A wedding-related post fresh out of the camera today, as last night I joined Niamh and John at their reception to celebrate their marriage – they were able to enjoy some pleasant Cork weather for the wedding ceremony, and equally pleasant surroundings in Maryborough House Hotel for the wedding reception.
As we arrived at the hotel the party was in full swing, and I was immediately struck by the colours of the room which had a particularly cool lighting system. I found out later that the hotel has the ability to customize the colour of the lighting in the room to the colour scheme of the wedding – something which I imagine is appreciated amongst brides-to-be, and presumably a unique selling point for the hotel as a wedding venue. Niamh’s bridesmaids, Fiona and Ciara, were wearing pink, and so last night the lights were set to a similar colour.
I had, obviously, brought my camera with me, and on this occassion travelled light – I had my D300 with two lenses and a single flash. I had to restrain myself not to bring more, but I knew that if I limited myself to the basics, I should still be able to get a few good photos.
With all the colour in the room, I was particularly glad I had brought the flash. An available-light photo would pick up that colour cast, and skin tones in those photos would be correspondingly pink – not necessarily a good look. The flash (my SB-800) would be powerful enough to overpower the ambient light, and bring those skin tones back to normal. Similarly, the bride’s dress, which was certainly worth photographing, would photograph better with the flash.
As the dance floor filled, and Niamh and John were surrounded by friends and family, I took myself, my camera and the flash onto the stage where the band had earlier been for a little elevation, and using the flash off the camera, got this shot, amongst others, of the happy couple enjoying their moment in the limelight.
I was holding the camera in my right hand, with the flash high and above my head in my left hand. Taking the flash off the axis of the lens would add some dimension to the picture, and help to separate the newly-weds from the background.
The flash was bare, with no diffuser, so it would be hard light, but I was still reasonably far away from the subjects, so it had a sort of a spot-like effect, but not too intensely as I had it at its widest beam.
As for the settings, I had earlier metered the room without the flash, and had the camera set to underexpose the ambient, but allow a little of that pink light into the scene. With that exposure set down, I just adjusted the flash power to taste to light the subjects. The end result is one of a couple of photographs I got that, hopefully, captures the party atmosphere on the dance floor last night.
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