n real estate, it's all about location, location, location.... I honestly believe that receptions are all about lighting, lighting, lighting! As I've quickly learned, there's LOTS of different reception lighting options. There's pin lighting, uplighting, downlighting, gobo lighting... and the list goes on. But one thing remains consistent: it's my job to capture the ambient lighting of the atmosphere as best as possible. I need to make sure that the image really embodies of the vibe of the atmosphere, so that if an outsider is looking at the image, they can "feel" what that magical evening was all about.  
 
When I first started, I used to struggle with capturing really dim, romantic lighting. If I didn't use my flash, my images would turn out way too dark... If I didn't use my flash and bumped up my ISO the images were far too grainy.... And when I did use flash, the images were really bright, and I lost that feeling of really amazing ambient light. Sound familiar? I wanted to be able to capture images using fairly low ISO to avoid the grain, but still make sure they image is bright enough that you could see what's going on. Thanks to a little guidance from the awesome Matt Grazier, a LOT of futzing around, and my handy-dandy tripod... I'm now totally confident in the way I capture and portray beautiful reception lighting.  
 
The image below is from Shivani & Pranav's gorgeous choco-ivory wedding. You can see there's both uplighting against the walls, and pin-lighting onto the tables that needed to be captured. I used the following settings: 
 
Camera on a tripod. 
ISO: 100 
Shutter: 5s 
f/Stop: 8.0

Here's a reception shot from Shivani & Ryan's stunning Fairmont Copley wedding. There's beautiful purple uplighting against the walls, hanging crystal chandeliers and gobo-lighting projecting onto the dance floor. I used the following settings: 
 
Camera on a tripod. 
ISO: 100 
Shutter: 10s 
f/Stop: 16.0  
 
Since this ballroom is much larger than the one above, I wanted to make sure my aperture was tight enough to capture details all the way to the back of the room... hence I bumped it up to f/16. To compensate for this much tighter f/stop, I increased my exposure time to 10s (versus 5s in the previous image).

And last, but not least... here's a reception shot from Nina & Matt's Renaissance Hotel wedding. There's blue purple uplighting against the walls, votive candles on all the tables and the DJ booth was lit too. I used the following settings: 
 
Camera on a tripod. 
ISO: 100 
Shutter: 10s 
f/Stop: 16.0  
 
Again, I wanted to make sure my aperture was tight enough to capture details all the way to the back of the room... hence I bumped it up to f/16. To compensate for this high f/stop, I increased my exposure time to 10s.

I really hope this helps... and hopefully I've explained things well enough! Feel free to drop a line if you have any questions/comments. Always happy to help. Happy Wednesday!

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by. For the most part, this blog is a collection of my work, ideas, inspirations and things I've learned. If you're a bride & groom: sit back, relax and soak it all in... until your fingers get pruny! If you're a photographer: I hope you can take away something insightful from what I've learned about turning my passion for photography and cinematography into a career. You can also explore more about the world of BINITA PATEL by clicking below. Until we meet... have FUN, be STYLISH.