Matt and Alison's Wedding

Alison and Matt got married last Saturday and I was given permission to take some pictures of them, as long as I didn't upset the official photographer. Thats them in the picture. I was under orders from my current wife not to take all my gear with me. So I travelled light without so much as a flashgun, just a handful of lenses. At the end of the evening I found myself in a very dark venue, with nothing but on-camera flash. I decided to put the camera on ISO6400 and went looking for pictures.

Had I used the on-camera flash for this image, several things might have happend.

1. They would have realised that someone as taking photos, and this wonderful moment might not have happened.

2. The flash recycling time might have stopped me for getting this precise moment, which was part of a quickfire sequence. The kiss only lasted a very short time.

3. I would have lost all of that lovely soft shadow on Alison's skin and more than likely lost all the detail in the dress.

4. I would have got a load of ugly shadows on the background.

5. You can't really see it on the uploaded image, but the grain is luscious. It really works for me.

This shot was taken in the brightest part of the venue and still required an exposure of ISO6400 to get a good exposure at F2.8 at 1/60s. The latest generation of cameras is really worth the expense of the upgrade if you need to take pictures in conditions like these.

For the dance floor I was forced to use the on-camera flash because it was simply too dark and the people too fast moving to get a shot without flash. But perhaps thats a subject for another article.