Church picture questions

tijoseph

I have been taking pictures after the usual wedding ceremony with two speedlights in shoot thru umbrellas. One on either side of me. With the average church having no ceiling to bounce from, and being enormous in size, this seems to be the best method. Is this what others are doing, or are some of you using a third, center flash, perhaps behind the party to illuminate the background a little better?

I'd love to hear some ideas.

mmmatt

tijoseph wrote:

I have been taking pictures after the usual wedding ceremony with two speedlights in shoot thru umbrellas. One on either side of me. With the average church having no ceiling to bounce from, and being enormous in size, this seems to be the best method. Is this what others are doing, or are some of you using a third, center flash, perhaps behind the party to illuminate the background a little better?

I'd love to hear some ideas.

setting lights in the method you describe will usually give you cross shadowing behind your subjects. The idea is to eliminate those shadows. I have been working more and more with off camera lighting and what I typically do for a 2 light setup is leave one flash on camera and the other at about a 45 deg angle to the side in an umbrella. I then ratio about 3 parts side to 1 part center and the results are very pleasing to my eye. This gives nice detail across the subject and minimal shadowing behind. the on camera flash is just for a touch of fill. One of my most favorite photographers, Dennis Reggie, recommends a double speedlight setup in a single umbrella and uses just a single light source off camera. That works well also but a little more tricky to master.

Matt

rwells

mmmatt wrote:

setting lights in the method you describe will usually give you cross shadowing behind your subjects. The idea is to eliminate those shadows. I have been working more and more with off camera lighting and what I typically do for a 2 light setup is leave one flash on camera and the other at about a 45 deg angle to the side in an umbrella. I then ratio about 3 parts side to 1 part center and the results are very pleasing to my eye. This gives nice detail across the subject and minimal shadowing behind. the on camera flash is just for a touch of fill. One of my most favorite photographers, Dennis Reggie, recommends a double speedlight setup in a single umbrella and uses just a single light source off camera. That works well also but a little more tricky to master.

Matt

You didn't specify how big the group your photographing is.

If its a fairly small group:
I agree with Matt on the light placements. You don't have to keep the "on-axis" flash on camera though, you can simply place it above your camera position, still using the shoot-through umbrella if you wish.

If its a larger group, spread out horizontally:
I'd place the two lights as you stated, but back them up so that the light fall-off is not as big a factor.

mmmatt

rwells wrote:

You didn't specify how big the group your photographing is.

If its a fairly small group:
I agree with Matt on the light placements. You don't have to keep the "on-axis" flash on camera though, you can simply place it above your camera position, still using the shoot-through umbrella if you wish.

If its a larger group, spread out horizontally:
I'd place the two lights as you stated, but back them up so that the light fall-off is not as big a factor.

yup! I agree with all of that for sure. size of "larger" is maybe a personal preference, (and dependent on the amount/quality of ambient light, iso/shutter speed settings, power of your strobes, type of diffuser etc.) but for a typical family/wedding party group shot in a church, I would stick with the a/b setup I described. I only prefer on-camera for that because it is one less light stand to set up and since 75+% of your light is coming from the side, I don't think it makes much difference. I also shoot mostly ettl and that makes it easier if you are moving around with your on camera flash. If you are shooting manual, then you should use two stands so that when you get your light just right it doesn't change on you because you moved closer or further away from the group.

Matt