Wedding flasher!

[eslaydog]

Sorry for the catchy title! :P

What practical choices do I have to light weddings/receptions other than my 580ex? I know there is some kind of light I have heard of that at one point was a pretty standard wedding tool? What is it?

and...

What do you use?

Thanks,
Eric

[Harry Settle]

I use my 580, but, take your pick of flashes. Some are switching over to a low-watt video light.

[Phil V]

The standad wedding tool was the Metz hammerhead flashgun, it had TTL modules for all the pro cameras and optional battery packs etc. that made it perfect (for it's time).

In the US most photographers use flash brackets with camera brand speedlites. Some will set up studio type strobes and use radio triggers (so I'm led to believe).

Personally I don't use a lot of flash (in the UK we don't have to fight a bright sun very often). When I do it's either the 550 on a bracket or with a lightsphere (never used direct). I'm practicing using the 420 slaved as well.

[tim]

Getting your flashes off the camera is the biggest improvement you can make, but it's expensive and you might not have time to do it at a wedding.

[mizuno]

Leave the flash at home and carry fast glass.

[Wedding Shooter]

The 580EX is a great flash when used correctly. Bouncing the flash with a diffuser (such as a lightsphere) will improve things.

Exposing the background correctly - while letting your flash expose the subject is a good way to improve your indoor shots. This may mean faster glass and high ISO shooting though.

A few extra speedlites will improve your lighting - but slow down your style. Life is compromise :)

[DocFrankenstein]

Elinchrom is the off camera light most used. Metz potato masher is popular too.

[BLINN]

I agree with MIZUNO. Get fast glass. But never leave the flash at home. There are many times where fill flash comes in handy. It also give you the sparkel in the eye, which people love.

[kawter2]

550 or 580 speedlight.. PERFECT!!! Just try not to make it the ONLY light source you use

[llaamaboy]

Leave the flash at home and carry fast glass.

Possibly not the best solution for groups...

[llaamaboy]

Getting your flashes off the camera is the biggest improvement you can make, but it's expensive and you might not have time to do it at a wedding.

Mostly agree. Two flashes are a good idea. I prefer the main flash on camera and the second flash, the slave, to be mobile. I say that for weddings for speed and KISS so you can deal with the people and not the equipment. At certain times in a wedding, time is money.

Portraits are an entirely differnt matter. All lights off camera.

[SHANGHAi]

Get a Gary Fong lightsphere. Essential.

[Harry Settle]

Get a Gary Fong lightsphere. Essential.

I actually like my reception shots taken with the LS II better than with my 580, with or without a stoffen.

[kawter2]

Get a Gary Fong lightsphere. Essential.

IMO ixnay on teh ightshpherelay.

use an omnibounce... about 95% the same result and about 0% of the "hey look at the dorky cameran " or "WTF do you have a toilet on your camera?"

[tim]

Get a Gary Fong lightsphere. Essential.

Overpriced, inefficient, crap. He comes out with new models every few months to drain the pockets of people with too much money and too little sense. A don't even use an omnibounce, I use a 580 with a bounce card pointed towards the roof. Where there's no roof I use a small on-camera soft box.

[jamiewexler]

Leave the flash at home and carry fast glass.

I'm sorry, but that's the worst advice for a new wedding shooter that I have ever heard (maybe it was said in jest?). Given a choice between an f1.4 lens or a 5.6 lens + flash as my only 2 options for shooting a wedding, I'd take the f5.6 + flash every time! While we as photographers ooh and ahh over the small DOF, all natural light images that we are able to produce with fast glass, our paying clients expect at least a portion of their shots to be well/evenly lit. The only way to guarantee that you can always produce those results no matter what kind of lighting (or lack therof) you encounter is to have a flash!

Having said that, I have nothing against available light and fast glass. I have a small arsenal of the stuff myself, and use it whenever possible. Really being able to use fast glass effectively is a different story alltogether. You have to understand how distance effects your DOF for a given aperture. You have to have a mastery of how the available light interacts with the subjects, and become adept at positioning yourself to best take advantage of it.

I love shooting available light, but after 32 weddings, I am still learning how to use available light to my advantage. I currently keep one body with a 550ex on a bracket, and a Flip-It! diffuser for all of my "safe" shots, and trade off the fast glass on my 2nd body - often without a flash. During the important moments I squeeze off a flash shot or two to make sure I get a well lit image, then I switch to the available light camera for the creative stuff.

[BLINN]

Great info. Glad to see some else is on the same page as I am.

[kawter2]

I'm sorry, but that's the worst advice for a new wedding shooter that I have ever heard (maybe it was said in jest?).

Likewise

Given a choice between an f1.4 lens or a 5.6 lens + flash as my only 2 options for shooting a wedding, I'd take the f5.6 + flash every time! While we as photographers ooh and ahh over the small DOF, all natural light images that we are able to produce with fast glass, our paying clients expect at least a portion of their shots to be well/evenly lit.

[roman_t]

i'd say get flashgun as powerfull as you can afford. hummertype or metz at a bracket.
i have to change batteries in my sunpak two-three times in 6 hours when shooting indoors. i hate high cellings.

[SuzyView]

For the past 3 years I have been using my 10D and 550EX without any trouble with the omnibounce for indoor and fill-flash outdoors for a group in shadow. I mostly take pictures outdoors in front of the church. I take a few at the receptions, but indoor lighting is so poor in the day or night, you have to have a flash with a fast lens. This year I am limiting my weddings. But I will take my three camera bodies and my two flashes and all diffusers. It is very difficult to get good shots with just fast glass and at a wedding, you don't want to mess with low light. Bring the flash and bounce the light as much as you can.