What to Do When it Gets Dark: Night Wedding Photography Tips
There you are, going along shooting all the pretty wedding day details and events. Sunset is epic and romantic and you capture some incredible portraits between your two lovebirds and then you start to panic, wondering what to do when it gets dark. I’m here to help with these night wedding photography tips.
My advice with any new skills or new ideas is to add slowly. It can be overwhelming to try to do all the things all at once. Master a simple technique and then add on, start with what you know, and then branch out, simple is best as a launchpad for trying more complex techniques.
Lighting During a Reception
There comes a point in the evening when even a natural light shooter needs a flash. That point is when the reception is too dark for your camera to quickly focus on the subject, your ISO is too high to produce a high-quality image, or your shutter speed is too slow. You’re going to need some lighting gear which can range from a simple flash to an elaborate off-camera flash setup.
The simplest technique is to utilize an on-camera flash. However, on-camera flash produces a certain directional look that’s not always what you’re going for. In those cases, you can often level up slightly by using a bounce flash where you bounce your flash off the ceiling or a bounce card.
If you’re outside and you can’t bounce light but still don’t want that on-camera flash look, you can use an off-camera flash. Simply put, you move your flash off of the camera camera and trigger it remotely. From there you can get more complicated with multiple flash setups.
Plan Ahead
There are a variety of techniques out there for night photography. My suggestion is to figure out which techniques will help you accomplish your specific goal. Sometimes your goal is to simplify shooting in the dark so that you don’t miss important events and sometimes your goal is to be able to do something creative and artsy with light.
As you’re preparing for a wedding day, it can be immensely helpful to know what kind of lighting situations you’re walking into. Are the speeches and other events happening after dark? Are you in a white tent, outside, or in a ballroom with high or low ceilings?
Take a look at the timeline in conjunction with the specific venue in order to determine what type of lighting techniques you need to employ. Make sure you have your lighting set up before speeches or other events start and know where those events are happening. If there’s a cordless mic sometimes the speeches end up roaming around the room and you’ll need to be able to shift your light accordingly.
Practice, Play, Experiment
When it comes to night portraiture, it’s a really fun time to be creative and try fun things. You’ll want to have a plan for what you’re going to try and make sure you’re not wasting your couple’s valuable time on their wedding night. However, once you nail a solid night shot taking one more with different lighting conditions doesn’t take that much longer.
Add a backlight or a gel or really utilize that ambient light in a creative way. And that’s not just for portraits, play and experiment on the dance floor too. Drag your shutter, utilize the effects of the DJ lights, and look for reflections or other interesting light to play with.
If you’re trying for a star photo and there’s too much light pollution, you’ll have to get further away from sources like buildings. Ambient light such as candles, twinkle lights, or market lights can provide an interesting foreground or background. Ask yourself how you can use light to create a more interesting composition, maybe it’s color or contrast or patterns.
Problem Solving
Shooting when it’s dark can be challenging and you have to be prepared for some problem solving. Luckily, camera technology is slowly helping us solve some of our problems either making them easier or eliminating them altogether. Let’s talk about some common problems like focusing and camera shake.
Sometimes it can be difficult to focus in low-light conditions. My current camera system has made this issue more and more rare but there are still circumstances when it’s hard to focus on a subject. In those situations, the easiest solution is to pre-focus by shining a light on a subject at the distance where you want to focus.
Camera shake is another common issue. If you’re getting blurry images on the dance floor for example, you’re going to have to increase your shutter speed which means making sure you’re using a low aperture lens, a camera with high ISO capabilities, or adding flash to the scene. If you’re shooting something like a star photo or night portrait, you can utilize a tripod in order to shoot a slow shutter speed and then light your couple.
Night Wedding Photography Tips
If night wedding photography intimidates you it’s time to accept the fact that it’s part of the job. If you can handle a stressed-out bride and all of her friends’ opinions, you can handle learning about lighting techniques to help you shoot when it gets dark. Below are a variety of techniques to familiarize yourself with, see which ones you know and which ones you want to learn.
- On camera flash
- Bounce Flash
- Off camera flash – one light
- Off camera flash – two, three, or four light set-ups
- Lighting options for different speech scenarios
- Dance floor lighting options for different types of rooms
- Creative portrait lighting utilizing backlight
- Shooting star photos with a couple
- Alternative methods to try such as using a video light
- Incorporating ambient lighting like twinkle lights
- Dragging the shutter for a fun effect
Start by mastering the techniques that will help you survive the required and expected events that often take place after dark. Have a plan for shooting the speeches and formal dances. Actually, have more than one plan in case your preferred method doesn’t work for a particular venue.
You can always fall back on your on-camera flash, bounce flash, or a simple single off-camera flash on a portable light stand or monopod. Heck, I’ve even used a video light for a sparkler exit or a headlamp to paint some foreground in a star photo. Have a plan and then get creative, the problem-solving is part of the fun.
About the author: Brenda Bergreen is a Colorado wedding photographer, videographer, yoga teacher, and writer who works alongside her husband at Bergreen Photography. With their mission and mantra “love. adventurously.” they are dedicated to telling adventurous stories in beautiful places.
