Shooting a wedding at night! HELP!

smbphoto

OK, so it's not TECHNICALLY at night, but close enough!

I have to meet the bride and groom at 3pm this Sunday. The ceremony is at 4 in Central Park and then after the ceremony she wants photos as we make our way to the reception location at Tavern on the Green.

This time of year in NYC, the light begins fading around 4-4:30. By the time we've got to do formals and portraits I imagine it'll be close to 5 and my ISO will be up to 1000+ in order to get any light!

I begged the bride to do a first look at the hotel, but her groom wasn't having it even though I stressed the importance of the light situation.

Now I fear I'll need to use my flash in order to get photos that aren't blurry and/or so noisy that they can't use them. I am NOT an experienced flash user. Does anyone have advise about off camera flash settings that I should be using in order to get nice portraits outdoors in gloomy/dark conditions?

I have a Canon 5D, 580 EX II, a 430 EX, a speedlite transmitor, a silver umbrella (not sure how many inches...just looks like a normal umbrella) and a superclamp that I've used to attach said umbrella to my tripod one time...a long time ago.

I figure people will tell me to go practice outside tonight and tomorrow (the wedding is Sunday) which I do intend to do, but I was hoping someone had experience in this situation and could give me some pointers.

Thanks in advance!

Sharon

Shima

Hey I just posted some photos and tips in the other thread about shooting at night. Don't want to double post, so go read about it over there please, hope it helps!

Eketelon

smbphoto wrote:

OK, so it's not TECHNICALLY at night, but close enough!

I have to meet the bride and groom at 3pm this Sunday. The ceremony is at 4 in Central Park and then after the ceremony she wants photos as we make our way to the reception location at Tavern on the Green.

This time of year in NYC, the light begins fading around 4-4:30. By the time we've got to do formals and portraits I imagine it'll be close to 5 and my ISO will be up to 1000+ in order to get any light!

I begged the bride to do a first look at the hotel, but her groom wasn't having it even though I stressed the importance of the light situation.

Now I fear I'll need to use my flash in order to get photos that aren't blurry and/or so noisy that they can't use them. I am NOT an experienced flash user. Does anyone have advise about off camera flash settings that I should be using in order to get nice portraits outdoors in gloomy/dark conditions?

I have a Canon 5D, 580 EX II, a 430 EX, a speedlite transmitor, a silver umbrella (not sure how many inches...just looks like a normal umbrella) and a superclamp that I've used to attach said umbrella to my tripod one time...a long time ago.

I figure people will tell me to go practice outside tonight and tomorrow (the wedding is Sunday) which I do intend to do, but I was hoping someone had experience in this situation and could give me some pointers.

Thanks in advance!

Sharon

Sharon, I understand your reservations, but I'm sure you'll pull it off. What types of lens apertures are you working with? If you've got something in the 1.4-2.8 range, you may be pretty good without too much worry. Also, I would scout out places with street lighting already in place. Vision: Park bench beneath a tree overhang (not too dense), just enough light coming through to softly light the faces. You can do this with a medium shutter speed on a tripod.

You will need to do a white balance for each scene change of course, due to color temperatures changing, but that's ok too. Finally, I recommend shooting in RAW if you don't already to make sure you can make the adjustments you need in PP.

Take care and you'll do great. Oh, also check out YouTube for ideas on night shooting in a park or something like that.

emeraldrose

so how'd the shoot go? I'd love to see the images

bloomphotog

emeraldrose wrote:

so how'd the shoot go? I'd love to see the images

+1...

Eketelon

emeraldrose wrote:

so how'd the shoot go? I'd love to see the images

+2...

jrmyrnsm

emeraldrose wrote:

so how'd the shoot go? I'd love to see the images

+3

Agnieszka

This is not really going to help you now, but for the future .... When you meet a couple for a wedding, ask them what their times are, and see if you can come up with a rough schedule by the time they sign the contract.

I think all the couples want to have *some* but shooting ALL my formals by night is a no-go for me. All my couples understood my points when I explained them the importance of giving the photographer enough time AND light for the photos, but I have to say, checking the schedule with the couple beforehand (so everybody is happy) is really important, otherwise you'll end up in situations like that. Experimenting with settings the day off will not come out well, and especially shooting at night requires a lot of experience in the field ...

Anyway. Sorry, didn't want to sound like an old groucher ... :rutt

Hope your shoot went well & it was a fun couple to work with.