Off-Camera Lighting with Video Lights
Video light is my favorite supplemental light! I use the Amaran Video Light. You can keep the video light on a low setting to have it appear as natural light from the surrounding environment. If that doesn’t suit your style you can brighten up the lights to create a dramatic photo, or a brightly-lit photo, depending on the angle you shoot from. I love that video lights allow me to expose manually for exactly what the present light is, because they are continuously streaming. I find video lights keep photos looking very multi-dimensional, whereas on-camera flash tends to reduce the dimensionality of the photo. I put the video lights on lightweight stands and place them on the two corners of the dance floor close to the band or DJ. I may move them for special reception events, such as the cake cutting, but most of the night they are fixed in one position. You can do similar lighting with off camera flash, but I prefer the continuous lighting of the video lights. With fresh batteries, these lights last about three hours.
Pro tip: Video lights are a must to prepare for extreme low light conditions. I have been at weddings where there is such little light that my camera literally can’t focus. In this case, pop on the video lights and gain your photographing capabilities back!
Use on wedding day: any time you need just a kiss of light, to add dimensionality, to aid in a low lit reception, as fill light for family formals in dim lighting, or even to severely brighten up the scene