Natural Light –  Wedding Photography Without Flash

It may surprise you to learn that I studied lighting for years. I sat many online courses with Joe McNally (and read all his books), was fascinated by David Hobby’s whole Strobist approach and studied portrait photography in the studio with the amazing Luis Garvan. I’ve regularly turned up and helped with lighting on other photographers wedding shoots and even consulted on lighting for Derbyshire Life editorial shoots.

Hopefully that dispels some of the myths about natural light wedding photographers – it’s not that I don’t know how lighting works. It is an honest choice to leave the flashes untouched in the boot of the car whenever possible. – Even when things get really sticky (we’ll get to this).

In this post I’m hopefully going to explain why I will always opt for natural light over flash and maybe convert you to the dark side (or the light and airy side, depending on what conditions you’re shooting in!)

So why just use natural light?

The first reason is to do with the experience.

I’m going to return to a quote by David Hobby – the king of strobism (David famously uses small, portable lighting set upstairs to make his work)

“Photography is experiential, it’s about making a connection with a person and recording that connection in a visual form”

For me, I find it hard to make those connections whilst juggling lots of gear, which is why I try to keep it small and simple. I find it hard to do with a camera in front of me, but every layer of complexity after that just adds another barrier. When I use light I have to pose people to be in the right place and looking in the right direction when the light goes off. It’s so hard to capture those natural in-between moments (which always end up being the moments you want to deliver).

It’s also distracting – whether it’s during the speeches or on the dancefloor. A strobe going off makes you hyper-aware of the photographer. And even more so during the ceremony – whether it’s a photographer flashing away or a constant videolight.

The Ambience

I believe the light is a big part of the ambience on a wedding day. Candlelight can be really intimate. The light on the dance floor can be really dynamic. Windowlight can cast a whole different character (check out these images of the beautiful natural ambience of The West Mill). Fairy lights can be totally magical. (Purple uplighters should just be reserved for halloween in my opinion.) And we can wax lyrical forever over the light at golden hour (if you’re lucky enough to see one in the UK)

The direction and character of light accounts for so much of our sensory experience and this is doubly true in photography and cinematography – where we are relying on the visual to communicate stories and feelings.

All these qualities can be creatively used, or just reacted to in the moment to help tell the story of the day. It gives a more authentic feel to the photography than the staged look that adding lighting can be

Tips for shooting in low light

I think most photographers worry about low light. They assume that low light makes for worse photos, but I think the qualities that low light brings can actually add to the character of the photography.

Saying that – I think working close with fast lenses is the best of both worlds – even if you just have that one fast lens that everything is going to get shot on. You often also need to slow that shutter speed down as slow as you can feel you can get away with (and then one stop slower -come on, you can do it)

I once shot a wedding in an Anglo-Saxon church on a dark gloomy autumn day. There was barely any light (you can see that wedding here). It’s one of my favourite weddings ever. The pictures just drip with mood and ambience. Most of it was shot on my Mitakon f/0.95 lens wide open.

Another example in Nottinghamshire; Hazel Gap Barn is famously difficult to work. People often ask, how do you light this venue (or cross their fingers and hope for a videographer) – but I love the difficult light and love the character that it brings. (You can see images from Hazel Gap here)

Another tip is to be hyper aware of what the light is doing – This comes with practice and experience. I think if you take away other options your eye really hones in on using the light to its fullest.

Do you even use ambient light when it gets really dark?

I’m a huge fan of using ambient light on the dance floor in the evening and will do so whenever I feel I can get away with it – even for the first dance. Flash just tends to either light the whole room up (when I angle it away from people) or I’m flashing people in the face… and I’d really rather not.

So I carry a small LED in my light for emergencies (but often forget it exists) but I usually just try to capture the honest ambience of the dance floor – even when it does get a bit grainy. I’d always rather have that energy and ambience than a perfect image

Do you still carry flashes for wedding photography

Yes, I carry two. They’re tiny little Godox TT350s and they are used about twice a season. If someone requests a photo in a dark, unflattering spot, the strobe goes on. The photo is taken and then the strobe goes back in the bag. If possible I will move them into nice natural light, but sometimes they want an image in a particular place and a strobe is the only way to do it.

I also still have flash stands and a couple of bigger lights – but they rarely leave the boot of the car. They’re there for formal shots if there’s no available light to work with. So they’re a total emergency solution, in my book.

About Simon

I’m a documentary wedding photographer based in Derbyshire with an alternative approach to wedding photography. Please hang around and check out my work.