Lighting at Events

it is very important to have good lighting at events.

Focus on having the event in complete shade or indoors. You don't want harsh shadows

being cast on the faces of the wedding party and guests. If it is outside have the sun behind you.

Make sure that the ceremony area is well lit. so you don't have to worry about flashes going off or added lights from videographer or photographer

I have worked at some weddings where different color lighting was used during the event. This does not do well at all especially if you do not want flash or extra lighting brought in. I did one wedding 5 years ago where the couple had purple lighting and did not want any lighting brought in for video, the area was totally saturated in purple color. Unless you have lighting or flash to counter the red or purple lighting, you cannot expect a perfect photo or video.

I even photographed a wedding in the Boston area this past spring that as the night went on the red lights that surrounded the venue room was slowly raised in the room until it was totally saturated in red, even with flash set at the highest strength level some of the photos at the end of the evening the guests were totally engulfed in red light. I took a couple of photos without flash to show the client how the red lighting did to photos with and without flash.

Fog is another factor you have to consider, it looks nice but you have to think how you will look with photos and video. it is nice to have ground fog that is about foot off the ground but when it surrounds you. then it's the same as driving down the road and it's really foggy out and you can't see through it. this is the same.