I often get questions like the following from clients who want to create an intimate feel to the wedding but still get great pictures. Candlelit ceremonies look incredible, but, what looks incredible to the naked eye doesn’t always translate well into photographs
It’s my responsibility to make sure that you know what you can and can’t get away with photographically when planning your intimate wedding ceremony. I have seen ceremonies in wine cellars in France and hilltops in Barcelona, all weddings look different from a lighting perspective.
Can you shoot a low light ceremony and it still look good?
Camera equipment has developed at a ridiculous rate, every six months a new top end model is released. It’s big business. Developments possibly fuelled by the blogging and vlogging markets, but who knows. All you need to know is that for wedding photographers it essentially has enabled us to shoot in near darkness. You can technically shoot in total darkness, but not with a visible wavelength, so that means your ceremony would be dark and no one could see you (I am going off on a tangent, but this is cool). I’ve only ever seen total darkness shooting for special forces missions. The team sends a dog out in front of them who is carrying a device which emits infrared, the guys behind then have infrared goggles and cameras so they can see, it’s very cool. I don’t have a special forces dog, but I do like sharing cool information.
Where was I. Right. So shooting in very low light is possible, but it does have some drawbacks as far as wedding photography is concerned. If you know what they are you can either plan around them or happily accept the side effects. I’m not a fan of surprises and forewarned is forearmed.
A question from a client on their candlelit wedding ceremony
Here is a question I received recently:
“Our wedding ceremony is in the afternoon and will be by candlelight. We both don’t like staged wedding photographs and are looking for a creative photographer that can shoot gorgeous photos in a candlelit/fairy light environment. We are very aware good photos depend on lighting etc. and are very keen to hear your take on this. Would that be something you would be able to help us with? Do you by any chance have some photos to show from other night weddings?”
There are two main considerations when working in low light.
One – The images will be grainy
Two – Candlelight only from below can cast unflattering shadows
Example pictures – candles and daylight
In the following two pictures we have a wedding ceremony in a very dark building.
There is only only one light source – the huge doorway.
I’ve made the images black and white so you can see where the light is falling and how it effects the shadows on the face of the bride and groom.
There are candles in the alcoves, but as you can see from where the bright spots are, they make absolutely no difference to the light levels in the room – candles just don’t output enough light on their own.
Example photograph of no ambient light
In this image, the groom is waiting at the top of the aisle.
There is no strong ambient light falling on his face, the only light source is the doorway behind him. You can see that in order to create an accurate exposure, the camera has to force it, and this produces something called grain.
Here are a few more examples of images with grain, I don’t see it as a negative, personally I think it adds character, charm and texture. Some images I even deliberately add grain to achieve a certain style.
As a skilled professional, I can always work with what light is available.
The whole point of wedding photography is to capture the day as it was.
You can see in the next two pictures that even with very little light, the pictures are still very clear and the emotional impact is, if anything, heightened.
If however, you think it looks dreadful, then at least now you know that a low light wedding ceremony isn’t for you.
If you want bright images with no moodiness then you will need to either get married in the summer months or invest in a lighting solution to brighten the room. The best bet is if in doubt, speak to a professional, then you can rest assured that the ceremony will look exactly how you want it to.
These two images are heavily cropped to give you an accurate side by side. The image on the left is the first dance where it was very, very dark. The image on the right is during the daylight ceremony. On the left you can see the texture looks a bit like the static on your old TV, on the right the detail is incredibly clear, you can even see the weft of the cloth on the grooms jacket.
Fairy lights
In this image, we can again see how using low output lighting effects a photograph.
Where there is only a few fairy lights, the images still come out grainy.
Again, I’ve made the images black and white on purpose so you can see where the bright spots are and then you can see how quickly the light falls away.
Personally I don’t think I don’t think grain matters at all and often adds character to an image, particularly black and white photographs. The the close up highlights the grain.
Note, if you only have candlelight, when light only comes from below, the shadows can be unflattering.
My recommendation – mixed lighting
This next image, I photographed in a particularly dark barn and is a combination of fairy lights and ‘candle light’ bulbs. The bulbs fill in the shadows and provide more even lighting across the face.
My recommendation would be to have a combination of the two, candles for ambience and warmth and fairy lights/candle shaped bulbs to add to the ambient light.
The most practical solution would be to create a mini set up at the venue and reflect upon the results, but that takes time and money.
The next best solution is to ring me up and tell me what you’re thinking, and I’ll tell you how it can be done.
Don’t forget the heat from candles
Another consideration is the heat from the candles if they will also be your primary light source. I’ve seen the Gentlemen get quite hot in a three piece woollen suit stood next to candles!
Low ambient light still gives beautiful photographs
Conclusion
Low light weddings look amazing, if you want to get awesome photographs as well, give me a call and we can discuss how to do it.
Need more help? I’ve got you covered.
I’ve written lots more useful articles on my resources page. Some extra reading leading on from this post – you may be wondering does the wedding photographer visit the venue, or does the wedding photographer go to the rehearsal? Typically the answer is no, but in special circumstances it may be neccessary. Click on the links to read more.