I have a wedding photo shoots in a few weekends. It will be of the Rideau Club. This will be a great venue, but it’s difficult to get into the place to check it out before hand. To prepare for the shoot of I need to practice some off-camera flash. I love off-camera flash work because it gives you so much flexibility with the light: and we all know that photography is painting with light! A particular challenge of the Rideau Club is the dark and rich wooden walls. These potentially beautiful backgrounds can be awkward to work with because the wood harshly reflects flashes. Here is a sequence of shots that I built up to not just manage woods reflections, but make something beautiful out this challenge. First flashes used to light the background. This can replace the uniform dull wood with a gradient of light. A subject is then placed off-center and in front of this halo of light. The subject is then light separately, with the second off-camera flash.

Building a background with lights