The Bridal portrait – Natural or available lighting

It’s very easy to think that if you don’t have all the gadgets in the world, it is impossible to take a great bridal portrait at a wedding. It’s also very easy to assume that most of the best portraits have been taken using the best available strobes you can hire at Jessops or B & H Photo. This is quite the contrary in my experience. During a wedding ceremony what I have found is that when you have to do the bridal portrait sessions, usually you have nothing but 5-10 mins to give it your best. I remember an event I covered where I had to do the bridal portrait in the corridor as the newly-wedded couple were about to be introduced into the reception hall. I pretty much had to pull a rabbit out of the hat at that moment as I hadn’t taken any shots of the couple together as a portrait up to that point. I quickly found a stool and stood on it to position myself in the direction of the best available light. To date, those photos are one of my most favoured photos in my portfolio. This shot was taken with an EOS Canon 5D Mark II, @ 85mm f/2.2, 1/80sec