7 Available light photography
at weddings
Now very often events are set up for photographers.... The wed-
dings are orchestrated about the photographers taking the picture,
because if it hasn’t been photographed it doesn’t really exist.
—Elliott Erwitt
Every topic that’s covered elsewhere in this book, including
the next chapter of RAW-format capture, comes into play for
wedding photography. Couples often want portraits taken during
The Golden Hour of sunset and ceremonies and receptions take
place indoors, necessitating camera supports, fast lenses, digital
noise reduction, and RAW-image capture. It’s also important to
know basic exposure and White Balance techniques, too. Making
use of light and shadow is the key to creating beautiful photo-
graphs that couples will cherish after their wedding, photos that
become heirlooms for the new family.
Long gone are the days of the traditional wedding photographer
who arrived with bags of medium-format camera equipment,
one or more fl ash units, a tripod, and a few rolls of fi lm. The
routine involved taking the same prescribed number of posed,
