For reasons too lengthy to explain here, we were asked to photograph only the evening celebrations at Lisa and Mike’s wedding. The reception was at the Palace Hotel, Buxton in Derbyshire in the “Peak” Room. The Peak Room is a huge (dark) cavernous ballroom, used for larger weddings. For wedding photography it is a “challenge”, because with the rooms lights dimmed, almost the only light available for photography is the light from our flash heads, and we have to make it go a long way.
Techie note: For the speeches we set up a “room light” the purpose of which is to raise the background level of light in the whole room. This was supplemented by a second flash from near the camera position. The flash heads are triggered by radio. The camera exposure is set manually, as is the focus because the autofocus does not work well in low light conditions. For the silhouette shots it is simply a matter of turning off the flash trigger and exposing for the projector image.
Techie note: A different setup was used for the first dance. There is usually plenty of time to set lights up before the first dance, and I quite often set up flashes on stands or on the DJ’s speakers, so they fire from behind the couple giving pretty “rim” lighting. A third flash can be used to add light from the front, but I often run with just two.
