merry new year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have been traveling and traveling and I have landed in Atlanta for a week for a wedding. We are headed back to the Mayan Riviera on the 8th though, this cold weather stuff is not for me!
I wanted to share my new christmas present with you all, a box of goodies that every photographer likes to see under the tree.
We picked up a few more lenses, but I am most happiest about my new 85 1.2 and my new 35 1.4! How much fun and exciting is this!!!!!!!!!!! We are actually training another associate photographer and most of this stuff is for his camera bag...all the zooms and such. But nonetheless, can't wait to try out my new 85 tomorrow. I am shooting a wedding in a big beautiful church tomorrow and a reception to follow in a HUGE Biltmore hotel ballroom! Images coming soon!
end of the year present :)
And for a little flash flavor:
I shot this wedding back on 11/3 in Atlanta. Last wedding of the year in US actually. This setup is all about mixing the ambient and your strobes so that you can emphasize keylights on our subjects and keep MOOD and ambiance in the room while at the same time, concentrating on strong compositional choices. The gentleman in the center is the bride's father and was singing "The way you look tonight" with his buddies, a song that the groom requested that must be "played" by the band.
I set up 2 speedlights on 1/4 power, triggered by my sturdy Pocket Wizards. I had strong ambient light coming from camera right and from the band's stage lighting. I wanted to balance those lights so that my strobes, set to bounce, could come down a tad softer on their jackets but also bounce far enough to light up the bride & groom, sitting 20 feet away, watching the performance.
Her is the best I could do with my images to tell the storytelling of the evening:
Canon 5d | ISO 500, 2.8 1/80th on ALL frames.
Here is my frame showing the placement of the 2 speedlights. Notice the strong band light coming from behind the speaker. The band's light was my friend :) I used a PJ technique to add emphasis to the frame, layering the subject, waiting for the perfect moment where the bride & groom looked at each other with smiles. The bounce light is just barely reaching them and adds a keylight on their forehead...

This one from the other side, using the same layering technique.

Here is a better shot to showcase the results of my lights.

This one was just for fun, shot with my 200. I wanted to isolate dad on this one.

Ok, thats it for now. Hope this inspired you to shoot a room with more than one light, and consider the mood as well as compositional choices to make your storytelling dramatic. Remember, any HACK can put 2 lights in a reception hall. Telling the story is with your lighting and composition by preserving mood and ambiance is the way to go :)
Please share you compositional lighting storytelling at
Flash Flavor Flickr image pool. Or drop us a comment here and show us :) por favor!
Cheers & have a happy new years!