Ok, I don't post here much, but I shot a wedding last night where the wedding and reception (both at the same facility) were held at a place where almost every wall had mirrors on the walls and a huge chair rail separating the mirror from the wallpapered wall below (2/3 of the height of the wall was mirror). What do you do in these situations? There was a small area that we did group shots that didn't have the mirrors, but did have a low ceiling which ran at an angle (with a natural colored oak cove molding at the top).
Of course we had a snow storm here in Michigan yesterday which complicated any outside pictures. Needless to say, this was a difficult wedding and I don't have many pictures I'm happy with.
Just wondering if anyone else has encountered this and how you get around the mirrors? If there is any way.
Sometimes such places have drapes, and I will insist that they be drawn to cover the mirrors on at least some of the walls. In a room with mirrors on two walls, I got the cake table moved to a non-mirrored wall.
The only way to deal with mirrors is to avoid direct flash and never shoot straight toward the mirror. An angled approach will often make a mirror in the background look nice, if you're very careful to check your background for every shot. Limited depth of field can also help a bit.
Yep, did well avoiding the direct flash and the shallow dof did help. I guess it bothered me that you could see the bright ceiling in the shots when I would bounce. During the ceremony I was able to shoot at angles and hide behind the brides maids and groomsmen. The ceremony wasn't as big of an issue, but the bright spot in the ceiling did bother me.
Thanks for the ideas...you must have had some nervous people when you moved the cake table, if the cake was on it.
There was a small area that we did group shots that didn't have the mirrors, but did have a low ceiling which ran at an angle (with a natural colored oak cove molding at the top).