Strong Light

A couple of weeks ago I was taking photos for a great couple at a late May Wedding. "Perfect weather" for a Wedding according to most people there... hot and sunny all day and not a hint of cloud. Most photographers would agree however that strong, high sunlight is not always indicative of flattering photos. My immediate thoughts were to head straight for the shade of the trees, the light is balanced and no annoying under-eye shadows. The more photo's I took however, ultimately meant I needed new locations and some without the parachute of shade. My old camera; a crop-sensor model, always struggled to achieve the dynamic range I wanted, so I was reluctant to shoot into the sun for fear of silhouettes and blown out highlights... on a hunch that my new camera would do a better job however, I tried it... and I'm so pleased I did! A little work in Lightroom brought out all the raw data I wanted and the results were really, really pleasing. Veils and hair were backlit, distanced nicely from the background and the photos are truly representative of the "perfect weather" on the day. For future reference, i'll use the light, not hide from it.