Weekend Event-In the wine room

jeffreaux2

I was of the mind for the last month or so that I had a 50th anniversary celebration to shoot this weekend, but found out right before the party that it was a surprise birthday party....in style!

This party was held in the wine tasting room at a local supermarket. They hold wine dinners there each month, and the birthday girl and her husband often attend these dinners. For her surprise party, he reserved the room and hired a local chef away from his resturant to prepare the meal. Wine tasting eventually gave way to wine drinking, and champagne was served as well. Oh, and chocolate cake!

It was an impressive party, and I had a blast capturing the event.

1-The table is set....awaiting the birthday girl.


2-


3-She arrives...


4-


5-


6-An ambient light exposure


7-


8-Of the gifts, this was her favorite....I'm sure a hit for any woman!


9-


10


11-Last Call

urbanaries

What a fantastic shooting opportunity. I am drooling!!!! Kudos to the host/ess for thinking well enough ahead to hire a pro. That's so cool!!!

I just love the decorations and how you've captured them in #1 & 2. A very festive but cozy scene you're painting for us. Everything glows and sparkles without being garish. Nice use of ambient. Gotta love the 17-55.

3 is a very challenging exposure for me. The backlighting, the room and the entrance....you make it look so effortless!

5 is very nice positioning on your part...and the part of your lights!!! Were they totally off camera or were you using the LS? Very interesting how much more festive the birthday girl looks in this compared to 3!

8 is my favorite shot, too! Great use of background here. My, she is even more dolled up than the last time we saw her! She looks stunning in those glasses. And your light mix here is just gorgeous. Boy Jeff...


9 is very cute, could maybe survive a tighter crop. Great reaction time here.

10 again can use some cropping. I am a huge fan of negative space....but not purple shirts . Maybe a monotone? Lovely lighting here, again. The shadows lend some nice drama.

11-Way to be paying attention. Really cute moment!!!!

A stunning set. I've got gig-envy!!! D

ETA a question. How did you gel your lights for this one? With the wall colors and the darkness I would be clueless how to properly balance the flash temp.

jeffreaux2

urbanaries wrote:

What a fantastic shooting opportunity. I am drooling!!!! Kudos to the host/ess for thinking well enough ahead to hire a pro. That's so cool!!!

I was actually hired by a guest at the party as a gift! I made some GREAT contacts there though, and also talked at length with the owner about his wine dinners. (fingers crossed)

I just love the decorations and how you've captured them in #1 & 2. A very festive but cozy scene you're painting for us. Everything glows and sparkles without being garish. Nice use of ambient. Gotta love the 17-55.

I was stunned when I entered the room. It was decorated as beautifully as any wedding reception I have ever seen. The gals that put that room together had very good tastes!

3 is a very challenging exposure for me. The backlighting, the room and the entrance....you make it look so effortless!

Nothing to this exposure! I probably should have taken a test shot, but instead stood inside the door, waited for her arrival, and "SURPRISE!!!!!", pushed the button. I have a setting I have become comfortable with in low ambient light. I was set up for the room but not the light beyond the door. Anyway...it worked! sorta!

5 is very nice positioning on your part...and the part of your lights!!! Were they totally off camera or were you using the LS? Very interesting how much more festive the birthday girl looks in this compared to 3!

They began wrapping her in boas and put a tiarra(sp?) on her when she arrived. One light used. I bought a used 580 last week...the old school one with the master/slave switch on back...but it ain't here yet. Anyway my one light is on a stick and fired by the ste2. It's a judgment call on each shot...figuring out where you want to screw the light into the image/ where do you want the shadows. This is a pretty good way of lighting a photograph in a space with zero for ambient. Get some directional flash, and it almost looks as if it is some sort of ambient lighting....maybe?

8 is my favorite shot, too! Great use of background here. My, she is even more dolled up than the last time we saw her! She looks stunning in those glasses. And your light mix here is just gorgeous. Boy Jeff...

She was shy about photos with the glasses, but it was extremely dark in there and she had been reading the birthday cards. All flash.

9 is very cute, could maybe survive a tighter crop. Great reaction time here.

The room was filled with attractive couples, and I did my best to get not only "smile on three " shots, but also a nice mix of candids.

10 again can use some cropping. I am a huge fan of negative space....but not purple shirts . Maybe a monotone? Lovely lighting here, again. The shadows lend some nice drama.

Losing a purple shirt is tough in a room filled to capacity. I think they said 54 people...but walking through was an obstacle course. Again...just flash here.

11-Way to be paying attention. Really cute moment!!!!

Things got rowdy in that corner of the room. I coulda slipped over there at any time and gotten something similar!

A stunning set. I've got gig-envy!!! D

Parties like this are something I envisioned myself doing when I set out to sell myself as a photographer. Why not? They spent a couple grand easy on the party, so why not have someone comfortable with a camera capture the memories? This is my second big birthday party...and I hope I can get more work like this from those present. My price for this is a tad low, but I should make some up on print sales to other guests. I included a $150 print credit here so the birthday girl can get her hands on some prints as part of the gift.

ETA a question. How did you gel your lights for this one? With the wall colors and the darkness I would be clueless how to properly balance the flash temp

.

When I arrived , the room was lit fairly well by a ton of flourescents overhead. These were momentarily turned on when she arrived..."surprise"...but were promptly doused leaving only candlelight and a few wall fixtures that were dimmed. If you look closely in #11 you can see two of the 6 fixtures. I gelled with a super deep orange "sticky-filter" gel. This only because I wanted warmth in the final product. I probably didn't need to gel at all. The ambient was well off of that 3 stop ratio rule you follow. I am seeing red in skin tones for a lot of these. I haven't had that issue with the Phoxle gels, but was trying something new here. I may have to go back and pull some of that out in LR.

I used the flash with gell and lightspere(capped) on my monopod for all of these. This leaves me shooting one handed, but that is managable with an IS lens.

I tried some ambient shots with the 85mm. At F1.8, ISO1600, and 1/40....it was still underexposed....so...I went back to plan A(BYOL!).

Hey...thanks for looking Lynne, and leaving such detailed comments. You're the best!

Scott_Quier

There's not a lot to say that Lynne hasn't already said. I do, however, want to add that I think your lighting technique is a real winner. I have just one question....

jeffreaux2 wrote:

I used the flash with gell and lightspere(capped) on my monopod for all of these. This leaves me shooting one handed, but that is managable with an IS lens.

An IS lens implies a zoom. How did you manage to hold your lightstick, your camera, and zoom the lens as needed with only 2 hands? Or are you gifted with a third hand?

Elaine

Clear and crisp and fun and well lit, Jeff! I'm also jealous of getting to just shoot for fun at a fun party. Way to go!

jeffreaux2

Scott_Quier wrote:

There's not a lot to say that Lynne hasn't already said. I do, however, want to add that I think your lighting technique is a real winner. I have just one question....



An IS lens implies a zoom. How did you manage to hold your lightstick, your camera, and zoom the lens as needed with only 2 hands? Or are you gifted with a third hand?

...no third hand! Actually it hasn't been a problem. This is my third time to use this technique. I usually find a good spot....30mm?.....and mostly keep it there...using my feet. It isnt a big deal to hang it by the strap around my neck and adjust...then raise it back up either.

jeffreaux2

Elaine wrote:

Clear and crisp and fun and well lit, Jeff! I'm also jealous of getting to just shoot for fun at a fun party. Way to go!

Thanks Elaine. Not much different than a wedding reception except there was only one must have...when she blew her candle out on the cake...whereas a reception has cake cutting, garter toss, first dance, bleh, bleh, bleh. Of course, I had breaks whenever a fresh course of the meal was served. I would wait until that course was mostly eaten then make a round snapping shots....trying to avoid shots of folks eating. Had a blast!

Oceanlights

The shots tells the story by themselves. Very nice timing and loved all the shots.

Swartzy

Great techinique Jeff. I love how you move around at that mm and compose these. Great lighting and subject matter. It's really fun and inspirational I might add. I love looking at your shots (if you haven't figured that out by now) and gives me some ideas when out shooting. Thanks for sharing!

jeffreaux2

Oceanlights wrote:

The shots tells the story by themselves. Very nice timing and loved all the shots.

Thanks!!

jeffreaux2

Swartzy wrote:

Great techinique Jeff. I love how you move around at that mm and compose these. Great lighting and subject matter. It's really fun and inspirational I might add. I love looking at your shots (if you haven't figured that out by now) and gives me some ideas when out shooting. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Swarzy....thats a heckuva compliment!:D