A few weeks back Michelle and Niall were married in Adare, Co. Limerick, two of the nicest people that I have ever met, which could also be said of the people who attended their wedding. Their wedding was an intimate affair with close friends and family. The morning started off with the bridal prep where I met Michelle and her bridesmaids at the very luxurious Adare Manor. Everybody was in great form sipping champagne and having an all-round great time. Adare Manor is a stunningly superb wedding location, photographers are spoilt for choice whether you choose to take wedding pictures within the Manor itself or the superbly manicured grounds that surround the venue. The options are endless.

The weather on the day was on the dull side which worked to my advantage in the morning with beautiful soft window light available for some of the bridal prep photographs. Michelle and Niall’s wedding ceremony took place in the local church in Adare, only a few minutes away. It was a beautiful old church but not the easiest to photograph in as the natural light outside did not manage to penetrate its way up to the altar where the wedding couple were situated, ah the joys of wedding photography in Ireland during the winter.

As expected, most of the photography was done back in Adare Manor, at this stage the soft light that was available in the morning had become much duller and muddy, so a pop of light was required from my trusty Godox flash combined with a Octa Box to help soften it. I’ve always found that it is a subtle balancing act with using flash outdoors particularly with the type of natural light that was available on this occasion. I try and use the flash in a way that the viewers eye is drawn to the subject whilst retaining enough of the available light to give a sense of the environment. There are two approaches that can be taken when using flash, you can choose to make your flash the key light and base your main exposures on that light and balance the available light for detail in the environment. The second approach you could take is err in favour of the available light and use your flash as a fill light an approach which results in a more evenly balanced exposure. Typically, with this approach as a rule of thumb the flash power would be roughly two stops less than the available light that you are exposing for. It really depends on the look that you are going for at a particular time and whether you want a dramatically lit image or a more evenly balanced softer approach. You may also choose to use no flash at all and just go with the available light and that's perfectly ok too, it really is a personal choice.

Michelle and Niall were an absolute pleasure to work and what can I say I hope to get the opportunity to photograph more weddings at Adare Manor as it is a wedding photographers dream location.

Below is a small selection of images from the day.