October, part 1

First up since the long break, a down-home family wedding in Georgia. Guests of honor, of course, get their pics posted on the main page.

This was my shortest cross-country trip to date, with my car sitting in the parking lot at SFO for a total of only 43 hours while I traipsed across the continent to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The only thing longer than the name is the airport itself. I'm mildly surprised that they don't have shuttle flights from one end to the other. It's huge.

Flew in Friday night for a rehearsal dinner, as it were, at a local BBQ joint. Lunch in Silicon Valley and dinner in an Atlanta roadhouse makes for quite an afternoon. But I digress. A good nights' sleep and time to get ready for the ceremony.

Pictures and more, after the jump





The wedding was simple, but beautiful, held on a footbridge over a stream running through the wooded backyard of the grooms' parents' home. The stream (okay, really kind of a ditch, but that was part of the challenge) severely limited the angles which were available, and the afternoon sun coming through the trees was to be directly behind the couple. Through the trees. Bright, mottled light and deep shadows, always a good combination. Here's the setup in available light, from the shooter's perspective.



Two lights up on stands, facing towards the bridge, at about 1/8 power and zoomed in to where the couple would be standing. One had a mild warming gel to nudge the cool shade light coming through the trees to a more pleasing tone. A few minutes later, this is the scene:



Much better. The wide shots didn't amount to much, given the lack of water below the bridge and cluttered background, but the light worked out well for the closer shots, with a good separation from the background, and no worries about whether the patches of sunlight were falling correctly on everybody's faces.



I did most of my other shooting with camera in right hand, and flash in small softbox in left, adjusting aperture, ISO, and flash power on the fly. I just kind of get in the ballpark with these shots, and it seems to work well for me. We're pretty much in total darkness here without the flash, but I can't bring myself to put it on top of the camera. I like this look much better.



After all the real shots are done, and the party is well underway, I take some time to pick up a few details here and there, and experiment a bit with the unreal capability of the camera in near-total darkness. I love being able to do this...



I keep hearing that I'm crazy for shooting off-camera flash at weddings. I simply do whatever gets the images I need. Wouldn't have it any other way.