I had two weddings this weekend. I always try to get a night shot at the reception venue for my couples. The first one was at a B&B and the second was a restaurant. Different places call for different lighting techniques.

Two video lights were used on this shot. The back light was un-gelled because I wanted a "blue" back light. The key light was gelled to 3200k. My assistant held the light. I cloned her out for the final shot. The house was lit by street lamps.

1.



Two speed lights. One behind the door, the other fired thru an umbrella in the alcove on the left.
2.

Nice set ups. I do find the blue light to be a bit of a distraction. I see what you were going for, but for me, it breaks the mood/feel of the shot with something so cool

jcolman wrote: My assistant held the light. I cloned her out for the final shot.

And nicely done on that...for some reason, that is something I never think of when it comes to lighting. It would be easy to clone my assistant out and get the light closer, but the thought never crosses my mind.

joelconner wrote:
Nice set ups. I do find the blue light to be a bit of a distraction. I see what you were going for, but for me, it breaks the mood/feel of the shot with something so cool

Normally I don't use two different color temps either but this scene was just to mono chrome for me without some color in it.

Joel - when you clone her out do you by chance take 2 shots one with/one without and use it or was she in a place that was easy for her to be cloned out?

Scott Mosher wrote:
Joel - when you clone her out do you by chance take 2 shots one with/one without and use it or was she in a place that was easy for her to be cloned out?

You mean "Jim?".

Yes, that is exactly what I did.

Nice Jim, I like 2 and love 1!

#1 is great!

I like them both. I know how hard it is to get the B&G away even for a quick second during the reception. Maybe it is me but I would like 1 better if your blue light was directly under the corner of the building and pointing straight up. That way there would be a more even blue highlights across both sides of the house. It looks a little lopsided to me as it is. They will love it, just food for thought.

Jason

i like the first one very much , i dunno why but that blue lights gives the picture a lil bit of life and color

Nice shots Jim, I like the second one but they are both good. I think if you cloned out some of the flare from the glass window on the right it would be even better.

The blue light helps draw attention to the couple, and it looks great.

Agreed - I really like #1 exactly as it is but I'm a sucker for environment shots so they're both really eye-catching... I wonder (and please don't take this as any kind of criticism, just trying to learn) what #2 would have looked like without the alcove on the left being so bright - my eyes wanted to spend a little too much time there...

Could I also ask if this technique (two shots of the same scene, moving lights and people in/out of frame) is something you usually execute with a tripod or not? I'm assuming it's not that difficult to marry the two frames in post if you don't have a tripod setup but I hate to assume... I haven't done anything like this and would like to avoid wasting the time to setup this kind of shot only to find out some gotcha back in photoshop...

r-m-g wrote:
Agreed - I really like #1 exactly as it is but I'm a sucker for environment shots so they're both really eye-catching... I wonder (and please don't take this as any kind of criticism, just trying to learn) what #2 would have looked like without the alcove on the left being so bright - my eyes wanted to spend a little too much time there...

Could I also ask if this technique (two shots of the same scene, moving lights and people in/out of frame) is something you usually execute with a tripod or not? I'm assuming it's not that difficult to marry the two frames in post if you don't have a tripod setup but I hate to assume... I haven't done anything like this and would like to avoid wasting the time to setup this kind of shot only to find out some gotcha back in photoshop...


The first shot was done with the camera on a tripod for two reasons. The main one being that I knew I would have to clone out my assistant so I needed a "clean" shot of the house without her in it. The second reason was since I was using video lights, I needed a longer shutter speed so a tripod was necessary.

The second shot was done using flash so I didn't need a tripod.

I don't like cloning people out, it takes forever...assuming it is even possible to do sometimes.

form wrote: I don't like cloning people out, it takes forever...assuming it is even possible to do sometimes.

He didn't actually clone the assistant out -- he masked the assistant out using an image shot from the same position (tripod) without the assistant in the image. Makes it a 30-second job. You're correct that using the clone tool can be much trickier.

Ian Ivey wrote:
form wrote: I don't like cloning people out, it takes forever...assuming it is even possible to do sometimes.

He didn't actually clone the assistant out -- he masked the assistant out using an image shot from the same position (tripod) without the assistant in the image. Makes it a 30-second job. You're correct that using the clone tool can be much trickier.

Pretty much. I actually copied the image without my assistant onto a new layer over the photo with her holding the light, then used the eraser tool to take her out. Like Ian said, it was a 30 second job. The trick was to have two identical photos, one with her holding the light and one without her.

The blue light reminds me of those bug killing lights. Try that shot in B/W and crop in a little tighter perhaps.

andreasavd wrote:
The blue light reminds me of those bug killing lights. Try that shot in B/W and crop in a little tighter perhaps.
I did. I delivered both to the client. I liked the B/W version.

Wow this is beautiful, I love the delivery and sharpness.