My Favourite Part of the Wedding - The Party!
This is what it's about, good times and good people having a great wedding party
The wedding party, this is the time of the day where most of my gear goes back in the car and I head to the dance floor with one photographic objective in mind; awesome-moves.
After a few drinks and a long day people really start to party in the evening and it's my favourite part of the day, the vows are made, speeches are done and all of those relaxed moments are passed and captured means I can chill out and work on getting those shots of people which are equally awesome and embarrassing at the same time.
Gear
For the party I use the Fuji X100 with an on board Nissin i40 flash [I used to use the Yongnuo 560ii, so some of these images are with that flash], drag the shutter (about 1/4), shoot wide open, manual focus to about 2 meters and fire away. The flash has a great recharge time and means I can pop off multiple shots and capture some incredible moves sometimes while pulling a few of my own. After all getting stuck in with the party allows me much better viewpoints and as such much better photos, and with this super small setup of gear I don't have to worry about my gear getting knocked or in the way.
As for the flash settings its all manual. Zoom in as much as possible on the flash, tilted 45 Degrees with the bounce card up, power on 1/128 - or something like that, you have to make tweaks here and there if you move into more light or a tight space where the flash can bounce, but overall this setup is quick, and as the flash is on low power a set of 4 AA's will last me the night.
Why
As a wedding photographer I feel it's important to get this part of the day, in fact it's what should be the main part of the whole celebration, people partying away into the night, which is why I always stay till well after the first dance, this way my clients get to chill out and make sure there are memories of the day from start to finish.
Occasionally if the venue is full and packed to the rafters I'll break out the X-E2 with the Samyang 8mm fisheye, shooting in a similar way to the X100 this offers a crazy wide view which is great if your right in the action, also good for getting shots of groups of people wanting an impromptu group shot looking at the camera.
Now it's time to see some moves, enjoy.
-Col
The Nissin i40 flash on my Fuji X100 - Small and light.
