Any Advice??

RacinRandy

Gotta shoot a wedding for a Relative tomorrow and i went and shot some at rehearsal tonight. It's gonna be a NIGHTMARE I'm afraid. Here's a shot from it



The room has 9.5 foot ceilings and I have three 580 EXII's, A 430 EXII using a rebel. I have 13' light stands and three different umbrellas, two 45" and a 30".

Any suggestions?

Scott_Quier

Seriously, I think I would work with a 580 on camera/bracket and, maybe, one on a lightstand. Bounce on-camera flash off walls and/or ceiling.

Or a single speedlight on camera/bracket with a BBC attached. It's really not as bad as first impressions might make it out to be.

I'm afraid you may have some issues attempting to light a large area with just the speedlights. Batteries are going to be a problem in short order.

I understand this is a very low-budget affair and your family will be pretty much happy with whatever you come up with, but ... see what you can do to get a second EOS camera body. And, if you don't have one, see if you can put your hands on decently fast zoom, something as close to 17-55 f/2.8 IS as you can get. Doing this will make you life quite a bit easier.

I do wish you the best in this ...

RacinRandy

Scott_Quier wrote:

Seriously, I think I would work with a 580 on camera/bracket and, maybe, one on a lightstand. Bounce on-camera flash off walls and/or ceiling.

Or a single speedlight on camera/bracket with a BBC attached. It's really not as bad as first impressions might make it out to be.

I'm afraid you may have some issues attempting to light a large area with just the speedlights. Batteries are going to be a problem in short order.

I understand this is a very low-budget affair and your family will be pretty much happy with whatever you come up with, but ... see what you can do to get a second EOS camera body. And, if you don't have one, see if you can put your hands on decently fast zoom, something as close to 17-55 f/2.8 IS as you can get. Doing this will make you life quite a bit easier.

I do wish you the best in this ...

Scott,
Thanks, I did rent a Canon 24-70 2.8 L for this. I do have a Lumiquest Ultrasoft mod for the On-Camera flash, would Ceiling/wall bounce be better?
I had Intended to use a 580 and the 430 into a 45" up about the 9' mark angled down in Camera Right. Thus putting the other 580 into the 30" from Camera left, Plus one 580 on-camera as the "Commander". Good, Bad or otherwise??

My big Nit with the whole deal is there is no room for BG seperation. It is a late afternoon wedding, 4pm, the shoot is scheduled to start 1:45 and i have a list of "must haves" from the B&G.

Am I way off?? I told them I really shouldn't be doing this as I am way in over my head right now. They agreed i might be but were willing to and want to take the chance with me(Flattered and scared as hell I am)

Thanks Scott,

Randy

zoomer

I'm with Scott.
Should really be pretty easy.
Shoot with a flash on a bracket and point it up at the ceiling with some kind of diffuser.
If your camera will support it use Iso 800 and shoot.
I would shoot it on A priority F2.8.
F4 for the group shots.
If you are very inexperienced set your camera on automatic, P or whatever your camera's auto setting is.
Make sure to not underexpose the photos because if you have to increase the exposure in processing they will get Noisy.

bmoreshooter

This is actually a pretty good place to shoot. Just practice a little bounce flash off the ceiling and you'll be fine. You can use the flash on or off camera but you will have less problems with shadows if you go with on camera .Keep it simple, no need to set up multiple lights and umbrellas. The biggest issue I see are those ugly pipes that run along one side of the wall. Keep them in mind when shooting your full lenght shots.

bmoreshooter

Sorry, just reread your post and realized you are proably on your way already. Best of luck anyway and let us know how it went.

Scott_Quier

zoomer wrote:

I'm with Scott.
Should really be pretty easy.
Shoot with a flash on a bracket and point it up at the ceiling with some kind of diffuser.
If your camera will support it use Iso 800 and shoot.
I would shoot it on A priority F2.8.
F4 for the group shots.
If you are very inexperienced set your camera on automatic, P or whatever your camera's auto setting is.
Make sure to not underexpose the photos because if you have to increase the exposure in processing they will get Noisy.

Ummmm ..... NO, on a couple of points

1. Shooting flash indoors with a Canon camera - Av is the last choice to make. The camera will set the shutter speed for you and it will be (usually) much too slow. Flash indoors - it's manual all the way. Settings: ISO 400 or 800, f/2.8, 1/30 or 1/60. Set the amount of flash power delivered using E-TTL and Flash Exposure Compensation.

2. For many newer cameras, ISO 800 would be the choice. But, the Rebel Xs may not deliver a clean enough image at 800. This is something that should be known by the OP before he starts out.

lightp8nter

Side comment on exposure
I think as pros or dedicated amateurs, we tend to want the perfect exposure, no noise in the shadows and no blown highlights, good color and DR. Nothing wrong with any of that.

For a long time I used the expose to the right approach, but I have found that if I have to choose between some noise showing up in the black tux or loss of detail in the dress I go with the "noisy tux" (Rule 1: its about the bride) I hate blown fabrics and hot spots on faces and hair. I find a bit of noise in the shadows easier to live with/fix. YMMV.

I think it also makes sense for this particular situation to use the most sensitive ISO that can be reasonably supported. The trade off is a bit more noise, and perhaps color issues, but the number of keepers should go up. Better battery management too. I am not a Canon guy so I can't specifically comment on his gear.

RacinRandy

Thanks Everyone,
Based on all of your input here's what I am gonna try.

1) In the above shot I had all four Flashes firing at iso 400.

I am going to go take two of the Flashes away( rehearsal was dark wedding will be light outside the windows).

Iso 400, manual mode, one on-camera one off both ceiling bounced.

I talked with the wedding party this morning and explained my apprehensions the best I could. We will be doing a lot of the group and WP shots outdoors as its a decent day today.

Thanks for all the tips and thoughts, I will post some sooc shots tomorrow. The shoot starts in an hour gotta get going, Thanks again!! You guys rock!!