Flash and IS lens question

[breakdown]

I've been considering getting a 24-105L lately but the f/4 kind of worries me. However, last night, I was out at a house party with some friends with my camera. I had my fast primes with me but it was still too dark to shoot without flash. I was getting some really good shots by bouncing the flash off the ceiling and walls.

I'm wondering, with an IS lens, could one set the ISO high, set the aperature wide open then select a slow shutter speed like 1/6 to let lots of light in. The IS should keep the background fairly sharp and the flash would freeze motion of those you are photographing. From what I understand, a lot of club pictures are taken like this and I've always liked the way they look.

If you are doing something like this, how would you want the flash pointed? I'm getting that you would point the flash directly at the person with some sort of difuser mounted. Bouncing it off the ceiling if you are trying to capture ambient light would sort of defeat the purpose?

[TomC723]

From what I remember the IS in lenses can help correct up to 2 or 3 stops worth of camera shake. So yes, it would allow you to use a slower shutter speed to allow more ambient light in from the background. Use your flash like you normally would. I prefer to bounce my flash whenever possible. Depending on how far away your background is, the falloff of the flash light should be enough that it will not illuminate your background.

hope this helps!
- Tom

[poloman]

I like to use the Lumiquest Pro Max system. The flash will freeze your subjects but if they are moving fast you will get some ghosting from the ambient light. This can look really great. The technique is called shutter dragging. You can also experiment with moving the camera as you do this. Second curtain sync works well with this kind of shooting.
The 24-105L is a great lens. Mine is practically glued to my camera body. The IS won't help you as much when using flash. It is wonderful for natural light photography. You need to know that it will only help with your movement and not with movement of the subject. I have shot a few plays with this lens. I try to time my shots as people pause in their natural movement.
Hope I helped! :)