Picture Perfect Poses Mini Lighting Guide by Mike Getchell

Picture Perfect Poses Mini Lighting Guide

Table of Contents Overview ............................................................................................................................2 Chapter 1 Church Lighting .................................................................................................3 Chapter 2 Sunset Lighting ..................................................................................................6 Chapter 3 Night Lighting....................................................................................................9 Chapter 4 Sparklers ..........................................................................................................15 Chapter 5 Glow Sticks ......................................................................................................16 Chapter 6 Credits ..............................................................................................................17

CopyrightÂŠ2012 www.pictureperfectposes.com

Picture Perfect Poses Mini Lighting Guide

Overview This Mini Lighting Guide incorporates several different locations, lighting situations and photography techniques. You will see brides and couples in churches and outside at dusk and full darkness. We used off camera flash and pocket wizards on all photos either to backlight the subject(s), or to side light them. We even threw in some photos showing some tricks using sparklers and glow sticks. We hope this Mini Lighting Guide inspires you to try some of these techniques.

CopyrightÂŠ2012 www.pictureperfectposes.com

Picture Perfect Poses Mini Lighting Guide

ChurchLighting Churches can be dark and challenging to come up with new and creative photos. We have added three church photos to show an individual bride and a couple. If you haven’t taken the bride or couple off the alter steps and down the aisle, give it a try. We hope these photos give you some new ideas on posing and lighting. In this first photo we had the bride walk half way down the aisle, set up a remote flash on the ground pointed upwards and directly at the back of the bride. There is some flair from the flash with the white pews. This photo was taken on manual settings 1/50, F3.5 at ISO 400. The second example has less flair from the flash. As you gain more experience with these types of shots you will notice you do not have to use as much flash when there is white to bounce the flash vs. brick or a darker environment that doesn’t bounce the brightness. In those instances, you will need more flash. You will notice this throughout all of the photos.

Picture Perfect Poses Mini Lighting Guide

In the second and third photos you see a bride and groom. With both the bride and groom in the photo you are able to put the flash centered between them to illuminate them more evenly. You will notice again the white of the brides dress picks up a lot more of the brightness than the darkness of the groom’s suit. Also note, to keep the couple’s faces and fronts lit we used on camera flash. This photo was taken with the same settings as above but with on camera flash as well as the remote flash behind. Both flashes were on manual 1/8th.

Picture Perfect Poses Mini Lighting Guide

The third photo shows a very interesting angle with the bride and groom sitting in the pews. It takes advantage of the beauty of the church and alter. This photo is included for two reasons: 1. It illustrates a unique photo within the church setting. 2. It illustrates another flash angle being used. The flash is remotely triggered on the right, thus illuminating the right side of the groom and the veil of the bride beautifully. Play with your off camera flash from multiple angles. This flash from the side works because we are not looking at the bride and groomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s faces. If we were, they would be heavily lit on one side and shadowed on the other which would look awful. Getting behind them, using the side flash as you look at the altar and stained glass works wonderfully!

CopyrightÂŠ2012 www.pictureperfectposes.com

Picture Perfect Poses Mini Lighting Guide

Sunset Lighting

Sunset lighting gets really good about 30 minutes AFTER sunset. Everyone thinks itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s when the sun disappears over the horizon but it still takes a little more time to get those great colors in the sky. In photo 1, it felt like we waited an eternity to get the right sky. It was pretty dark but with pocket wizards and our remote flash we were able to illuminate our bride and truck while maintaining the deep rich sky colors. This photo was taken on manual 1/60th, ISO 400, F3.5 with the flash on manual 1/8th

CopyrightÂŠ2012 www.pictureperfectposes.com

Picture Perfect Poses Mini Lighting Guide

Sunset Lighting In photo two it started getting darker and we switched angles away from the setting sun. You can see the different colors of the sky. We maintained the off camera umbrella at a 45 degree angle to the bride but with very different results. We used the same settings as above but were able to get closer do the the vertical nature of the photo vs. the horizontal photo above. We love both!

CopyrightÂŠ2012 www.pictureperfectposes.com

Picture Perfect Poses Mini Lighting Guide

Sunset Lighting Photo three is similar to photos one and two with the natural sunset lighting. You can see the rich dark sky in the upper left corner of the photo. The umbrella was set off to the right and the couple was posed towards the umbrella to help illuminate their faces. These sorts of evening photos are great for bridal, engagement, wedding shoots and more! Watch the sunset and wait until the sky turns a nice color. Then use some off camera flash with an umbrella or softbox and provide some great light on your subjects and shadows that create great color, depth and warmth. Your clients will love them! This was taken with the same settings listed in previous photos.

CopyrightÂŠ2012 www.pictureperfectposes.com

Picture Perfect Poses Mini Lighting Guide

Night Lighting Night lighting defined loosely here is darkness. Sunset has come and gone and it is now dark. If you are photographing a wedding, then check to see where you have some light whether it’s a full moon, a street light……any light!

The reason I say any light is you need a place bright enough for your camera sensors to find your subject so you can photograph them.

What I typically do is grab my assistant or a guest if need be and take them to the spot I want to photograph the bride and groom. I then test out the lighting and settings. Once I feel comfortable with my set up I head in to get the bride and groom. This first example shows the same photo with two different outcomes. In the first photo, I did not have a second flash go off 45 degrees to my right. You can see the couple is completely backlit and silhouetted. Both photos were taken at manual 1/125th, F4.0, ISO 400. Both flashes fired at manual 1/8th in the second photo and the front flash wasn’t on in the photo above.

Picture Perfect Poses Mini Lighting Guide

Night Lighting In photo two my assistant turned on the remote flash and we got a completely different result. The great shadow on the white shed was complete luck which I only saw later in post production. But the shadow gives you a great idea of where my assistant was standing with the umbrella!

CopyrightÂŠ2012 www.pictureperfectposes.com

Picture Perfect Poses Mini Lighting Guide

Night Lighting Another great wedding shot if you have a gazebo at the wedding facility or nearby. Place the flash with Pocket Wizards behind the couple facing upwards. The white of the gazebo is picked up when the flash fires. I set my camera to manual, ISO 400, 1/60th at 3.5 with the flash on Manual at 1/8th. The key to this as said previously is to test these settings with someone before getting the bride and groom. If you need to change anything move your settings for more or less light. One other thing to note, on this photo I did not have a flash go off on my camera. I had the videographer stand to the left of this photo and he turned his light on which illuminated enough for my camera sensor to pick up the couple for the photo. If it is really dark bring a small flashlight to shine on the couple so you have enough light for your sensors to lock onto the couple. Otherwise you might have some troubles.

CopyrightÂŠ2012 www.pictureperfectposes.com

Picture Perfect Poses Mini Lighting Guide

Night Lighting This is a similar shot as the previous photo with the same settings. The bride had a wonderfully fully flowing dress and we took full advantage of the look. This sort of photo works great with a very long veil also.

CopyrightÂŠ2012 www.pictureperfectposes.com

Picture Perfect Poses Mini Lighting Guide

Night Lighting Here is another night lighting photo. This one was taken in an archway with a white arch that picked up the flash. The rest of the area remained dark because on camera flash was not used in

order to also pick up the lovely lanterns at the facility. This photo silhouetted the couple wonderfully under the archway on purpose. The great thing about using pocket wizards or remote flash triggers is you are able to adjust the light and the direction of your light as you turn on and off the different triggers for vastly different affects.

Picture Perfect Poses Mini Lighting Guide

Night Lighting In our final examples night lighting example we have a couple under a lantern at the lake. It was very dark making this photo even more difficult. A full moon or clear skies can help so much versus a really dark cloud covered night. In this situation you will almost certainly need to use a flash light to shine on the couple to get your camera sensor to locate the couple. This one was shot on manual at ISO 800, 2.8, at 1/50th with a remote flash on manual with 1/8th flash. No frontal flash was used and the couple is quite dark on this side of their faces but it makes for a wonderful looking photo. You can do something similar with a street light or park light where the ambient lighting will probably be greater thus improving the illumination of the couple.

Picture Perfect Poses Mini Lighting Guide

Sparkler Lighting This is a fun shot to try with a bride and groom. Bring some sparklers and get a couple groomsmen to help you out. In this photo we used a tripod and shot it on manual at ISO 640, F4, 2.5 seconds with a remote flash off an umbrella to the left set at Manual 1/16th.

Once the camera settings are set I have the groomsmen start running with the sparklers, one in front and one behind as they wave them in big circles. It takes practice but is alot of fun!

Picture Perfect Poses Mini Lighting Guide

Glow Sticks As long as I had such a fun couple to work with I thought I would do more than just the sparklers. I brought some glow sticks and had the bridesmaids hold them along with the couple spelling out the word LOVE! I used the same settings as the sparklers above with a tripod and off camera flash. You can see the flash was on the left since the bridesmaid on the left is better lit than the bridesmaid on the right. A second remote flash would have illuminated them more but it would have also taken away from the glow sticks. One could also do this without the flash and expose the shot more so the glow sticks illuminated the photo more for a different look. Both the sparklers and glow sticks are photos that you can practice in the front yard with your family before trying professionally.

Picture Perfect Poses Mini Lighting Guide

Credits Photo credits go to Eric Little and Mike Getchell. You can see more of Eric’s work at: http://www.ericlittlephotography.com/ Follow Eric on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/EricLittlePhotography You can see more of Mike’s work at: http://www.getchellphotography.com Follow Mike on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/GetchellPhotography