Indian Wedding - Mehndi Seremony

aroy · Jul 30, 2014

A Bengali Hindu wedding is an elaborate affair. In the days gone by when life was not the fast paced affair it is today, the affair could carry on for a week. Today the number of ceremonies have come down; except for the very rich, who can afford a week long affair;, but it is still an elaborate affair. From the brides side there are a few core ceremonies
. Engagement
. Last formal lunch to the bride by her parents
. Menhdi ceremony
. Marriage
. Reception by the groom
This marriage is of our friend's daughter. The formal lunch is an all ladies affair, so I missed it out. Mehndi is a ceremony for ladies post lunch, followed by dinner for all. So I reached the venue in the evening. I took my camera and the 35mm F1.8 lense. A lot of photographs were taken. I have partitioned them subject wise.
. Venue
. Mehndi
. Dance
. Food
. Portraits
. and photographers

This shoot, I am investigating the feasibility of shooting at F1.8 without flash. I did most of my flash less shots at ISO 400, but in hind sight ISO 800 would have given me faster shutter speed and less subject shake.
PART 1. - The venue

The Entrance

The Gate

Lighting

aroy · Jul 30, 2014

2. Mehndi.

Here an artisan, applies colour derived from the Mehndi plant. The paste may be natural colour which is orange, or vegetable colours are added to create various hues.

The Mehndi paste ready in conical pods, same as the icing bags.

The rest of the images show the artisans creating various designs.

Roy1961 · Jul 30, 2014

this is going to be an interesting series of photo's?

aroy · Jul 30, 2014

2. Mendi - The designs

After the paste is applied it is left on the hands for some time. Then the paste is cleaned with oil. No water should touch the hands. The initial colour is light orange, but within half a day it will turn deep orange and remain for at least a week.

Paste cleaned up.

aroy · Jul 30, 2014

2. Mehndi - Women displaying the designs

Moab Man · Jul 30, 2014

I love the, forgive my crudeness for lack of the correct word, tattooing art. The intricate designs are just fascinating to look at and beautiful.

aroy · Jul 30, 2014

It is past midnight, so I will post just the Dance images. These are all at F1.8 without flash.
3. Dance

The console

DJ's

aroy · Jul 30, 2014

3. Photographers.

One must not ignore the professionals. We are doing it for the fun of it, for them it is bread and butter.

rocketman122 · Jul 30, 2014

wow, interesting to look at. exposure wise, some are ok, but many seem to be under exposed. between 1/2- to even a stop in a few. btw, do women also draw the mehndi or only men are allowed?

hrstrat57 · Jul 30, 2014

Nice to see a wedding guest not disrupting the pros with a blazing flash, exactly how I play it shooting indoors at a wedding if not getting paid. As a guest it is all about capturing the mood and staying out of the way IMHO. OP nice job here! Nice set really enjoyed that!

aroy · Jul 30, 2014

rocketman122 said:
wow, interesting to look at. exposure wise, some are ok, but many seem to be under exposed. between 1/2- to even a stop in a few. btw, do women also draw the mehndi or only men are allowed?

1. I was trying out F1.8 at ISO 400 without flash. Some how I had left the compensation at -1.3EV. By the end I had got it right. But ISO 400 was too low, tomorrow during marriage, I will try ISO 800 to reduce shake. The D3300 sensor has a lee way of at least 4EV of shadows and 1EV of highlights, so if you feel it is under exposed then I can pull it up more.

2. Never seen a woman artisan. Most of the artisans in India; excepting dancers and singers; are traditionally men.

Krs_2007 · Jul 30, 2014

Nice captures and thanks for the back story. Really love the culture.

aroy · Jul 30, 2014

hrstrat57 said:
Nice to see a wedding guest not disrupting the pros with a blazing flash, exactly how I play it shooting indoors at a wedding if not getting paid. As a guest it is all about capturing the mood and staying out of the way IMHO. OP nice job here! Nice set really enjoyed that!

Shooting without a flash is invigorating. Even though I have 2 x SB700, I hate using them as not only do they spoil the balance they are heavier than my D3300. If I can get away without flash all the better. But DOF at F1.8 is quite low, so for group shots I need to use the flash.
I have been trying out high ISO. In daylight I see noise in my images, but here at night at F1.8 I see no noise. Have to figure out what is going on. Any way, tomorrow is the marriage. If I take my camera I will try ISO 800.

hrstrat57 · Jul 30, 2014

FWIW (probably not much ha ha) I attended a wedding Friday evening, and the lighting was pretty similar it looks like as to what you experienced here.

I walked around with 50 1.4D AF and Nikon D300 and got a decent percentage of keepers at ISO 640/f1.4-f2.8. I don't have permission to post anything and I only took about 10 pics indoors. I took about 25 or so outside in the "gold hour light" which is where we all lurk the best!

I am looking forward to the D700 where I expect to bump up the ISO quite a bit in situations like this and continue shooting stealth!

Story, one obnoxious guest was on the dance floor (with a Canon DSLR of course!!) and had the pop up blazing during the father / daughter dance. One of the working pros actually had to gently shove her out the way to get the shot she was getting paid to take(the pro of course apologized to the guest)

IMO not a very good guest.....

Well done, you do a nice job!