When shooting a wedding, you’re going to be running around taking pictures everywhere. Inside the venue, outside the venue, and everywhere in between. Since the people getting their picture taken are more worried about how they look themselves, you, the photographer, have to know how natural and supplemental lighting work in different settings.
There are many pros and cons to both forms of lighting, but it’s hard to take a definite stance on which is better; which is why we are going to give you two benefits and one negative to each form of lighting. Knowing both forms of lighting inside and out will help make you a top-tier wedding photographer that everybody will want to hire!
Natural Light Pros
Price
The biggest benefit to utilizing natural lighting is its cost; which is zero! While there are certain types of tools and equipment one can use while working with natural lighting, it’s not 100% necessary. Along with this, natural lighting can really help colors pop and bring them to life. If you do feel the need to obtain some natural lighting tools, reflectors are a great way to change the amount of lighting you’re looking for in a cost-efficient way. You can either buy one for as cheap as $15 or make one out of white foam boards from your local craft store.
Easy to learn
Upon getting into photography, there’s a lot of things to learn and that can be overwhelming. Thankfully, learning how to work with natural light isn’t too challenging of a task. There are heaps of tutorials on the internet on how to work with natural lighting, and since it’s free, all you need is time!
Natural Light Cons
Inconsistent
One of the main negatives to using natural lighting is that it isn’t extremely consistent. It may be sunny out when you start taking photos, but could soon turn into an overcast that will drastically change how your photos look; or if you’re unlucky, it could turn into a downpour. Having an idea of what the weather will be like on the day of your shoot will help you a ton by saving you time and money.
Supplemental Light Pros
Consistency
The main benefit of utilizing supplemental lighting is its consistency. If you have a studio or set up to shoot indoors, for the most part, you’ll know how the lighting is going to be the majority of the time. This will save you lots of time and cash because you won’t have to worry about setting up each shot to achieve the best lighting since it should already be perfect. The consistency of supplemental lighting can definitely make a photographer’s life easier, because they don’t have to worry about weather and if it’s dark outside or not.
Adaptable
Whether it be a $50 DIY setup or an impressive $5,000 studio, you can make supplemental lighting work with whatever budget you may have. Sure, having a cheaper budget may yield not as impressive and consistent results, but a good photographer is able to make any setup work just fine. You could get a single light or multiple; the choice is yours. Just having any type of space with supplemental lighting can help assist you when the weather isn’t looking the way you want it to.
Supplemental Light Cons
Bigger Learning Curve
Learning how to work with supplemental lighting in a studio or on location can definitely get pretty tricky. The light might be too strong or dim, it could be casting shadows or not work with the ambient light the way you want it to, and it can just be annoying to set up. This is why working with supplemental lighting is for more experienced photographers, just because there are so many variables that come into play.
Both natural and supplemental lighting is great for photos, and there really isn’t one that’s better than the other. That’s why knowing how to utilize each form can help make you a great photographer that’s ready for anything; rain or shine.
