#AD300Pro  #wedding photography

My goal for this client was based on their Pinterest board they sent me, which was clean, bright, a true representation of the day, with 90 percent unposed documentary style, and 10 percent traditional posed portraits and group pictures for family and friends. I want the couple to be able to recognize each moment of the day, so I deliberately shy away from overly dramatic lighting, depending on the looks we have discussed prior to the wedding day.

For this reason, I use flash only during portraits, groups and reception dancing, balanced with natural light to maintain the true atmosphere and appearance of the day. I almost always shoot alone without assistance, so portability is really important to me. I am able to easily carry about my essential wedding kit of a lightweight light stand, an ad300pro for portraits, the collapsible AD-S65W softbox and I keep extra stands and the ad200s/ad100pro in my car to bring out for the evening reception and dancing.

If you think this looks like a natural light portrait, that’s great - it’s exactly what it’s supposed to look like! The natural light is coming from behind the bride, and the AD300Pro is camera right (you can see some soft shadows falling on her face cast by her hair). The light helps give a polished, editorial look  and avoids having to blow out the lake and skies behind. The venue location is very important to the couple, so it’s vital we can see it properly.

Without flash, the couple are completely lost in the shadow and the overcast sky casts unflattering shadows on their faces. With flash balanced with ambient, shaped by the AD-S65W softbox, the overcast sun provides a rim light, and the ad300pro gives me the control to light their faces as I choose, with a classic 45 degree angle in direct opposition to the direction of natural light. They also stand out more from the beautiful background.

With higher ISO, I could have shot this without the ad300pro. But I wanted to take control of how the light was falling on the couple’s faces to be as flattering as possible. With the bride turned towards the light, she benefits from  a more direct beauty style lighting pattern, which is super soft and flattering for women. The groom, however, is straight on to camera, with the light crossing his face at a 45 degree angle, resulting in a more sculpted Rembrandt lighting pattern. With one light, I can give the bride and groom their own distinct lighting pattern.

With these classic posed portraits, I have positioned the light camera left at 45 degrees. This is because I noticed that the bride tends to favour looking in that direction, showing the left side of her face. By placing the light camera left, the light falls fairly straight on to her face in a flattering beauty style lighting pattern. As the groom is turned towards the bride or is facing camera, he gets the more “rugged” Rembrandt lighting.

For these pictures, I treat this flower arrangements as my studio. The skies and lake behind are my backdrop, and by using an off camera flash with softbox we can provide soft, three dimensional lighting that looks as professional as a studio shoot. The couple were beyond delighted that we were able to capture the beauty of the unexpected effect of the sunset on the clouds.