I often spend a lot of time at a wedding wrestling with light. Different sources, color temperatures, intensities are all over. Often, I find I like to shoot into the light to create a dreamy, open, bright feeling to my images because those are all qualities that typically go along with weddings.
However, sometimes, I find myself in a spot that just needs more oompf, more drama. When that happens, I shoot with the light, not into it, not perpendicular to it. I point my lens in the direction the light is falling, spot meter for my highlights, and the result is a gorgeously dramatic image where the shadows fall away into a velvety background and my subject pops right out of the frame.
Here I am, standing in the window and shooting into the room, my lens pointed in the same direction as the falling light.
Here’s the resulting image after spot metering for the bride’s dress. Perfect highlights with deep, dramatic shadows. ©LovesomePhoto.com
This technique also works while being outside. I meter for my bride’s dress (I like to always have detail in the whites of a wedding dress) and the blue sky turns darker and more dramatic and helps the couple “pop” out of the frame.
With my back to the sun, my lens is shooting with the light. This sky (unedited) turned the perfect shade of blue to allow my clients’ skin tones to “pop” and frame them. ©LovesomePhoto.com
So the next time you want to add a little drama into your image (without all the post production work) shoot with the light! Let it do the work for you.
Lisa is a D.C. area based wedding & boudoir photographer. Follow her on Twitter & check out her website.
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Filed under: Lighting, Photography, Portrait, Shooting, Wedding Tagged: drama, dramatic portraits, lighting, lisa robinson, shoot with the light, shooting, wedding 
