23rd Oct 2007
low light first dance
As a follow up to my last post about dragging the shutter and keeping ambient, I’d like to showcase similar circumstances we experienced from last weeks wedding in a beautiful garden, very looooow lighting conditions. We wanted to photograph the first dance with a little added light, in order to make an exposure. We used a fast prime for a few shots without flash, which ended up providing a dynamic portfolio of the first dance…. so consider this when you shoot in similar conditions:
I set up two Nikon Sb-28 speedlights on 1/64th power, each at 45 degrees on the columns (the columns 1 away from center on both sides) aiming at the ceiling for a small bounce. It was important to me that we were able to expose the ambient light outside the gazebo and make it appear that we weren’t blowing the sky out of the conditions inside… If you look carefully, you can see the slave mounted on the left side cornice.
Disclaimer: I’ve been asked how do I get away with ISO’s over 1000… My answer: Canon 5d
We were shooting at ISO 1250 1/30th at 2.8 (my favorite reception exposure settings) slave set to 1/64th
and this one, to frame them up nicely 
ISO 1250 1/30th at 2.8 (my favorite reception exposure settings) slave set to 1/64th
and this one, i put on my 50 1.4, shot this one at ISO 1600 1/4 at 1/30th… rather dark in there eh?
NO Slave!
Check out a slideshow of photographer favorites from Kellie & Kevin’s wedding. I had my lovely wife, Sol Tamargo assisting me on this one!
Anybody have any good PJ stuff to submit to Flashflavor? Is the image unique? If so, tell me why
Anybody have any cool low light stuff with slave help? If you want to submit them to the Flash Flavor Flickr group, please feel free to do so.
Comments?
Thoughts?
Do you hate this stuff?
Cheers!
PS… I’m traveling through the Mexican country side, headed today to this little city, Tapalpa. I love little adventures. We are spending the week in Guadalajara Mexico, where Sol was born and raised. Our ring designer is making our wedding bands and we are making a little visit… Its pretty crazy to be in the wedding biz and planning your own wedding at the same time…Friday, we are headed to Mexico City for a traditional Mexican wedding, totally different than anything most of us have ever seen… 400+ people strong and culture filled! Hopefully, we will have some killer flash flavor to share from that one !
saludos,
That first image is just gorgeous, Matt. All of them are great. Thanks for sharing!
Matt:
Where can i submit/email my photo ?
Great stuff. thank you for sharing. Th 5D is great for high iso, but no so great for low-light focusing. What is your technique to focus dancing couples at dim lit ballrooms? I find myself struggling, trying to “chase” my subject and get a lot of out of focus images. Thanks
I’m really enjoying this stuff! You have amazing talent and I really appreciate that you share your knowledge.
Very nice, photos!! I love this site - great tips & techniques. I constantly shoot at very high iso’s thanks to canon . . .
Have a great trip! Be safe!
Hi…Man i just love your blog, keep the cool posts comin..holy Thursday
Great photos. I can’t believe you can hand hold the 50/1.4 at 1/30th and get sharp pictures during the dance without the slaves.
Frank, the 50 1.4 is tough to actually get to be sharp and in focus in these conditions, but sometimes, you get lucky
cheers & thanks for taking time to comment!
Mateo
Do you use an on-board flash or do you just put a pocket wizard on your hotshoe? BTW, great work!
Mike, we use both. Sometimes we velcro the PW to the back of our on camera 580 and sometimes the PW sits on the hotshoe.
It all depends on if there is enough visible light to focus, otherwise we use the 580’s as a focus assist and generally dial it down to -3 so it doesnt play a role in the exposure.
cheers & thanks for visiting FF!
mateo