Need thoughts on my plans for wedding lighting

fclark

I have done a couple of weddings - mostly outdoors, and in situations where they weren't even going to have an official photographer.

I will be doing the wedding for a friend in May - she is very relaxed and her instructions so far have been just that she doesn't want 'too many' pictures. (And I think the groom would prefer no pictures at all. ) I am starting to plan everything now and will be practicing much between now and then in order to do the best job possible. Just wanted to give the background - I am not advertising myself as a wedding photog and I have an idea of the amount of work that goes into something like this.

That said, I wanted to run my lighting plans by everyone here to make sure I am on the right track. I'm going to try to keep it fairly simple and just use my 580ex. (Considering a 2nd off-camera flash for reception, but that might be getting more complicated than we need)

Bride getting ready at home: Her parents' home is all wood - walls, ceilings - so no ceiling bounce I'm assuming. Planning to use pocket bouncer/big bounce or something similar. There should also be a fair bit of daylight coming in.

Ceremony: Church has high pointed ceiling, no bounce there. For coming down the aisle there is a white wall about 20-25 ft to the right - is that close enough to work for bounce? Pictures during the ceremony - no ceiling bounce so use big bounce again?

Formals: Hopefully outside, although the beginning of May here could be almost any weather. Use fill flash outside with catchlight panel up.

Reception. Small-ish community hall, white walls and medium-height (12ft?) white ceilings with beams across. I'm thinking bounced flash straight up for most things, maybe with catchlight panel up? Am I going to run into trouble with the beams?

Thank you for your advice. I have learned so much from these forums already.

Scott_Quier

Bride getting ready - Depending on the height of the ceilings, you may still be able to bounce. You have to keep two facts in mind (1) The less then white ceiling/walls will absorb some light, hence a lower ceiling would be a good thing and (2) you will have to compensate in post for the color cast that will be imparted to your flash. You may be amazed as the power of the 580.

Ceremony - I think you may be right about the absence of bounce surfaces in this situation. Consider a higher ISO and shoot using ambient light.

Formals - If you are outside, using the 580 for fill will work nicely, depending on the time of day (you will need to have some light from the sun ). However, your idea to use the pop-up bounce card implies that you will be shooting with the flash pointed up. If you are outside, there is NOTHING for the flash to bounce off of and the bounce card, in this situation, is a waste of time and effort. I would STRONGLY suggest you orient the flash straight at your subjects and power it down a stop or so for fill. If you want a larger sight source, I might suggest you search DGrin for Ziggy's scoop bounce card flash attachment. Come to think of it, this would serve well in the ceremony and bride getting ready scenarios.

Reception - Again, the 580 bounce card is a waste of time. I might suggest you investigate the "Better Bounce Card". There's a video on youtube that would be well worth your time to view. I've tried and used a number of light modifiers/bounces/etc on my 580s and found that nothing I've tried works better than a simple 50 cent piece of white foam attached to the flash with a rubber band.

May I, respectfully, suggest you talk with your friend a bit and find out what "too many pictures" might be. You may find that this will turn out to be an exercise in frustration, especially when it comes to the formals. Many B&Gs just want to quit the formals as quickly as possible and get to the party and their guests. So, consider carefully....

Van Isle

For another cheap tool I would consider an assistant with a reflector. Not so much for the church portion, but most everything else.

G'luck.

VI