Wedding in the rain, what to do?

[sandra_henderson]

Hi all, I have a wedding today at 5:30 p.m. which is an outside

wedding. The bride and groom didn't even think about rain so they

don't have a backup plan. What can I do in order to obtain decent

lighting in the rain and clouds? Any suggestions on metering,

exposure, and flash is much appreciated?

[Jerry_]

Take your umbrella. Keep your lens and camera as dry as possible. Is the reception taking place in a hotel or church hall? If the reception is going to be indoors, re-stage the 'necessary' photos indoors__unless the weather clears by late afternoon.

 

 

 

If you go unprepared, you might think twice before shooting your next wedding...

[ben conover]

Overcast dull, even rainy days can give diffuse light, so it may actually be easier to meter the scene, if you are outdoors. At 5.30pm, approaching dusk.....lovely! I see you have been using a Canon 20D since Dec. 2004, and you are using the kit lens. Of course you may want to use faster lenses too. The 50 1.8 would be good if you have it. Getting there early and measuring the scenes for exposure, may help.

 

I am not 'qualified' to say any more, but best of luck.

 

Cheers.

[sandra_henderson]

Yeah, I've got a Canon 20D (still learning to use it properly), the lens kit, 50 1.8, 70-200 4.0L, and Tamron 28-75 2.8 lens. I usually use the Tamron for the wedding and on occasion have used the 50 1.8 when it's low light. I guess I can just pop on the 50 mm and pray for the best. I don't have a light meter, just what's in my camera. Would you shoot manual or AV?

 

Oh, and my husband is going to be kind enough to be the umbrella man for me. i'm worried about my equipment getting wet.

[ben conover]

I think a wide brim hat could help minimise camera wetness, you have a kind husband. You might want a plastic camera bag too if it is really lashing down buckets, or even an old F4 or F5 film camera for water protection. Personally I would use the 50 1.8 and set the camera on auto-pilot.

 

I use medium format rangefinders for fun, so really I am clueless about digital capture and weddings.

 

All the best.

[todd frederick]

All good ideas.

 

I had this happen once, unexpectedly. It was October 10th, mid 1990's, and we were in a California El Nino drought...no rain for months, except on the wedding day! The event was at an outdoor venue in a very high priced housing/golf club development. The bride worked for the development. Fortunately, she was able to get the use of an unsold house, where the wedding was held and the reception was in the garage. It worked out fine, but not as elegant.

 

I guess the moral of the story is this: don't panic and be creatively flexible...and pray that the bride is as equally flexible!

[lex_jenkins]

Heck, the light would probably be great - diffuse, maybe even dramatic if there are storm clouds in the background. Just watch out for lightning.

 

There are some nifty and inexpensive raincoats available for cameras now so there's not much reason to go without (note to self: get raincoat for camera). Years ago I made mine from the plastic bags I got from the dry cleaner's. Looked like hell but it worked.

 

Somewhere in here there's gotta be a punchline about the newlyweds who didn't know enough to get out of the rain...