The couple's wedding is at the groom's sister's backyard. (granted a fairly large backyard)
It will have about 50 guests, etc.. but dance floor is the 'deck'... ??

anyone have examples of back yard weddings, and how to make a very plain (potentially not so pretty) background look nice
and by potentially not so pretty, i mean ugly bushes, power lines, neighbour houses all around etc. What do you use for the family portraits?

If it's nice, shoot as you would normally. If the yard looks like crap, shoot tight and focus on expressions/laughter rather then decor. In an ugly situation, look for the most beautiful things/people and shoot them.

~Sam

how about like family portraits where u gotta have background? ((

that's what i'm mainly concerned about b/c for the others i can just open aperture and throw everything out of focus

Go to a near by park. 20 minutes, done. Just express your concerns to the bride. If she doesn't care then hey


~Sam

for family portraits in a miserable setting - i'd say go one of three ways.

1. go modern & fun. the "photo booth" is all the rage now at weddings in some areas. set up a 140" seamless out of the way and do your formals there.

2. go traditional. find the best (of the worst) area. pull your subjects are far away from the background as possible and use a long lens to get some decent dof. grab 2 chairs with arms and pack your group in relatively tight to capture as little background as possible.

or 3. get creative with your off camera lighting. you can turn day into night pretty easily with a few strobes and obscure the background almost entirely. (this will work well for the dance floor/deck )

have fun - and good luck.

You say potentially not so pretty - I am curious, have you seen the yard?

I hear ya! Looking forward to seeing these shots. I don't envy you.

I don't want to hyjack the thread but I've got a wedding to shoot later in the year where I believe the 'reception' is going to be in a garage/workshop where the bride and groom normally work on offroad race trucks and such...lighting will consist of fluros and metal halide/sodium vapour flood lights... PM me with advice if you have any.

Last year had a bride insist on group formals in such a place. Fortunately the yard had a bank of trees and bushes to block the view to the neighbors' back yards. In other instances, I used the telephoto trick (put the background way behind them and shoot telephoto). Fortunately I had room to do it.