When the lights go down and the dancing starts, there is no available light to shoot photographs of the wedding guests celebrating the wedding with dance. The movement on the dance floor calls for faster shutter speeds in the camera, and that means even less light for the camera to process.
The wedding photographer is faced with two major challenges:
- How to obtain nice even light across the dance floor
- How will the camera focus (cameras cannot focus quickly enough in the dark)
To address the first problem, I use several strobes positioned around the dance floor on tripods with wireless controllers. On my camera, I have a wireless controller. Which talks to each off the three strobes postponed around the dance floor. The controller allows me to adjust the power (brightness) of each strobe. Each strobe is identified with the letters A, B, or C, which correspond to the settings on the remote control. By using this method and technology, I produce the types of images that you see above. This technique also works well in tented weddings.
I have learned (the hard way) to use less expensive strobes in this situation because occasionally, under the influence of too much party juice, that a tripod can be knocked over – I do use sandbags to actor them, but they cannot combat a 200lm man, as he falls over.
To address the second problem of focusing in the dark, I use a small LED video light mounted to my camera. It is a focusing light. It projects light on my subject, my camera focuses very quickly, and then I can press the shutter which activates the three remote strobes.
Together, this technique and supporting technology allows the fun of a wedding reception to be fully documented.
If you want to learn more about wedding photoshoots, pop over to the Wedding Photography web page for details on pricing and links to a selection of real wedding photoshoots.