Wedding | Low Light (& what you need to know)

The height of booking season has hit us (thankfully! it’s been a long winter) I love getting to meet with brides about possibly photographing their wedding day. These last few weeks I’ve met with a slew of ladies and gotten all kinds of interesting questions. A few months ago I was asked to contribute to an article being written for Creative Loafing about questions couples should ask when looking for a photographer. You can find it here!

Actually, my full response was this….

“Are you well equipped to work in low light conditions? This is something I almost never get asked, but it is SO important. Nearly anyone could take a passable photograph when the sun is up….. but what about when the glow of the candles is all you’ve got? You better know your photographer has the right stuff to make your party photograph well, even if lighting conditions suck. Make sure you ask to see reception/evening/dark church shots if your party will go on into the night or you’ll be in a dark space.
….. on a side note, please don’t ask what kind of equipment I use. Chances are you have no clue what constitutes “pro” equipment, so when I rattle off 50 1.4, D700, SB900…. you won’t have a clue what any of that means. Just because a wedding guide tells you to ask what kind of equipment I use, doesn’t mean a thing if you aren’t well versed in photography.”

It’s so incredibly important that a wedding photographer be able to capture images when it’s dark. The images above were from Maggie & Rory’s reception, they had 2 tents (which easily bounce a photographer’s flash) but their dance floor area was not tented…. meaning we had nothing to bounce light off of…. but we use off camera lights to combat this issue! As you can see above, all the images are properly lit, even though it was next to pitch black out at that remote house and yard.

Don’t be afraid to ask a photographer to see dark reception photos if your party will go well into the night. Just because I love daytime/outdoor/bright photos, doesn’t mean I can’t capture a late night soiree!