Allan Levene Photography 770.919.7993

A word to the wise

I had the pleasure of photographing a wedding at a new, for me, venue in Tucker, Georgia. The staff was very attentive and clearly was skilled at producing end-to-end weddings, including providing delicious meals… one of which I ate quickly in the brides changing room.

What was of particular interest to me is that the venue was in the corner of a upscale strip center. I think that the owner has built-out the space specifically as a venue. As such the facility had richly covered walls which ended about 12 feet from the floor, and had hidden the industrial duct work by painting it black rather than installing a drop ceiling everywhere. The second image is from their website showing, what I think was, an exposure using an on camera strobe. It’s potentially fine for correctly exposing the subject, but the background fades to black for two reasons: the room size, and the black ceiling which absorbs most of the light hitting it. This image was taken by another photographer, and is used on the venue’s web site, using a single camera mounted flash.

And therein was the potential problem – how to light the wedding, reception and party. The room where the wedding was held only had one wall of windows leaving most of it dark, and the reception and party area didn’t have any windows. Now when you walk around these areas you don’t see any particular problems as your eyes adapt very quickly, and find the warm incandescent lighting attractive. But the camera lens and sensor is much simpler. You either get the correct exposure or not.

The first image will show the reception area without using any flash. This produces the best romantic images, but as the exposure was about one second was utterly unusable when people were present.

So what did I do? I brought the big guns in. Three huge studio strobes putting out about 2,500 watt-seconds of light energy. Compare that to 20 from a “powerful on-camera strobe.” The next problem was where to locate them so that guests didn’t knock them down by accident, and so they could bounce the light off the ceiling without being blocked by the huge ducting work. That was difficult.

And did I mention that the rooms had huge mirrors, so I had to avoid flash reflections as well as my own. I don’t mind being photographed, but it doesn’t look right for a perfectly framed photograph to show me taking the picture in the mirror. Be clear, these mirrors where everywhere, so I had to watch for my reflection at the same time as I kept an eye on the wedded couple.

Yes, a challenge but it was fun. So what’s the Word to the Wise? Well, if you have to shoot at a similar location go early and experiment, ideally using a flash meter with a wireless trigger to try to create even exposure zones in which you’ll get well lit and exposed shots.

On the newest and cleverest cameras, and why I get close

Over the years I have bought and used many, many cameras – always convinced that the next one with even more bells and whistles will help me get better results. And each time, although I like the feature rich products I am underwhelmed. Not because the cameras don’t work fine, but it seems that for every half dozen features you may use once in a while, they will drop the key feature you use all of the time. And so, the beat goes on.

For example, I use flash a lot and tend to get very close to the couple during the ceremony. Most photographers don’t, either because they are shy or scared that using flash would be thought inappropriate and besides, they would rather stay at the back, invisible with a telephoto lens. I like to get close as it creates a sense of intimacy, and while telephoto lenses have their place, I think that they should mostly be used for nature and sports photography. In the first instance, the birds won’t let you get too close; in the second the police will stop you as you step onto the playing field for a close up.

My favorite camera remains the single current production Nikon DSLR that uses a electronic shutter. That means I can shoot exposures of 1/4000 versus 1/200 with the many inherent restrictions for creative photography. This was the fastest flash speed I could use with my external strobes, which is the shortest exposure time that the one I just bought does. The the new one has so many more features; but the less expensive 1/4000 model has almost all of the features I like so I’ll continue to use it when flash is important and I’ll use the fancy one for the simpler photography. Both use the same lenses, which is the real secret to sharp, crisp photographs anyway. The camera bodies come and go, collecting features along the way so the manufacturers can continue to market and seduce the photographers that they must buy the latest and greatest. It’s a shame that they keep dropping key features, and replace them with useless ones, mixed in with true advances.

To reiterate, I shoot close as the couples love the results. After the wedding has long gone, and the bills diminish down to nothing, they are left with only one thing – the photographs. I do my best to create emotion, feelings that will last a lifetime. I can’t do that with a telephoto lens. And so, I get in close, usually with my specialty cameras and do what I have to do. Period.