beach wedding in afternoon sun

[maggiebea]

Hey guys!

I'm pretty new to this, so I hope I'm posting in the right section :/ ?

I've got a couple of beach weddings this month, both at 3pm in Australian daylight saving time, so the sun is a monster. Ive been down to the beach for a few practices at this time, and I can't help but squint my eyes in every direction!

Im wondering if anybody has any tips and advice on how to make sure all of my photos aren't of the wedding party squinting into my lens. I'm starting to get a bit anxious!

Cheers!

Mag

[Benji]

Some people (like me) have large pupils that make our eyes more sensitive to bright light and therefore prone to squinting. You too may have this condition. Hopefully the wedding couple will not be as sensitive to bright light as you and I are.

Posing. I would face them away from the sun then use flash to brighten their faces up as they will now be in shadow. Use as fast a shutter speed as the camera will allow and as small an aperture as you can muster. Forget using a reflector as it will cause them to squint even more.

Benji

[bhursey]

Originally Posted by Benji

Posing. I would face them away from the sun then use flash to brighten their faces up as they will now be in shadow. Use as fast a shutter speed as the camera will allow and as small an aperture as you can muster. Forget using a reflector as it will cause them to squint even more.

Benji

What flash are you using because the shutter speed all depends on the flash and if it supports fp sync. If it doesn't you might only be limited to like 1/250

[Benji]

Originally Posted by bhursey

What flash are you using because the shutter speed all depends on the flash and if it supports fp sync. If it doesn't you might only be limited to like 1/250

I don't know what flash you will be using, but the when shooting in bright sunshine you will be limited to the maximum flash synchronization shutter speed regardless of the camera make or model (of DSLR). I'm not sure of what the flash sync shutter speed of point and shoot cameras are. If you are using a MF film camera you can sync at 1/500.

The DSLR camera manufacturers in order to sell more cameras will brag they have high speed flash synchronization and you can use extremely high shutter speeds and you can, but you also must use the lens at the widest aperture setting or thereabouts (something they fail to mention in the ad.)

So in bright sunshine we already know the correct exposure for the background will be f/16@ 1/125 (at ISO 125) as that is set in stone. So in order for the background to be properly exposed and for the subjects to be properly exposed your flash must be able to put out enough power to give you a flash meter reading of f/16. The shutter speed controls the "power" of the ambient light so we are stuck at synch or less, but we need more. There isn't a speedlight made that can give you f/16 at 1/1/25 unless you are about two feet from your subject. Group portraits are usually shot at 10 to 12 feet minimum. So what can we do? We can gain one stop by boosting the SS to 1/250 (synch speed) which means we can open the aperture up to f/11, but f/11 is still too much for any speedlight, (especially if you want good light and not just enough light.) In fact I don't know of any D/C powered speedlight that can do even do f/11 at a normal portrait distance of 10 to 12 feet. Enter an A/C powered flash unit of about 800 WS. This will give you sufficient power to bring the faces up to f/11, and you will be able to use a light modifier to give you some good light not just raw hard harsh light (I.E. enough light. However you will need A/C power, something you probably won't have at the beach.

Some Einstein may suggest using a large reflector to redirect some of the sunshine back into the faces. I suggest trying it to yourself before you attempt to do it on paying clients. A sliver reflector reflects about 98% of the light striking it, so think about staring into the sun that is "only" at 98% brightness to give you an idea of what you will be wanting your clients to do.

Benji

[bhursey]

The issue comes into play if you want a aperture of say f2.8 or f 5.6 you can not do that at 1/250 without blowing the sky out. Personaly I never shoot a portrait at f11 or f16 I shoot a person at about f 1.8-5.6 for head shots. f 5.6-f8 for couples and f8-f11 for group shots..


Heres some articles on it

Strobist: Control Your World With Ultra-High Sync
Strobist: Know Your Sync