lighting for wedding q

[jwhite]

Hey all,

I'll be doing my third wedding in three weeks and have a question w/ regards to lighting during some of the formal shoots.

My first wedding was mostly outdoor, so I didn't have to worry about lighting too much, and the second one I was backup, so no worries again.

This time I'll be primary photography for a friend and it will be indoors at their church. Its prob about average in terms of lighting. Not super dark but also not the most well lit church. It has prob 15 foot ceilings so bouncing is an option.

I have a 580EX II that I use on camera for most of my portrait work with a Gary Fong Lightsphere. Will that be sufficient for the formals that I take on stage with the larger groups? The biggest group would prob be ~10 people. Should I consider renting anything? I will probably be buying the Canon battery pack CP-E4 (unless there is a better one?) to help w/ the recharge time. I don't mind renting stuff as long as its fairly cheap. I'm pretty good technically, so any setup I could probably handle. Is the Gary Fong WhaleTail any good or worth getting? I don't want to invest and buy any serious lighting equipment because I don't think I would use it that much.

These formals have me the most worried because the bride wants me to focus on them the most. The rest I know I can handle. Both the bride and groom are really good friends and I'm mainly doing this as a service for them.

Any help would be appreciated.

Jason

[JMWallace]

Hey Jason - in my opinion, you should be just fine with the 580EX and GF Lightsphere. That is what I have defaulted to. I tried the 580 in a brolly box on a stand and just didn't like the results. I use the GF photojournalist with the opaque lid.

The only question I would have is what type of photography do you do. Are you more traditional/classic or more photojournalistic?

If your going for the traditional look with a little bit of modeling you may want to consider something like a brolly box if your good at that stuff.

Otherwise, with PJ work the flat lighting the on camera flash with the Lightsphere gives will be just fine.

One guy I shot with is all about the traditional, getting the modeling right, using meters and the whole works. Of course the last event I did with him, he spent 2 1/2 hours getting in church formals.

As a PJ, since it's not my primary focus, if I can get it done in 30 mins I am extremely happy.

All in all, those types of shots HAVE to be done. They ARE very important...afterall, when is everyone going to have the opportunity to all be together again??

It's not 10 people, but here is a sample of what I get using the 580EX with the GF Lightsphere Photojournalist with the opaque dome in a church with at least 20 foot ceilings.

MK IIn, 24-70 2.8, ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/40, handheld, camera set on M, flash set to TTL
33579

[jwhite]

Hey Jason - in my opinion, you should be just fine with the 580EX and GF Lightsphere. That is what I have defaulted to. I tried the 580 in a brolly box on a stand and just didn't like the results. I use the GF photojournalist with the opaque lid.

The only question I would have is what type of photography do you do. Are you more traditional/classic or more photojournalistic?

If your going for the traditional look with a little bit of modeling you may want to consider something like a brolly box if your good at that stuff.

Otherwise, with PJ work the flat lighting the on camera flash with the Lightsphere gives will be just fine.

One guy I shot with is all about the traditional, getting the modeling right, using meters and the whole works. Of course the last event I did with him, he spent 2 1/2 hours getting in church formals.

As a PJ, since it's not my primary focus, if I can get it done in 30 mins I am extremely happy.

All in all, those types of shots HAVE to be done. They ARE very important...afterall, when is everyone going to have the opportunity to all be together again??

It's not 10 people, but here is a sample of what I get using the 580EX with the GF Lightsphere Photojournalist with the opaque dome in a church with at least 20 foot ceilings.

MK IIn, 24-70 2.8, ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/40, handheld, camera set on M, flash set to TTL
33579

Hey JMW,

This is exactly what I needed! :) I'm definitely more of a photojournalist, but the bride wants the formals to turn out good. I didn't want to have to mess with something like a brolly box rig, but I would if I had to. The picture you provide basically tells me what I have should be more than enough. I have the clear one, so I might consider the cloud one as well. Not sure right now. Do you have the battery pack? I recently started messing w/ M mode w/ flash, and it does wonders! :) I never could get flash to work properly indoors, but I think I know my answers now. Guess I never got that far in the flash bible. There is also a shot of a huge wedding party in a rather large room with the lightsphere on GF's site. It turned out pretty good. Like you I want to get this part of the pictures over with soon. I'm not into arranging people and have them do poses.

Also if you have noticed in my other post on basketball, I finally did the smugmug site: http://www.jrwhitephoto.com Now I just need to populate it more w/ some of my previous work.

Thanks,
Jason

[talkingdog]

smugmug site: http://www.jrwhitephoto.com Now I just need to populate it more w/ some of my previous work.

I went to your photo site and started laughing at the family and friends section. They were all dogs except one with a child. I have more pictures of my animals than of the kids too. Nice sports shots by the way.

[jwhite]

I went to your photo site and started laughing at the family and friends section. They were all dogs except one with a child. I have more pictures of my animals than of the kids too. Nice sports shots by the way.

Ha! My friends said the same thing. I plan on putting more in there, but just not yet. And my dog is all the family I have around here! He's enough work like a child. Maybe I should rename it Bailey (my dogs name), and then change it once I add more.

Jason

[jwhite]

I went to your photo site and started laughing at the family and friends section. They were all dogs except one with a child. I have more pictures of my animals than of the kids too. Nice sports shots by the way.

Oh, and thanks for looking at the photos, esp the sport ones! They have been taking most of my time recently.

Jason

[michaelb]

....One guy I shot with is all about the traditional, getting the modeling right, using meters and the whole works. Of course the last event I did with him, he spent 2 1/2 hours getting in church formals.....33579

If that was my wedding I would have shot the guy for sure.

[JMWallace]

If that was my wedding I would have shot the guy for sure.

Don't get me wrong, he is a great photog. He is great at lighting, I could never get the look that he gets...but it's two different styles I guess.

That is, of course, the day I realized it was time to try things on my own.

[JMWallace]

Do you have the battery pack?

Sorry Jason, I forgot to answer this part.

For the most part, I have 5 sets of rechargeable batteries. I have both the Energizer and Duracell between 2400 & 2650 mAh and a 15 min charger. I have really never ran into an issue with running out of juice. I do however have a Quantum QB1C (Q=Quantum, B=Battery, 1=?, C=Compact) which screws to the bottom of the camera.

It works GREAT, but it does make shooting in portrait orientation more difficult and does add some weight to the camera. I have mostly used it for corporate work.

Hope that helps!

[jwhite]

Looks like I'll be able to borrow my friends 580EX to use as a slave. Would that help if I set it behind the groups when doing all the group formal shots? Or maybe as an additional bounce unit? I assume setting up a 580EX as a slave is pretty easy to do??

Jason

[JMWallace]

Hey Jason - I think you are seriously over thinking this. You'll be fine with just the one to cover that group of 10.

If you REALLY want to do the 2 flash thing, definately not behind them. There shouldn't be any reason you can't pull in the ambient by dragging your shutter a bit. If nothing else, set the flash to 2nd curtain sync. To do 2 flash set up, just mount the thing on a lightstand up about 10 feet off to your right about 6 feet. Don't trust me on that though...like I said, I suck at flash stuff.

Turning one into a slave...yep, easy as flipping the little switch. Nuttin to it!

If you set on 2

[jwhite]

Hey Jason - I think you are seriously over thinking this. You'll be fine with just the one to cover that group of 10.

If you REALLY want to do the 2 flash thing, definately not behind them. There shouldn't be any reason you can't pull in the ambient by dragging your shutter a bit. If nothing else, set the flash to 2nd curtain sync. To do 2 flash set up, just mount the thing on a lightstand up about 10 feet off to your right about 6 feet. Don't trust me on that though...like I said, I suck at flash stuff.

Turning one into a slave...yep, easy as flipping the little switch. Nuttin to it!

If you set on 2

Yeah, I think I'm just overly paranoid. :rolleyes: I'll just keep it simple and use a single flash! Thanks for the advice.

Jason