Here is a shot from a recent wedding that I assisted with. The photo was taken in a courtyard off of the main reception hall. The only available light was from an old street light decorating the courtyard. C & C welcomed. Thank you.

I like it! Phil

Situations like this have a lot of potential, however in my opinion they often require skillful processing if you want them to look like more than a technical achievement in low-light. The decision to keep the image in color, in my opinion, deducts impact from the image by making it look kind of unclebob-ish. It is a feat to achieve correct skin tones in such a tough situation, but I think the most artistic outcome would be a moody B&W, or an overly warm color version. That, plus some careful burning and dodging, would make the image a huge winner.

Overall of course, if you were the paid pro then I would have liked to see one or two off-camera lights to help add some rim / kick to help separate them from the inky-black background, their hair especially is just sucked right into the background. However as an image made by a guest, I would of course think it inappropriate to go and set up that much lighting; you're better off just enjoying the day and snapping the moments as naturally as you see them. Which you did perfectly in this situation... :-)

Next time, maybe, I wonder what the results would have looked like if you had gone for more of a silhouette look, by moving around the subjects clockwise and composing a wider shot that included more space above them. That might have been another winning scenario, but I would have of course gone for this composition / lighting first, since it is the more guaranteed winner.


=Matt=

Thank you Matt. I always look forward to seeing your comments and suggestions to help out newbies like me. I understand what you are saying about extra lighting positioned properly and also trying the different angles. Definitely something to remember if the occasion presents itself again.

Greg

Originally Posted by lifeinfocus I like it! Phil

Thank you Phil.

nice. This is a small thing, but I'd get rid of the lights in the background.

Originally Posted by joshhuntnm nice. This is a small thing, but I'd get rid of the lights in the background.

Thank you Josh. Will do.

Did you by chance shoot with the light source behind the couple? Might have given a neat silhouette perspective?

Originally Posted by MMcClainPhoto Did you by chance shoot with the light source behind the couple? Might have given a neat silhouette perspective?

Light source (single light post) was off to the side.