Beach Wedding & Flash

[alen_z]

<p>Hi guys,<br>

What's your approach to using flash on the beach, about 20 min right before sunset? At this time, it's kinda dark to rely on ambient light alone, and adding flash gives weird colors and is kinda harsh, but that's probably just my bad technique. I could use a reflector, but I don't know how much help that would be, considering sunlight would be very low. Any suggestions from you gurus? The subjects are the bride and groom...</p>

[picturesque]

<p>Use the softer sun light that you get right before sunset, on the subjects, no flash. Then turn the flash on to fill the subjects against the sunset sky. Expose for the sky, fill the subjects with flash.</p>

[alen_z]

<p>So you're saying have sunlight shine on their faces and add fill flash (maybe -1 comp) + diffuser to make it softer and lift shadows?<br>

What would you say about shutter speed? From your experiences, has it been more toward the flash sync speed (to capture flash light), or more around the slower end to let ambient light saturate?</p>

[picturesque]

<p>What, exactly, is the situation you are going to be dealing with? Is the ceremony happening at this time or are you talking about couples shots only? Or formals?</p>

<p>You are always grappling with the limitations imposed by max sync speed in bright light outside.</p>

<p>What I was saying above was to use the softer sun, without flash, as key light on your subjects. You can use flash fill if needed, but I've found that right before sunset, the light is soft enough, and has a nice red/yellow glow.</p>

[alen_z]

<p>The situation is basically this:<br>

@ the beach, about 20 min right before sunset (so there WONT be the nice red/yellow glow). It'll probably be dark enough where I HAVE to use flash. The ceremony will finish 30 min before sunset and I'll need to quickly take small group formals (5-10 ppl max at a time), then take a few couples shots.<br>

What I'm worried about is the flash part, particularly mixing the flash w/ the already low ambient light. I don't want them to look like ghosts, and this is where I was asking for help.</p>

[picturesque]

<p>Where are you located and is this beach facing west or east? 20 minutes before the sun sets (here), there is a nice red/yellow glow and the light is softer. I am in the SF Bay Area on the West Coast. Most of the beaches, the sun sets over the water horizon.</p>

<p>First, be prepared for the ceremony to start late, hence, end late. So your 30 minutes before sunset might be right at sunset, and by the time you take the couples shots it might be dark. Maybe not, but be prepared.</p>

<p>Second, to blend flash white balance with the reddish/yellowish color of sunset, gel the flash.</p>

<p>Third, if you balance the flash on your subjects with the sun lit sky (sunset colors) they won't look like ghosts. Sunset colors show up maybe 15-20 minutes after the sun drops below the horizon. Up until the sun drops below the horizon, you are dealing with exposures much like bright sun. After the sun drops below the horizon, you need to meter the sky and balance your flash exposures to the sky. By underexposing the sky, you deepen the colors. By overexposing, you lighten the colors. Most of the time, you want to underexpose, to deepen the colors.</p>

[alen_z]

<p>The wedding will be located in cabo san lucas, so beach probably facing west? So I'm assuming use the orange gel?<br>

Is there a special technique to balance the flash w/ the sky, or is it just taking test shots and checking the histogram & results?</p>

[picturesque]

<p>If the beach were facing east, the sunset can happen earlier than listed, because that means it could set behind mountains. Once it goes down behind the mountain, that is the sunset. You can still get nice colors in the sky, but sometimes you don't, plus if the mountains (or tree line or whatever) is high, you can't put the subjects in front of the colored sky.</p>

<p>If the beach is west facing, the sun will probably set somewhere on the water horizon. This is great, because you put your subjects right in front of the colored sky and shoot. Plus you get nice reflections in the water and on the sand.</p>

<p>If you really want to match the flash white balance to the sky, yes you need the CTO gel. However, think about this--the orange in the sky becomes orangy-er/redder when you balance to daylight. Or you can lightly gel the flash orange, to give the subjects a golden glow, but not balance completely to the sunset.</p>

<p>What I do to balance flash to the sky is to take a spot reading of a part of the sunset sky that is closest in value to middle gray. Set that on my camera (using, of course, the aperture you want for the DOF you want, given you may be limited with max sync speed), then use your flash in ETTL or iTTL to expose the subjects. Chimp. Look at the rendition of the sky. If you want it more saturated/darker, underexpose the EV (shutter faster or aperture smaller or ISO decrease) you just set on the camera. Look at the exposure on the couple--too dark or too light? Comp the flash accordingly.</p>

<p>If your camera has a spot meter, use it. If it has only a partial meter, it can work too. Just don't put the meter over the bright sun part. Again--you are looking for an even patch of sky nearest in value to middle gray.</p>

[wedding-photography-denver]

<p>Alen, what Nadine says is great advice.</p>

<p>My approach to this type of shoot is to dial in the manual exposure for the background (sunset when facing the sea, beach when facing north or south, etc.) first, then use flash as needed to add light to my subjects. Off cam is better for beach work IMO, though direct fill (about -1/3 to -1) against the sunset works nicely too. If they are both wearing white, I will +1 comp on the flash as is typical at beach weddings.</p>

<p>For metering the sunset, I usually place the sun on the 1/3 line (left or right) and use center weighted metering to get me close, then adjust manually from there. Takes about two shots to dial it in nicely. You just have to be prepared to dial in slower SS and wider aps as the sun sets. I use TTL in that situation, which works nicely on Nikons system.</p>

[alohadave]

<blockquote>

<p>@ the beach, about 20 min right before sunset (so there WONT be the nice red/yellow glow).</p>

</blockquote>

<p>At 20 minutes to sunset is when you'd have the most red/yellow light.</p>