It’s All about light

If you’ve ever taken a photo in your life, you know how important light is. The word ‘photography’ means painting with light. When it comes to your wedding photographs, lighting is kind of a big deal! You never really know what kind of light you will get on your wedding day. Bright and sunny with no clouds, cloudy and dark, or the light changes from sunny to shady every few minutes. Even the light beaming down your face as opposed to behind you makes your photographs look completely different! This is where your awesome photog comes in! 

You are not just hiring someone who knows how to use a camera, you are hiring someone who knows how to use light. Light is one of the biggest contributors to how your photographs will turn out.

I’ve broken down each part of your wedding day with my best advice to have incredible light! Incredible light = incredible photographs.

Preparations

If you can, do your best to choose an AIRBNB that is well lit and not too small. Look for big windows that let in lots of nice natural light! Dark wooden walls will make your photographs dark and shadowy. Light white walls will make your photographs light and glowy.

Ceremony

When picking a spot for your ceremony, consider the amount of natural light and where the sun will be at the time. Are there any trees providing nice even shade? Or is it out in the open? Look for even lighting where your wedding party will be standing, not a mix of dark shade and bright light. If you are to be married on a hot sunny day, will you be squinting into the sun? If your ceremony is near water in the mid afternoon and the sun is out, it will be bright no matter what!

The best ceremony lighting options:

• All wedding party in the same light - not half sun half shade

• The sun behind you

• Signing table in the shade

• Always always aim for shade if you can!

Family Photographs

Shade, shade, shade and/or the sun behind you.

I’ll help you with this on the day!

Wedding Party & Couple Portraits

To capture the most beautiful evenly-lit photographs I can for you, I strongly recommend having your location photographs taken within an hour of sunset.  Harsh, unflattering light happens on sunny days in the mid afternoon, whereas beautiful, soft, even lighting happens as close to sunset as possible. For daylight savings weddings, some couples like to put aside 15 mins during the reception where you can duck away for some ‘Golden Hour’ photographs.

I’ll help you with all of this on the day!

Reception

Have you thought about what sort of lighting you will have? Some reception venues are very well lit, and some are not. The available light will impact your photographs. The more light the better! Fairy lights hung up, string industrial lights, candles on tables, or chandeliers can all be fantastic. These small touches can make your reception room and photographs just that little bit extra special!