Outdoor receptions present unique challenges. Usually there is little to no ambient lighting -- making it very difficult to focus, among other things -- and there are no surfaces such as walls or ceilings off of which to bounce flash. So it can sometimes look like you're shooting in a black hole -- with only the subject lit up and everything pitch black in the background.
The good news is that there are techniques to help you to drastically improve your images at outdoor receptions. In preparation for an outdoor reception make sure to:
-Use a MagMod Bounce to help soften and diffuse your on-camera flash.
-Set your shutter speed at 1/15 of a second when your flash is your main light. Generally at outdoor receptions, there is no light on the dance floor so you can make use of this technique to allow more background ambient light into your images, giving them more depth.
-Make sure your flash compensation on your on-camera flash is set between +1/3 to +1 stop in order to correctly expose your subject if there are ambient lights such as these twinkle lights in the background:
The good news is that there are techniques to help you to drastically improve your images at outdoor receptions. In preparation for an outdoor reception make sure to:
-Use a MagMod Bounce to help soften and diffuse your on-camera flash.
-Set your shutter speed at 1/15 of a second when your flash is your main light. Generally at outdoor receptions, there is no light on the dance floor so you can make use of this technique to allow more background ambient light into your images, giving them more depth.
-Make sure your flash compensation on your on-camera flash is set between +1/3 to +1 stop in order to correctly expose your subject if there are ambient lights such as these twinkle lights in the background:
-Set up an off-camera flash on a light stand and shoot into it. This will help light up the background like in the above two shots.
-Make sure to use my low-light focus trick to help you focus in the pitch-black. This will alleviate a lot of frustration and help you shoot more and get your images in focus.
-Feel free to experiment with different shooting angles in relation to your OCF. Here's an image from an outdoor rehearsal dinner I photographed. You can see where the light stand was off to the right of the image and the dramatic effect it produced:
-Make sure to use my low-light focus trick to help you focus in the pitch-black. This will alleviate a lot of frustration and help you shoot more and get your images in focus.
-Feel free to experiment with different shooting angles in relation to your OCF. Here's an image from an outdoor rehearsal dinner I photographed. You can see where the light stand was off to the right of the image and the dramatic effect it produced:
And one last image of the same situation but with the light stand moved a bit:
It's exciting to be able to produce fun images that capture the atmosphere of an outdoor reception despite the challenges!
If you found this post helpful, and are interested in learning more, click here to opt-in for my free video series -- 6 Hacks to Eliminate Boring Low-Light Photos and Get You Creating Reception Images you LOVE! In it I share my best 6 tips for shooting with flash. If you are intimidated by flash and wanting to conquer it once and for all, this is a great place to start!
If you found this post helpful, and are interested in learning more, click here to opt-in for my free video series -- 6 Hacks to Eliminate Boring Low-Light Photos and Get You Creating Reception Images you LOVE! In it I share my best 6 tips for shooting with flash. If you are intimidated by flash and wanting to conquer it once and for all, this is a great place to start!
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Equipment used for above photos:
Canon 5D Mark III // Canon 24mm 1.4 lens // 2 Canon 600EX-RT Speedlites // MagMod Bounce // 2 Battery Packs // Light Stand with umbrella bracket and cold shoe
Equipment used for above photos:
Canon 5D Mark III // Canon 24mm 1.4 lens // 2 Canon 600EX-RT Speedlites // MagMod Bounce // 2 Battery Packs // Light Stand with umbrella bracket and cold shoe
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