Wednesday, October 1, 2014

The Importance of Lighting your Venue

Want to show off your wedding in the best light possible (pun totally intended)?

Brides of any budget, but especially limited ones, want to get the most out of the hard work, long hours, and creativity poured into the decorations of their wedding venue. One of the most powerful tools that can dramatically change the mood and elevate the look of your venue is not a craft you can find on pinterest - it's the lighting of your venue.

I am not talking about mood lighting with candles or using Christmas lights (although I am not bashing those either). I am suggesting hiring a professional company to bring in lights that match your wedding colors. These lights throw gorgeous colors up the walls of your venue and add drama, texture, and mood to your wedding. This simple and inexpensive service will diminish the imperfections of a venue you want to hide (cough..cough...basketball hoops...cough) while highlighting the decor you worked so hard to make.

One small note I will mention, however, is that while this can really make your wedding more sophisticated, it makes photographing your event harder as the lights are dim. Your need to invest in a high quality photographer is also elevated when you add lighting. When the lights are dimmed, any natural light only photographer will struggle greatly in the low light. A beginning photographer, or even a fairly seasoned outdoor photographer may not get the results you are hoping for unless they have extensive experience will off camera lighting. While you search for the best photographer and videographer to invest in the memories of your wedding, ensure that they have the knowledge and equipment to work with this type of dramatic low light. If you do, the results will be nothing short of stunning!

Side Note for Photographers: For this wedding in a Latter-day Saint church cultural hall in San Jose, California I triggered a flash off my camera through a soft box for the best results.

Before the lights were added, this reception was beautifully decorated with linens from Banquet Covers and fine china this budget bride rented online from Stuart Party Rentals. The bride made the centerpieces herself from a DIY pinterest post made out of spray painted tree branches. The crystals she hung from them looks amazing when I lit them for the photos! The amazing lighting was done by Bay Area Uplighting.

Here is the AMAZING difference with the professional lighting:

Before: 



After: 


Can you believe the difference!? One reaction I got was "This doesn't even look like the same place!" What a change! I lit the main table I focused on with my off camera soft box to camera left exposed my camera meter to show off the amazing colors! 

Here are some other ways I used the lights to really elevate the photographs I took of the center pieces. Before the lighting I used the accordion door for texture and a consistent background to show off the centerpiece.


After the lighting, I was able to light the centerpiece with my softbox to really make it stand out against the purple textured walls behind it. This is so much more powerful of an image than before.

 
I also put the lights behind detail shots, which changed it up and made these shots unique. I had WAY too much fun photographing details with these lights behind! It's been a month since this wedding and I still am in awe over the difference professional venue lighting can make! 



Moral of the story - lighting is important!!! Invest in a photographer who has mastered off camera lighting and invest in the lighting of your venue to make your photographs the best they can be. A little light goes a long way in maximizing your budget!

Saturday, July 23, 2011

New Blog: http://www.abbyalgerphotoblog.com/

I have new and improved blog!! The new address is http://www.abbyalgerphotoblog.com/ and all my posts from this blog have been moved over so its all there!! Please let me know what you think!!!

http://www.abbyalgerphotoblog.com/

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Long Time No Post

It has been a while since I posted. I was in El Salvador working on my "Face of Autism" documentary and internet access there is limited. But I am back now and photographing lots of weddings!! So here are some sneak peaks of what I have been doing the past month! Get excited about seeing the full posts of these events soon! :D

El Salvador Night Landscape
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Bre & A.J. Wedding at SLC Temple

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Leah & Zach Wedding at Bountiful Temple
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Whitney & Mark Wedding at the SLC Temple
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Saturday, May 7, 2011

Sneak Peak off Ashlee & Oran

This stylish couple tied the knot yesterday in the gorgeous LDS Manti Temple. Their reception was GORGEOUS with some of the best detailed decorations that I have every seen. Photos of that soon!!

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Friday, May 6, 2011

Ashlee's & Oran's Wedding Day!!!

Today is the big day for Ashlee & Oran!!! And now I can show the wonderful bridals we took of Ashlee a month ago!!! I am SO excited to photograph their big day!!! Look out for their wedding photos soon!!!

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Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Jessica & Zach Sneak Peak with Wedding Video!

Jessica & Zach were married on a beautiful spring day in April. The day was a little chilly but you were never know from the sunny photographs. Here is a sneak peak of the day!

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I loved working with Pointe Digital that day! Doug was great and very easy to work with! Here is the same day edit he did of their wedding video. It was ready for the reception and here are a few photographs of their reactions to this amazing video!!

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So short disclaimer as to why I am in the video (6:29). The stand I use to hold up my lighting kit broke when the wind caught my umbrella and tipped the whole thing over. So Zach's parents were so nice to become "human stands" by holding the flash and umbrella for me while I photographed so the lighting would be better just than the noon day sun. So.. thats what you see in the video. It was a fun little memory for them. Enjoy!!



Saturday, April 23, 2011

Brendan & Meghan's Engagements!

I LOVED working with these two!! They were sooo easy to photograph! I basically just posed them and they would interact perfectly for the cutest photographs!!! They had personalities that worked so well together!! You can just tell they are perfect for one another and that they will make the happiest marriage!!! :D

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