Canon or Nikon wireless sytem--you can use Pocket Wizards or what I use--Cybersyncs--that are incredibly reliable, even outside in bright light.</p>

<p>Yikes! And there goes my confidence down the drain. Thanks Alex for ruining my day (jj). I was planning on using my nikon speedlights wireless. I don't own anything else and don't have much of a budget. I don't live near the beach and was going to do my practice shooting the day before the wedding. Perhaps I need to take a road trip.<br>

Nadine - do you think I should purchase a pocket wizard? I've read there are cheap alternatives to PW from Hong Kong company Gadget Infinity. Does anyone know if they are reliable? At least enough to get me through this one wedding if nikon wireless fails me.<br>

Here is my gear: D90(acts in commander mode), SB600(only a slave), SB800 (master). I use ttl...don't know manual and really don't want to have to fuss over it at my second wedding ever. But I will if I have to. If I add a PW do I have to go manual flash all the way? What is the best way to combine a PW with my wireless speedlights on bright sunny day at beach? I've started doing some reading on strobist.com, but I wanted to pose my question here since you guys already know what lighting situations I'm facing.</p>