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- Photography (8)
- October 9. 2008: Love your Work
- August 20. 2008: Weddings at the Hollywood School House Woodinville, WA
- July 28. 2008: Outdoor Weddings – Picking the “Right” Time
- June 29. 2008: Bob Martin purchases a new Olympus E-3
- June 27. 2008: Bob Martin joins Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep
- June 27. 2008: Making a Good Picture into a Great Photograph
- June 26. 2008: What to look for when choosing a photographer
- June 26. 2008: Hello world!
Outdoor Weddings – Picking the “Right” Time
Outdoor weddings are very popular today and many brides are choosing the outdoor wedding over the church wedding.
The most popular time for an outdoor wedding seems to be between 1PM and 5Pm, but is this the best time for an outdoor wedding?
I my opinion Definitely Not,,,
during that time of the day the sun is at its peak. It is the hottest and brightest time of the day. Yes, it may be the most convenient time to schedule, time wise, but even on a cloudy day in Seattle, it poses many other problems.
Your guests will have to sit outside and generally most outdoor locations have the chairs set up, in the open, in the sun. Unless you have cold drinks set out for your guests to pick up as they go to their seats, they may not be thirsty but they will be uncomfortable. The little ones will be uncomfortable and will begin to cry and then you will lose one of the parents as they look for a place to take the baby so they do not disrupt your wedding,,, oh and there will be the parents that will just sit there and let junior and/or missy cry.
The Minister generally wears a suit and tie and don’t even mention those religions were the minister has to wear a robe.
Your bridal party is all dressed up and they will have to stand all during the entire ceremony in the hot sun with nothing to do but be miserable.
And the two most nervous at the wedding, the groom is in a suit or tux and the bride is in her expensive dress. They too will have to stand tall during the entire wedding and look beautiful, or handsome looking into each other’s eyes, and they will be, mark my words, the most uncomfortable there.
But I am a photographer and I want to mention to all those brides that want to schedule their weddings during 1 and 5 that your pictures will not be the best either.
A photograph is a capture of the reflection of light off objects and people, and the light that is the source will be the light that dictates the quality of your photographs. I am sure that there are some photographers that will tell you that they will still take great pictures,, but they cannot control the sun and the problems that it will create. Any photographer that will be truthful will tell you that the lighting conditions between 1 and 5 are the worst conditions to take pictures.. All those beautiful outdoor shots you see in magazines and in print are taken at dawn or dusk and never between 1 and 5.
The sun is straight up in the sky and will cause bright reflections and cause the following;
Hot reflections off skin, off the arms and foreheads and I won’t even mention those grooms that have a receding hair line or worse a bald head.
Unless you plan on everyone wearing sunglass which will hide the eyes, everyone will be squinting which causes the eyes, which I feel is where the personality and beauty of person is shown, to be almost closed and all of the other facial features will also be winkled and un-natural.
The bride’s dress will also have hot spots and especially if it is white will be one big bright spot and show no detail at all.
The older guests, like your grandparents with white or silver hair will be one big hot spot.
The colors of that beautiful setting you chose to have the wedding of a lifetime will be faded and dull.
Today’s cameras are the best ever, but even with expensive filter no camera can correct for conditions caused by the bright sun between 1 and 5.
Now great things can be done with digital photographs today, but no one is going to correct for all those conditions for nothing.
I could go on, but I hope you get the point that in the middle of the day between 1 and 5 is not the time to have a beautiful, comfortable wedding.
When is the best time??? Dawn or dusk.. Now dawn will be really inconvenient not only for the guests to arrive but for the wedding party to get ready at sun up, so that leaves later in the evening.
Now the best time depends on the region of where your wedding will take place, but rule of thumb would be at sunset or no earlier than between 2 and 3 hours before sunset.
Mark my word, if you schedule your wedding during that time you will not be disappointed.
August 29. 2008 at
Although I understand the difficulty of shooting in the harsh high noon sun, it isn’t nearly as impossible as you make it sound. In fact, to made it sound so hard is ignorant. A good photographer knows how to use fill flash, heavy shade, and extreme creativity to work with what they have to create great images. Sure, in a perfect world all brides would wear ivory gowns and it would be nicely overcast, but that isn’t the case. The bride and groom have a right to choose their ceremony time, and you get paid to work around that. Don’t boss your bride, and don’t insult good photographers in making it sound impossible to shoot in bright sun. It isn’t, and you’re being very misleading.
August 29. 2008 at
Amy,
I am very glad that you read my blog,, and I am sorry if you thought I was insulting you..
I was not bossing my brides but only telling them the facts of life and if they had the opportunity to pick a time,,, mid day is not the best choice..
You can use all the filters and fill flashes you wish, but at high sun you will not get the same results as early morning or evening..
I might suggest that you guide your clients instead of telling them that it is not a problem,,,
Thank You
Bob Martin