Wedding Photographer in Hampshire

Cranleigh Golf & leisure, Wedding Venue Review

Cranleigh Golf & Leisure Club

Barhatch Lane

Cranleigh

Surrey

GU6 7NG

This wedding venue is on the site of a smart golf club, the building is a large barn type structure, quite attractive on both the inside and outside.

Outside the venue there are a few places where group photographs can be taken, most notably from the balcony overlooking the patio area and on the lower levels there is a small grassy area with a few trees, a little uneven on the ground, but suitable for groups unless members of your party are disabled or elderly.

If it's free there is a small putting practice area that can be used for small to medium groups which is easily accessible to all.

Walking a little way from the venue there are some large open areas that can also be used for portraits of the bride and groom.

Inside the venue the first thing that strikes you is how large it is not only in width and length, but also in height. The second thing that struck me is how dark the venue is inside, it really is quite dark, needing fixed lenses of F1.8 or larger aperture in order to get enough exposure. This does limit of depth of field, on the positive such large apertures do pick up all of the lights used to light walls and ceiling and the effect is very pleasing.

The real problematic area is how the area where the service itself is lit. There are few windows in the barn making it very dark and so artificial Tungsten lights are used. There is a window offset slightly to one side of where the service takes place which lights that area with natural daylight. Now here is the problem, natural daylight coming from the windows is much 'colder' than the tungsten light having a much higher colour temperature and having a bluish cast to it. The Tungsten lights have a quite low colour temperature with an orangey green colur. It's possible to correct for one or the other to give a natural looking light, but not both at the same time. Everything looks great in Black & White, but it is important to be aware of the potential for a colour cast during your service if the pictures are to be in colour.

Apart from service for all staged photographs use of studio type flash systems are recommended indoors here, either gelled to convert the flashlight to the same colour temperature of the tungsten lights or turned right up in an attempt to drown out all ambient light.

With photography being all about light, and the lack of both quantity and quality of light so apparent at this venue I could not recommend it on the grounds of wedding photography. That said, going in forearmed with the knowledge of the venue and properly equipped with studio lights it is possible to get satisfactory results if forced inside by bad weather.

In good weather the only real concern is the area where the service is held.