I did a wedding in a very dark venue on saturday. I wouldn’t have been able to do good shots without my new extra Canon 580Ex Mark2 speed light. (I was actually stunned to think that I never really used more then 1 flash before!!)

I used this flash for extra lighting in the venue. Here are a few samples of how I got my shots and the process I went through to get the right one…
For the past few months I’ve been trying to shoot my weddings 100% manual as far as possible. I believe this keeps you thinking and makes you more creative! But for those of you that are only beginners, I suggest you first get confident with the basics: Iso, F-stop, speed etc. and start with Aperture and Speed priority. Only when you’re confided, move over to manual. Remember, a wedding is something you can’t stage afterwards, so you need to get the safe shots when you start out as a photographer and slowly move over to the more creative stuff…That’s just a thought :)

Note: The following photos have not been photoshopped!

First I shot without flash (on tripod) to see what it would look like. I wanted to have a strong depth of field, so I went on to 2.5 f on my 135mm canon lens, 1/40 speed and 500 iso. The photo was very dull, no real contrast…

Then I put my canon 580 Ex on my camera body..and bounced. The shadow was to hard for me and still not what I wanted…

Then I asked Adri, my assistant, to stand at a 90 angle degree opposite me, with the other canon 580 Ex flash as a slave unit…the light was very strong…not good at all!

I toned the light down slightly and got the perfect shot (Lighting-wise). Look at how bright the liquid becomes with some backlight. The background is also much warmer…All my settings are still on 2.5 f on my 135mm canon lens, 1/40 speed and 500 iso. ( I can’t remember the exact flash settings, sorry!)