Weddings, white balance and filters

BLUES? Well this is what you get when forgetting to set the Camcorder on Daylight, or don’t set the white balance by pointing at a white card etc. It goes back quite a long time. It started with the days of colour film, when nobody was concerned about video. But we were concerned very much about getting the light balance right. It was quite a performance, for there were two main kinds of film, as most still photographers might remember, daylight and artificial light. In those old days when I was involved in Documentaries mainly, we always used artificial light film. It was what I referred to as straight forward film with no extra filter built in to the emulsion  to make it compatible with daylight, which I am sure gave better results. The light we see is a very small part of the spectrum and pure white light consists of equal parts of red, blue and green as is seen on a TV Screen. Our eyes magically compensate and we don’t see Artificial light as hot orange and Daylight as a cold blue. The video camera does not automatically compensate. With daylight on a hot Summer’s day the Colour temperature is high as it is near the Ultraviolet part of the spectrum, whereas in the darkness of night, there is no ultraviolet light, and we see with lights that are near the Infra red part of the Spectrum, so it is important to compensate and get the correct white balance. When using film, the two important things were; correct white balance and getting the exposure right. As the lighting was usually tungsten, it was not a problem if there was no daylight. If there were windows, they had to be completely filtered with sheets of Rattan 85 gels. But the same applies when using video and the
lighting is a mixture of artificial lighting and daylight. So if the widows are filtered with Rattan 85 sheeting, the white balance will be for Artificial light, (what a lot of trouble!). But if the camera

is set for Daylight, then it is necessary to place blue gels in front of the lights. If you were using Daylight film, and no gels in front of the lighting, it would be necessary to have a Blue filter in front of the camera lens to take out the orange light. It sounds a lot of bother, so I try not to use mixed lighting as far as possible. I think you can get away with it if a small window is just showing a burnt out bluish light into a mainly artificially well lit room. It depends on the subject and what you are trying to achieve. It could be passed off as “Arty Crafty!”

I well remember an occasion when I was concentrating on getting a good and well composed picture, with the exposure worked out on my exposure meter, using an Invercone to get the correct exposure on an individual, when there was a voice from a mad keen technical chap, “What is the K value of the lighting?” the voice said. "I haven’t a clue,” I remarked. “I’ve got a Kelvin meter,” he retorted. I think it was a new toy and he seemed more concerned with making use of his K meter than what we were shooting. Well, of course it is important, especially when the light is getting low in the evening. However, this is one great advantage when using video, if you have a Camcorder that will adjust the white balance by looking at a white card or a white translucent lens cap, or even point at a white shirt or dress, the video takes care of all that.

Autofocus is useful if you are in a desperate hurry, but I prefer to use manual focus and concentrate on thinking about the depth of field, it is often an advantage to set a minimum depth of field so that the background is out of focus.

Of course, all this highly technical business is important.
 
 
 
 
 

But there are times when the automatic setting is invaluable so you can just point and shoot. When mingling among the crowds at a wedding reception for instance, a tripod is impractical. I like the freedom of being able to climb up high if necessary and rush around; even climb up a tree, which I have done and got some great shots. But when it comes to the speeches, then a tripod is vital, and get your assistant, (your wife most likely) to pin the lapel mic on whoever is speaking. This I have found usually goes down well and it causes no end of fun. You find that most people are only too anxious to cooperate, for when they know the mic is there, it seems to stimulate the speakers and the result can be very amusing. Lets face it, a wedding is not a stuffy occasion. Then when it comes to cutting the cake, there again you must use the tripod, most people don’t mind if you say, “just hold that a minute, I’ll say when to start cutting!”

Anyway, this is my experience, and I have found the same tolerant cooperation even when I don’t know the people. The only thing is, the importance of having a talk with the vicar before the wedding, some vicars’ don’t object at all. Others sometimes say you can film discreetly at the side and some might say no, not in the church, they all have different ideas. If I am not allowed to film in the church, I would usually take pictures of the outside while the ceremony is in progress, then get them coming out, especially effective when the bells are ringing. Sometimes it is possible to have a tape recording of the service to be heard while showing the outside shots.

There I go, rambling on again!!

Jon