Lighthing Before & After

We thought we would take some time and show you, as well as explain to you, how and why lighting can make a difference. Most people can easily “see” how lighting changes a room, but they don’t necessarily know why. So let me help you with that.

We will start with up lighting. The most popular option and the basic foundation of most lighting designs for weddings/event. I want to show you how just adding something as simple as up lighting, can make not only your eye, but the camera see a totally different room. For example, in the picture below, there is no up lighting behind the pin spotted centerpiece.

In looking at this picture, it is hard to tell the depth of the room. The background looks flat, the picture is very black and white and the room just doesn’t jump out at you. While many may think the up lighting's only purpose is to simply put color on a wall, its other purpose is to create the depth and add light to dark areas. While your guests notice the color and “oooh and ah”, the photographer and videographer will love the light in the background for better pictures and video, as well as that field depth.

As you can see in the above picture, adding a simple amber up lighting package makes a big difference.

Camera lenses aren’t built like our eyes. They need as much light as they can get. So the more light they can use in the background, the better your pictures will look, as in the picture above.

The above picture shows you how no lighting at all just makes for a typical room. It is hard to see or tell any of the features of the room,the floral’s, or each other.

When we add the up lighting, the room gets that first layer of depth. You can clearly see the depth of the room, what the walls look like, the simple details become more visible.

The only hard part to see are the flower arrangements, the dance floor, the tablescapes or anything inside the room. Up lighting shuts down our iris to take in the extra lighting in the room. So anything in front of the up lighting tends to look dark or hard to see. So now we have to bring the pin spotting in to get some more direct light in the areas we need. For this instance, it would be the flowers.

As you can see, the light for the flowers doesn’t just brighten up the flower arrangements, but it also lights up the table and some of the area around it. This adds the next level of depth, allows our eyes to focus on different parts of the room and most importantly really makes your guests go “wow.”

Lighting is important. Whether it is the natural room lighting or professional lighting, the need for lighting can be for much more than just to see. If you can’t afford to hire a professional lighting company like ours, just make sure you keep control over the natural room lighting. Simple fades throughout the night can evoke emotion and give the other professionals the perfect light they need.

And if you do hire a professional lighting company, remember that we are looking at the room, taking into consideration the other professionals, the physics of the lighting, etc., our number one goal is to evoke emotion and make the room come alive! We hope these pictures helped to show you what a difference lighting makes.

-Jason