Advice on lighting THIS room for an event

kundalini

I would like to see how to best light this private dinning room for a surprise proposal event. People photography is an area I want to get into and this would be my first purposed go at it.

The room is approximately 20' x 40' with 15' ceiling height. The room is lit with dim incandescent wall lights and two hanging light fixtures. The event will be at night so the huge street front windows will only spill in any street lamps and car traffic that happens by. There will be approximately 30 guest.

The gear.
Bodies: D700 & D300.

Lenses:
20mm f/2.8
35mm f/2
50mm f/1.8
85mm f/1.8
105mm f/2.8
24-70mm f/2.8
70-200mm f/2.8 (I really don't think this will be useful here.)

Lighting:
Alzo Flip Flash Frame with Softbox kit (due to arrive on Tuesday)
2x SB800
SB600
2x 6' Light stands
8' Light stand with arm for 32" 5-in-1 reflector
43" Shoot through umbrella
45" Reflective umbrella


Here's the room. Bear in mind these were taken for reference only, SB800 on hotshoe and bounced.

My initial thoughts was to bungee two SB's on the downchain of the ceiling lights and bounce off the ceiling, but not sure if that would produce enough spill light.

Thanks for any advice.

pathfinder

With 2 SB 800s and an SB600 you will have enough light, but I worry about bouncing in that room as the walls are not white, are they?

I have shot with speedlites with foamie light scoops placed on light stands in opposite corners of the room with some success.

Probably use an SB 800 as master, and the other SB 800 and the SB 600 as slaves with CLS.

angevin1

pathfinder wrote:

With 2 SB 800s and an SB600 you will have enough light, but I worry about bouncing in that room as the walls are not white, are they?

I have shot with speedlites with foamie light scoops placed on light stands in opposite corners of the room with some success.

Probably use an SB 800 as master, and the other SB 800 and the SB 600 as slaves with CLS.

I think knowing more about the event itself would help choose the lens needs. For the Cameras, I can say I would definitely be over there on another night and shoot in the room with the installed lights in use. Based on the intimacy, setting, etc, could be well done with ambient, and I certainly would be metering ambient and adjusting according to intimacy/timbre, unless you want it lit like Mikki-D's.:D

pathfinder

Good points!

The D700 should certainly be able to shot with ambient, or with a bit of help from flash. I was thinking of group shots rather than more intimate personal shots, since this is a group affair.

The D300 doesn't offer quite the same high ISO performance if memory serves.

angevin1

pathfinder wrote:

Good points!

The D700 should certainly be able to shot with ambient, or with a bit of help from flash. I was thinking of group shots rather than more intimate personal shots, since this is a group affair.

The D300 doesn't offer quite the same high ISO performance if memory serves.

Yeah, ambient and fill if indeed it is group stuff...proposal event? I figured it was just the two of them...duh me! You're right about the D300, which is why I think so many of us that could jumped on the affordable D700 train~

Zimtok

Most of my photos are in dark rooms without a flash. (bars, clubs, etc)
When using the ambient light of a room one thing to keep in mind is keep the light source from being directly behind your subject. Position yourself with the light source behind you or off to either side out of frame.
Sometimes the AF will not work on a dark subject so you may need to focus manually.

kundalini

Thanks guys, some good things to consider.

Yeah, I'm planning on using one SB-800 on flash bracket with a 15" softbox and have it set as master. I was hoping that I can find decent corner locations for the other 2 slave flashes with just enough power so as not to have black backgrounds.

As far as the lenses are concerned, I think the 24-70mm would be the most convenient, but the AF aqusition isn't as good as the primes. I really like the 35mm and use it almost exclusively when shooting dogs in the shelter I volunteer at. Plus it's small and unobtrusive, as is the 50mm & 85mm. The flash bracket and softbox is going to add close to 2lbs. Add to that the 24-70mm and I will be carrying some weight.

Scott_Quier

I think I would give serious consideration to jeffreaux2's light-on-a-stick technique

pathfinder

Scott, the reason you are suggesting this is the wall colors that will be apparent in bounced flash, perhaps?

whiteagle

I second what Scott's saying. Any light that bounces off that wall color is going to look like you gelled your flash with pepto-bismol.

Here's the trade off. On one hand, you can light the scene really well. On the other hand you can be less intrusive. It's really hard to know without some idea of the ambient. You're really going to have to play with that.

I totally don't know if this is even possible, but without knowing the ambient, here's the ideal IMO. Setup the sb800's to bounce off sheets of white poster board in opposite corners as high as you can stick them. Then use the sb600 on a stick for your key with something like this attached. Doesn't have to be anything as fancy as that. You just want something that will throw the light forward (and not on the walls or ceiling) from a surface area that's bigger than the front of your flash. As long as you aren't shooting diagonal to the room, this should give you a nice look.

Like I said, this all depends on what the ambient gives you. Don't forget to gel those flashes with CTO if you need to match the color of the ambient.

Scott_Quier

pathfinder wrote:

Scott, the reason you are suggesting this is the wall colors that will be apparent in bounced flash, perhaps?

A number of factors:

• The ceilings/walls don't afford a good bouncing surface
• There's going to be some ambient light that I think, given the event, should be retained
• Given the event, the less intrusive the lighting the better. Particularly as it's a surprise proposal. The extra lighting gear will, I think, spoil it a bit for the guy.
• Finally, I really like the effect that Jeff has been able to capture using that setup.

ziggy53

In order to know what to do in this situation it would be nice to know more about the circumstances of the surprise.

Will the couple be surprised as they enter the room, or just when?
Where will the couple be positioned within the room for the primary action?
Can you find a unique vantage point from which to view the action?
What cue will the photographer get that the proposal is about to occur?
Can the room be adapted? (Some rooms have fixtures on which to hang accessories like custom drapes and partitions, some of which may have photographic implications.)
Can you recruit other attendees for assistance?
Are there other photographic opportunities beyond the proposal (which you will need to cover)?

angevin1

kundalini wrote:

Thanks guys, some good things to consider.

Yeah, I'm planning on using one SB-800 on flash bracket with a 15" softbox and have it set as master. I was hoping that I can find decent corner locations for the other 2 slave flashes with just enough power so as not to have black backgrounds.

As far as the lenses are concerned, I think the 24-70mm would be the most convenient, but the AF aqusition isn't as good as the primes. I really like the 35mm and use it almost exclusively when shooting dogs in the shelter I volunteer at. Plus it's small and unobtrusive, as is the 50mm & 85mm. The flash bracket and softbox is going to add close to 2lbs. Add to that the 24-70mm and I will be carrying some weight.

I have to admit, I have questions. I think Ziggy53 hit the nail, too many unanswered "??"

And given your intended set-up, It would be interesting to see the resultant photos!

kundalini

After discussions with the client, this is how we envision the events of the night to unfold.

The approximately 30 guests will arrive at the restaruant at 7:00pm for a sit down meal in the reserved room. The future B&G will arrive at 7:30pm in the main dinning room. This delayed entry will allow the guests to have more time to finish their meal.

At some point, the client will excuse himself to the restroom/toilet/loo. On his return, he will make a comment that he has seen a client of his (he is a podiatrist). When the client is nearing the time for the actual proposal, he will text message his friend, who will in turn signal me.

I will then enter the main dinning room and begin taking random photos of the guest, working my way to their table. As I ask if they mind if I take their photo, he will ask if I could take a few more...... as he pulls out the ring and proposes. He guaranteed me the answer will be YES. I will take several progressive shots at this time.

I will then saunter off towards and into the reserved room. As they finish up, he will suggest to stick their head into the party of his client (that he mentioned seeing on his visit to the restroom). Another text message so everyone can get ready for their entrance and I can get the initial reaction shot as they walk in. For the next little while it will be candid shots of the hugs, congrats and tears. When the furor subsides, we will then take a series of "formal" protraits. The client is much more interested in my capturing candid shots of the excitement/energy of the evening, rather than formals.

I will arrive early to set up and test setting prior to the guests arrival and to suss out any other locations for photographic opportunities as well as speaking with the manager. This restaruant does cater for wedding parties, so hopefully there is some suggestions he can advise me on.

From what I saw, all lighting is incandescent and the lamp shades are definetly throwing off an amber color. As mentioned earlier, there are two hanging light fixtures along the center of the room, the remainder are wall mounted fixtures.

Please continue with the suggestions on any aspect of this event.

Thanks.

ziggy53

Pretty elaborate surprise, but it sounds doable.

I suggest that you have 2 venues, the main restaurant and the private room. For the first venue, where the proposal will take place, a conventional single flash, with modifier, on a bracket, will draw the least attention and seem most plausible to the situation.

For the second venue, the private room, I would set up 2 flashes on stands in the corners of the room, opposite where you think most of the photographic opportunities will occur. The remote flashes should be radio slaved, potentially on different channels if you want a choice. Otherwise, the 2 flashes will simply add additional light to your primary on-bracket flash.

Shay Stephens used a similar setup for some of his similar venues and it works nicely. He talks about it in this thread but, alas, his examples are no longer available:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=4266