How to photograph a courtroom wedding?
My aunt asked me to photograph her wedding ceremony. It will be in a courtroom, which I find to be ugly. Fluorescent lighting isn't flattering. What techniques can I use to make the environment look good in the photographs? Would you suggest any particular settings?
FYI: I'm not a professional, I'm a 16 year old hobbyist. This is a favor and my aunt is not expecting anything great, or even all that good - just snapshots. But I'd like to give her pretty photographs. I own a Nikon D3000.
Do you know how to use your camera in full manual?
Do you have lenses that are f/2.8 or better?
In an ugly situation the best trick is to use a shallow depth of field. An aperture of 2.8 or lower will give you that effect so that the ugly background is blurry or has "bokeh."
If you can't get down to 2.8 use your kit lens at 3.5 and DO NOT use zoom (it will increase your aperture) Get as close to them as you can and still get the image. Depth of field is also dependant upon the distance between the lens and the subject.
If you don't know how to use full manual use aperture priority and set your aperture at 3.5.
Your ISO will need to be pretty high inside-probably at the maximum that your camera allows in order to get proper exposure without flash.
If you have a hotshoe flash for your camera point it straight up and use it in i-ttl mode to help your exposure.
HisWifeTheirMother hit it right on the nose… Focus on people and on reactions. Try to get your shots in a way that it doesn't matter what the background is.
Example:
The picture above has chairs in the background stacked on top of each other.
In the pic above, you can;t even tell what was in the background. This allows th eye to focus on the subject since the eye is drawn to things that are in focus.
This is best done with a lens that open WIDE open. So a 24-70 f2.8 (first example), a 50mm f1.8 or f1.4…
You can rent a 24-70 f2.8 for around 30$ for a day or a 50mm f1.4 for something like 15$ for a day. A 50mm f1.8 costs only about 150$Can to buy and is a great learner lens for portraits (it. A bit soft at f1.8 but for an amateur, that's fine).
The extra advantage of these lenses is that they allow a lot of light in when opened wide at f2.8, f1.8… So you can combat poor lighting by increasing your ISO and opening your lens wide allowing you to use a decent shutter speed.
Shoot in RAW mode (hopefully you still have the software that came with the camera) and it should help you fix up the pictures in post production. That way you don;t have to worry about the white balance as much and if the pics are a bit over or under exposed then you can correct them rather easily.
You might want to also pick up a adjustable flash… Rental is about 8$ for a day. When using the flash, aim it at the ceiling and bounce it at the people.
The first example above was done that way, as is this one:
The actual settings of your camera will depend on available light but you should expect to be shooting at around ISO 1600 unless you have a shoe mount flash.
Have look on this, get some ideas and tips from other professionals
http://www.wedding-photography-secret.com/
and also on this
http://www.wedding-planning-secret.com/the-wedding-ceremony-5-how-to-make-your-civil-wedding-ceremony-special-987
this will help you.