Natural vs. Flash | Which Lighting is Better for Your Wedding Photos?

Natural lighting or flash? Which is better?

There are many debates over natural versus off camera flash lighting for wedding portraits. Throughout our years in the photography industry, we’ve seen photographers use flash photography from the bridal preparations right through to the wedding reception, whilst others leave flash as the last resort. There is really no right or wrong way of doing it. In our opinion, it really depends on the situation whether you should utilise natural or flash lighting. It comes down to personal preference, the equipment you have and time.

So, let’s take a look into natural versus flash lighting and the affect it has on your photos.

THE EFFECT OF NATURAL LIGHTING

Natural lighting is kind of self explanatory; it comes from natural sources of light like the sun. This means you get the best natural lighting during the daytime. Natural lighting is always the best source of light to use in wedding photos. It creates natural looking and beautifully lit photos. We prefer to use natural lighting at any opportunity we can! At weddings, we tend not to use flash on location shoots as we don’t want the flash to disturb the couple’s moment. We want them to feel comfortable and forget the camera is even there. This is where flash is kept to a minimal so we can capture those raw and in the moment shots.

Many of our clients want their photos to have a natural and candid feel to it, which can definitely be achieved with natural lighting. However, it cannot be easily replicated. If you were to take a photo in the evening and try to replicate daytime lighting, it would by no means look the same. It would require a lot of effort, time and good quality equipment to make the shot look more natural if you don’t have natural lighting accessible at the shoot.

Believe it or not, you need a bit of knowledge and skillset to understand how natural lighting works. You can’t just simply point and shoot. It’s important to learn where to place the subject to get the best lighting and enhance the shot.

DIRECT AND OFF CAMERA FLASH LIGHTING

So, what is direct and off camera flash lighting?

If you’ve ever taken a photo with the flash hitting your face straight on, then that’s direct flash. The flash is directly pointed at the subject, which can create harsh shadows. It also can make the photo look flat (which you don’t want!). We tend to stay away from direct flash for these reasons. The flash that we do like to use for wedding portraits is called off camera flash. This type of flash isn’t connected to camera itself. It requires the use of portable flashguns or larger studio-style heads to control the direction and intensity of the light. This type of lighting creates more flattening shadows which shape the side of your face.

We accomplish a more softer light in our wedding photos by having a light source with a large surface area. A light diffuser can help achieve this by diffusing or scattering the light so it looks softer. You don’t get the intensity or glare of direct light. The shadows aren’t so harsh and the light wraps around a bit more. You can’t see the line where the shadow is, so the photo looks much more soft and appealing.

Most of our clients prefer the off camera flash when compared to natural lit shots because it enhances the quality of the photo. It compliments the natural lighting and enables you to create a different scene and emotion just through manipulating the light. If you were using multiple lights with different colours, this would really change the look and feel of the shot. You can achieve more cinematic shots that look professional.

THE 45 DEGREE RULE WITH LIGHTING

What’s the 45 degree rule? We’re glad you asked! It’s a sneaky lighting hack we preach at Iceberg Media. To get the best source of lighting, we position the off camera flash 45 degrees away from the subject! Having the lighting directing in front of your face creates these nasty harsh shadows, and lighting behind your head makes your face look very dark and the background over exposed. It’s not a good look (and I’m sure many of you can relate if you’ve been doing Zoom meetings over the last few months). So, our trick of the trade is to make sure your main light source is greater than your background light and position it at 45 degrees away from you.

What’s the verdict?

The verdict on natural versus flash is that it depends on the situation. We believe a balance between both lighting is important. Natural lighting is desirable and creates naturally beautiful photos. But, Off camera flash lighting is always able to compliment and enhance natural lighting. So, depending of the equipment you have and time, we recommend using off camera flash lighting to achieve high quality shots.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.