Photo

 
   9. Paternal blessing. Camera Nikon D2X. Camera lens Nikkor 12 -24/4. Focus 20 mm. Sensitivity 400 ASA. Exposure 1/60 sec. Aperture 4. The ceiling is intensified with photoflash.

  The most significant events take place in Civil Registry Office. It’s difficult to shoot uncommon photos here. The newly-married couple participates in standard ceremony in which everything is predetermined. The task of the photographer is to shoot the ceremony in details and technically correctly. The photographer can meet some specific obstacles here. The designers of Civil Registry Office definitely didn’t try to help the photographers. The light is dispersed throughout the room. For example, there is enough light in the center under the chandelier or glass lantern, but this light is usually ceiling light and very contrasting. This light results in deep shades under eyes, glare on skin and blinks on the bride’s white dressing and veil. Dark suit of the bridegroom loses its handle in the shade.
   The condition is even worse in the ends of the room. There is a serious lack of light there. It’s necessary to switch on flashlight here. If the lighting is good enough I use the photoflash only for intensifying the shades in negative mode of operation. If it is too dark and it’s impossible to shoot even at sensitivity of 400 ASA, I have to mount a light diffuser on the flash head and photograph head-on. The photos are not dimensional and as flat as a pancake in the result, but this can be excused by extreme conditions of lighting. Don’t forget that Civil Registry Office engages its own photographers. Sometimes they mount some online flashlights under the ceiling which improve the lighting in the hall for sure. They point the photoflashes to the ceiling in order to make their own “right lighting”. They usually switch off the light in the pauses, but they can forget to do this. If you miss such a trap and don’t change the setting of your camera correctly, you may get glares in the photos.
   A wedding photographer can’t relax not for a minute. Surprises wait for him everywhere. Sometimes such surprises can be pleasant. For example, once the newly-weds were asked to light a candle as a symbol of ever-burning hearth. I roused myself and shot such subject (See photo 10).

 
   10. The candle. Camera Nikon D2X. Camera lens Nikkor 17 -55/2.8. Focus 55 mm. sensitivity 400 ASA. Exposure 1/30 sec. Aperture 2,8.