november 2017 71
N
atural light photography has
become wildly popular for some
years now and photographers
have been shooting in natural light which
creates some amazing images without
having to worry about external lighting.
Natural light photography is also preferred
during weddings as it’s fairly easier to
wait for natural light than storming the
location with artificial lights. Some wedding
photographers purely shoot in natural light
unless the need of an external light comes.
Shooting in natural light is very interesting
as it challenges the creative front of the
photographer. Using natural light whenever
possible is a no-brainer to give your images
that beautiful, natural, dreamy quality that
is synonymous with weddings. However,
there is more to it than just not using lights.
People who have mastered natural light
photography did more than just not use
lights while shooting. You must really learn
and understand how light behaves, reacts,
and interacts with your subjects.
Just to clear out things, many
professionals do shoot weddings with flash
and they are able to obtain very beautiful
images. In fact, I’d say most wedding
photographers actually mix the two lighting
methods. Natural light when you have it
available and flash when you don’t (think
inside the church or randomly moving where
you need action stopping shutter speeds).
Use Prime lenses
The most important piece of equipment is the
lens more than the camera body. However
a better camera body is always welcome
when shooting complex assignments.
Wedding photos need a lot of sharpness, a
lot of good bokeh and be properly exposed.
Prime lenses feature wide open apertures
which allow more light in the camera. This
comes in handy in all situations and also
when the light levels drop drastically low. With
prime lenses you can also get the beautiful
‘Bokeh’ which is much desired for in wedding
photos. The choice of focal length is purely
on the photographer but say a 50mm f/1.2
professional lens will create amazing quality
images and also be a portrait lens for you.
Since you have large aperture for more light,
you can indulge in shooting the photos in
complete natural light.
Tip #1
Wedding Special