FAQ for Photographers: To Flash or Not to Flash: Part 1

You hear the phrase “natural light photographer” a lot these days. Many photographers prefer to exclusively use natural light (i.e. sunlight, window light, etc.) when they shoot… meaning, flash is the enemy. And don’t get me wrong- I love a good soft, dreamy, warm natural light photograph. I think they’re timeless and classic and clean and fresh. For many, they bring to mind the simplicity and beauty of film. Totally agree. And yes, I think that the flash built into most cameras is not the loveliest thing ever. Washed out faces, red eyes, one-dimensional flat images? Not so pretty. I’ve heard it said, and again, I agree, that one of the quickest ways to improve the quality of your photographs is to either turn your flash off or get it off your camera. However, I don’t always think that flash has to be the enemy. When I have the freedom to play with off-camera lighting, I absolutely love it. The fact of the matter is that it’s just another available light source, same as the sun or a lamp or the glow of a sparkler. The key is just knowing how to manage and manipulate your light sources to your advantage. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have this all figured out. There are still many aspects of off-camera lighting that perplex me, and it’s something I’m really pushing myself to learn more about and feel comfortable with. And there are a lot of lighting situations which could take a photograph in so many different directions, and it’s up to me, as the artist, to decide which direction to go in. And that can be a lot of pressure! But what I’m finding, the more I shoot, is that I have to trust my instincts.

As I mentioned last week, Crystal and Luke’s wedding presented a whole host of lighting issues and challenges for me and Ethan, who was shooting with me that day. There were many moments when I was tempted to just freak out about everything, but I kept reminding myself that I am the professional in the situation. It’s my job to make the best out of everything, because frankly, a wedding day does not, in fact, revolve around what works best for the photographer. (If that were the case, I would have made a deal along time ago with God about this whole rain on wedding days thing. No, Alanis, it is not ironic. Sometimes it just STINKS.) There are many factors that I can’t control. Obviously, the weather. And I can’t control how the quantity and size of windows in the dressing room. I can’t control the stage lights in a dark ceremony space. Wedding days are full of surprises at every turn, and things almost never go as planned. So while shooting Crystal and Luke’s wedding, I had sort of an epiphany. I realized that while there are many things I can’t control, I can control how I use the equipment I have and the light sources I’m given, and sometimes I just have to have confidence that I know what I’m doing and can handle it, even if the circumstances aren’t ideal.

So for all you other photographers out there who struggle with how to handle your light (because, as we all know, it’s ALL about the light), whether it’s harsh sunlight or an overcast sky or florescent overhead lighting or your flashes, I thought I’d revisit my thought process that day and share the metadata from a selection of my images, and why I chose to use the settings that I did. Am I an expert? Heavens no. But I do know that so many times I’ve wondered what is going through other photographers’ minds as they shoot, and why they prioritize some settings over others, and how they use and manipulate light to achieve certain looks. Plus, I don’t know what it is about seeing the metadata information, but I just totally geek out over it. I don’t know why.

Oh, and first off, you should know that I shoot in manual mode 100% of the time. I feel it’s the only way I have complete control over my exposures, but I know there are others who shoot aperture priority a lot too. To each his own!

Okay, so one of the first things I did when I arrived at the venue was shoot the details. Typically, for jewelry, paper goods, shoes, etc., I like to use window light. (Wide windowsills are one of my best friends!) I just think that nice, soft, directional light adds so much dimension and really lets the details shine in their own glory without a lot of background distraction. One of the really tricky things about this particular venue was that it was DARK. Not only because it was literally raining cats and dogs outside all day, but also because all the windows had that UV-blocking dark coating on them. Awesome. And most of the spaces were REALLY tight, so I couldn’t do a lot of spreading out. But in this case, I still wanted to use that window light, so I simply bumped up my ISO to compensate for the darkness. In both of the shots below, I was also shooting wide open, because those low apertures really put the focus on the objects and let everything else fall into a nice, soft blur. By setting my camera to the lowest aperture and the slowest shutter speed I feel I can shoot to avoid hand-shakiness and keep everything in focus (which for me, is 1/60 of a second), I knew that the lowest ISO I could use without resorting to flash was 500. So 500 it was!

The room where the girls were getting ready was actually what the venue called the “artist’s apartment,” where they let musicians stay who come to the venue to play. I was hopeful that with the lofty feel of the building, that there would be big, bright windows and high ceilings, but unfortunately the windows faced a wall and between the rain and the UV coating on them, offered very little light. So basically all I had to work with were the overhead florescent lights in the kitchen part of the room. (If there had been other rooms that were more open and well-lit, I might have suggested moving to them for a few of the key getting ready shots, but there really weren’t any other options, and I was prepared to tackle the situation head on.) Typically, overhead lighting in general, and particularly when it’s florescent, is not that flattering because it causes harsh shadows and contrast and has a greenish tint to it. However, I made this next shot work to my advantage because to camera left was a full-length mirror, which was reflecting back the overhead lighting and filling in some of the shadows for more even light. Then, when I edited, I just did a little white balancing, and then used a couple of actions to emphasize the red and pink tones over the green ones. The most important part of the photograph, in my opinion, is Crystal’s joyous expression, so to me perfecting the color was not a huge priority.

For whatever reason, someone had plugged in a lamp on the floor in the other half of the apartment, which was completely dark and had no overhead lights. So as Crystal and the girls gathered around it to get her in her dress, I decided to work with the uplighting, which I think even added a little drama, and certainly extra dimension because it was directional.

I’m not going to lie. I was a little bummed that we couldn’t do the First Look where we had originally planned, which was on the rooftop of the building overlooking all of downtown Knoxville. Would that have been super cool? Heck yeah! But the weather had other plans for us, so Ethan and I made a last minute decision to move it to a secluded hallway one floor up from the rest of the action. Could we have gone outside on the small little patio or gone to the front half of the restaurant where there was more window light (which is typically what I prefer to do)? Probably so. But again, the day does not revolve around what works best for the photographer. My first concern was that this moment be really special and private, and that Crystal not have to worry about getting her gorgeous dress dirty before the ceremony. I tried to be mindful of the fact that she had made a sacrifice of tradition to do the First Look in the first place, so I most definitely didn’t want to rob her of the beauty and excitement of the experience. So we chose this hallway, which clearly isn’t the most picturesque of spaces, but you know what? These weren’t portraits, they were moments, and even though the hallway looked like this….

…. we were able to capture some really tight shots free of background distraction and full of raw emotion, like this one Ethan took:

These next two shots are two of my favorites from the day, and they were taken in the elevator going downstairs to do portraits. The emotions and giddiness were still flowing, and the fact that I was right there with a camera in their face didn’t seem to phase them one bit, which I love. :) The lighting and color inside the elevator were pretty terrible, but a quick black and white conversion turns these into dramatic, emotional images.

So when we got outside, we literally had a tiny little patio to work with. And it was filled with tables and chairs, so we couldn’t really do any moving around. AND I was having to shoot at ISO 800… OUTSIDE. That’s how dark and dreary it was. So I kept my aperture wide open and my shutter speed low, because I wanted to keep the exposures as bright as possible, even a bit over-exposed, to make the light seem brighter and warmer. This is another one of my favorite shots:

For the big group bridal shot, I had to fit 22 people under this awning to keep them dry (while I ran out in the rain like a total nut). At first I was wishing there was a way to get an unobstructed full-length shot, but now I kind of love that they’re standing behind a gate with the fun garland on it. It feels very festive and colorful. And I like too that because I had to shoot so wide, I was also able to get in some of the building for more context and visual interest. Notice too that because I had to bump up my aperture (to ensure that I would keep everyone in focus), I also had to bump my ISO up to 1000. Scary, I know. But that’s the beauty of using professional equipment. I was confident my 5D could handle it without making the image too grainy and muddy looking. Then, in post-processing, I just did a lot of vibrancy and contrast increasing to counteract the dreariness, and overall, I think it turned out pretty nice. Is it the most crazy, creative shot I’ve ever done? No. But given the circumstances, I really think I made it work.

So I also wanted to do some individual portraits of Crystal with each of her bridesmaids. For this, I came back under the awning, had everyone else go stand off to one side, and positioned the girls right next to the edge of the gate. Then I stood on a chair (I’m always looking for things to stand on to get that extra height I so desperately need) and got pretty close with my 50mm. (Instead of going wide open though, I kept the aperture at 3.5, knowing I would have two people to keep in focus and I wanted to have a deeper depth of field. If I had been standing further away, this wouldn’t have so much mattered, because the plane of focus also depends on the distance of the camera from the subject. I don’t know… it’s a lot of technical terminology that I don’t know how to use properly, but I do know that if I want to shoot two people up close and keep both of them in focus, I need to shoot with a higher aperture.) In this situation, I think that the nice soft directional light is so lovely and adds a lot of dimension to the images (in much the same way that the window light worked for the detail shots).

This post is starting to get realllly long, and I still have a lot more I want to share, so I’ve decided to stop here and divide the topic into two posts. Look for Part 2 to hit the blog soon! To be continued….