3 Lighting Styles Every Wedding Photographer Should Know

Having a handful of lighting styles ready at a moment's notice can be invaluable, particularly in wedding photography. In this video, learn some staples and what makes them so powerful.

In this video, our very own Patrick Hall joins Chris Fain of Profoto to discuss lighting, particularly in a wedding context. Wedding photography is one of the most popular areas of professional photography, but it's also a difficult one. Wedding photography is high-pressure and a mixture of styles and genres, so whenever you can create stable ground for yourself, you should. One component that is worth being well-versed in is lighting.

The posed portraits of the bride and the bride and groom together are typically the flagship images of the day. However, even if you have done the necessary preparation and know where you want to shoot, there will be some unknowables that you need to react to. For example, one wedding I shot was a beautiful location with natural light pouring through the windows at every turn; it was hard to take a bad shot. Then, after the ceremony, when it was time to take the portraits of the bride and groom, the darkest storm clouds I have ever seen amassed the sky, thrusting the venue into near-darkness. Without some lighting styles at the point of muscle memory, it would have been a disaster.