Last Updated: February 14th, 2020
Our first experience at a Chinese Lantern Festival was provided to us by Night Lights Events, an organization that hosted an amazing time at the Pocono Raceway.
With their support, we were able to take engagement photos for one of our couples in this totally unique and captivating environment. Because the results of our images are so amazing for us to look back on, we wanted to share some portrait photography tips for those of you wanting to take beautiful portraits at a Chinese lantern festival event that you visit on your own.
When this opportunity came up, we were simultaneously really excited and a little nervous. We’ve taken portraits in a wide range of different environments, but taking pictures primarily in the dark? That’s a daunting task for many photographers. We wanted to be able to take photos that fit within our style and portfolio, and managed to capture the awe of being surrounded by hundreds of lanterns floating into the sky.
After doing a little research into techniques, we found there were very few photography sites online talking about taking portraits at a lantern festival. Sure, it’s a pretty niche topic, but after seeing a dozen other photographers doing the same thing as we were – we figure someone could benefit from some advice. 🙂
So with this in mind, here are our portrait photography tips to take great couples portraits at a lantern festival!
1). Positioning matters
Upon arrival at the festival, after grabbing our entry tickets, portable radiant fire pit, s’mores supplies, and lanterns…we had to find a spot for us to set up camp…
While you could just shoot “anywhere” – doing a little pre-planning will help you make more effective portrait compositions.
One thing we were very interested in going into shooting here was…how long would we have to take pictures with the sky filled with lanterns? In our experience, we had about 10 minutes where the lanterns really dominated the sky. So, in this 10 minute window, we needed a spot where we could take really great photos without the need to rush from location to location.
Our approach was very simple…
We wanted to find a location on the outskirts of the event, so we could set up shots that incorporated a large volume of lanterns in the background. Additionally, we wanted a space where our couple could feel more relaxed and able to connect with each other.
2). Ambient light is magical
5-4-3-2-1…lift off!!
What amazed us most about this lantern festival was how much light ended up being produced by the lanterns themselves. In the lead up to the lantern release at 9pm, the only light we could really see was that of flashlights and cellphones, little radiant fire pits, and light from the entertainment stage and food trucks. This is natural festival lighting – and while great in person as a visitor, most of it wasn’t all that useful as a photographer.
Once the countdown dropped to 0 and hundreds of people let their lanterns fly, the sky lit up and this light came down to ground level!
One thing to remember while photographing a Chinese lantern festival is that capturing the natural colors of the fire and illuminated lanterns is key to authentically representing the situation.
As our goal in couples photography is to always capture things as organically as possible – it was pretty obvious early on that we wanted to retain as much of this ambient lighting as possible. On a technical level, this can immediately be seen as a big challenge – but it turns out doing this is much easier than you might expect. Refer to the next couple of tips to see how we made it happen!
3). Flash is just okay…
The trouble with flash photography in a setting like this is that is just doesn’t feel natural. Yes, you can take great photos still with it, but you lose some of the mystery that comes from the ambient lighting. This can be minimized (to some extent) by using an off camera flash setup with High Speed Sync (HSS), but it still will come across more like editorial and fashion work than an authentic representation of a couple in this space.
Of course – if flash is your style, go for it!
Given flash photography is not our preferred approach, we found another solution in static lighting that allowed us to light up our couple, and provide some fill light, without being overwhelming or distracting.
For the sample images we took seen throughout this post, we used our Profoto A1 flash modeling lights for this purpose. We kept one mounted to our camera and pointed directly at our couple, and a second provided off camera. This allowed us to cleanly light both people’s faces without being jarring, overwhelming, cause squinty eyes, or otherwise be blinding.
While the Profoto A1 is our preferred flash and modeling light combo (you can read our review here), any static light source should do just fine. In the past, we have used small video lights like this and light wands like this to similar effect for low light and night portrait photography.
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4). Casual and relaxed posing wins the night
Our approach to posing on this evening was very minimalistic and relaxed.
We wanted our couple to have a great time at this event, and most of what we documented was their natural reaction to the things going on, and their time being spent with each other in this cool setting.
One of our favorite shots just features them both looking up with child-like awe as this was their first time at a lantern festival. It was also our first time – and when they all started gently flying into the sky, we even freaked out a little bit like we did when seeing the Northern Lights in Iceland for the first time…
If you are at a loss for posing ideas, some thing you can do is provide things to do. We roasted marshmallows and made s’mores – which led to plenty of natural portraits. You can also use posing prompts to help keep the couple connected and engaged with each other throughout the night.
Simple is really best here if you are looking to take beautiful and really authentic portraits!
Related: By picking up Signature Edit’s Photography Marketing School you get not only a range of great courses on photography & marketing, but a bunch of great Lightroom presets and the Candid Couple’s Posing Prompt Guide. It’s a freakin’ amazing deal!
5). Use a slow shutter speed
Camera Settings: 1/30 shutter speed, 4000 ISO, f/1.2 aperture (hand held Canon 5D Mark IV with Canon 35mm f/1.2 lens)
While one of our big tips for crisp portrait photography is to increase shutter speed, in low light situations like this, decreasing your shutter speed can be one way to introduce additional stops of light and spare yourself from unnecessary ISO grain.
The challenge with using a slower shutter speed is keeping the camera steady enough to take a picture that is in focus. Missed focus and blurry images are a common result.
While we were able to hold our cameras by hand and shoot as low as a shutter speed of 1/30. Some of this comes from years of learning to control our shots, and a little bit came from sheer luck. For most of our images taken on this night, we used a tripod to stabilize our camera and reduce the negative effects of a low shutter speed.
We recommend trying both techniques and seeing what suits you best!
Bonus tip: Significantly slow shutter speeds will bring you into the world of long exposure photography. If done successfully, a long exposure at a Chinese lantern festival can be really amazing, showcasing light streaks in the sky as the lanterns float upwards.
6). Images look great even with a high ISO
While camera gear doesn’t always matter that much, when shooting portraits in a really low light environment like a lantern festival, high quality gear that performs well even at a high ISO is really valuable.
Most of the images we captured during our engagement photo shoot were at 2000 ISO or greater. Based on our experience, entry level camera bodies will not be able to produce quality images in this range. We used the power of the Canon 5D Mark IV (read our review) for this – and could have used the more affordable Canon 5D Mark III (our review) to see similar results.
With gear talk out of the way, a high ISO is normally associated with “bad images.” In this context, a little grain in the photos is pretty natural and doesn’t distract from the images. Sacrificing some image clarity with a little softness actually works well in this environment as it adds a little moodiness, and even a romantic feeling, to the images. Both of these things suit couples portrait photography well!
7). A wide aperture is a must!
As camera nerds, we were very excited to see how the lanterns in the background would react when taking portraits with a wide aperture. We traditionally shoot portraits between f/1.2 – f/2.8, and using these wider apertures makes sense in low light because it allows extra light to reach our camera sensors without added grain.
Of course, when opening up the aperture like this, it also produces really cool effects on things behind our subjects. With hundreds of lanterns in the sky, these little blips of light really complimented our couples portraits.
8). Wide angles, tight angles
There are 2 types of portrait photographs you will find the opportunity for once the lanterns are released…
- Wide photos of the couple with the HUGE number of lanterns in the sky
- More intimate shots of the couple in this environment
As a photographer shooting portraits at this type of event, the obsession becomes one of landing a really amazing picture that features both the couple AND the sky filled with lanterns. It’s easy to understand why…
But – it’s worth mentioning that closer shots of the couple are a great way to diversify a couples photo gallery and produce shots that are strictly about the couple themselves.
For more related reading – check out our black and white photography editing tutorial (with before-and-after edits!)
Conclusion
Photographing our couples engagement session at the Chinese lantern festival was an amazing time!
As creatives who have been photographing couples and weddings for several years now, it is always exciting to be able to shoot in unique places. As we mentioned in this post, it was our first time seeing lanterns be released on this level, and now it’s the type of thing we’d love to go to in the future in our down time.
If you are a photographer researching how to shoot portraits at a lantern festival (or just needing some advice for night portraits in general), we hope this little post is able to help give you things to think about and apply to your own work in the future. If this post helps you at all, be sure to let us know in the comment section!
For more great posts on couples portrait photography, check out…
- How the Right Light Can Make ANYONE Look Beautiful (Portrait Photo Tips)
- How to Take Amazing Beach Portraits of Couples
- 28 Engagement Photography Tips: Beautiful Portraits for Couples in Love!
- How to Take Stunning Engagement Ring Photos (Step-By-Step Guide)