Light stands and umbrellas at a wedding?

[Chris71]

Do any of you bring along light stands and umbrellas to use off camera flash at a wedding? I was thinking about using one for the after ceremony shots of the wedding party. What do you think? Too much of a hassle, or do most of you just use a hotshoe flash?

Obviously it would be too much of a hassle for the pre ceremony, and shots during the cermony, but I was thinking it might be ok for the wedding party shots that are going to be at the alter.

Just looking for opinions and suggestions.

[Alexajlex]

Do any of you bring along light stands and umbrellas to use off camera flash at a wedding? I was thinking about using one for the after ceremony shots of the wedding party. What do you think? Too much of a hassle, or do most of you just use a hotshoe flash?

Obviously it would be too much of a hassle for the pre ceremony, and shots during the ceremony, but I was thinking it might be ok for the wedding party shots that are going to be at the alter.

Just looking for opinions and suggestions.

I don't but will be starting to use at least 1 softbox with a 383 in addition to having my 580II on my camera with a flash bracket. I'll be using this for the formals.

There is a local photog in my area and he is very much into a lot of lights.
He gets very nice results.
For the formals he uses 3 softboxes (main, fill and a kicker).
For the processional he has his assistant up in the balcony (in this on particular church) with a softbox. Using pocket Wizards he just fires off a few pics and then tells his assistant to adjust the ratio accordingly.

In this one particular church they are really relaxed so he uses the flash during the ceremony as well. The assistant turns up the power on the balcony softbox during the ceremony to compensate for the distance change with the BG from the processional. I guess he can get rid of the assistant and use a Sekonic L-358 and the PocketWizards. Come to think of it he could just play around with the ISO and use it to control the ambient without having to change the power output on his strobes.

At the reception he uses 1 softbox and the assistant moves around with the the stand and the soft box.
On his camera he has Lumniquest Promax system + PW and a flashbracket.
He is a Nikon guy so he has a SB800 as the flashgun.

I spoke with a few other wedding photogs and they agree this may be too much.

I think that at least at the reception you should not have someone move around with a softbox.
I would put a 580 or 383 or 2 in the corners of the reception hall and your done.
Shutter dragging is also a favorite option if you are in a pinch and don't have time to setup lights.

I kind of see where this guy is coming from. He learned first in the studio and that is his strength and now he just took the studio to the wedding.
I've seen some of his work and the lighting is fantastic on the posed shots.

[picturecrazy]

I bring light stands and umbrellas, but rarely pull the umbrellas out. Used umbrella at ONE wedding this year. Direct bare flash isn't as nasty as people claim it to be if you use it right.

I would never want an assistant following me around the reception with an umbrella or softbox. Talk about obtrusive to the B&G and guests having this big box floating around blocking people's views, screaming out "HEY EVERYBODY LOOK AT ME!!!!" One of our biggest goals in shooting is stealth. First because we don't want to be obtrusive, and second, how the heck are you going to get any decent candids if you blast your subjects with a softbox or umbrella??

Less is MORE.

[Alexajlex]

I bring light stands and umbrellas, but rarely pull the umbrellas out. Used umbrella at ONE wedding this year. Direct bare flash isn't as nasty as people claim it to be if you use it right.

I would never want an assistant following me around the reception with an umbrella or softbox. Talk about obtrusive to the B&G and guests having this big box floating around blocking people's views, screaming out "HEY EVERYBODY LOOK AT ME!!!!" One of our biggest goals in shooting is stealth. First because we don't want to be obtrusive, and second, how the heck are you going to get any decent candids if you blast your subjects with a softbox or umbrella??

Less is MORE.


I was at this wedding where one of my friend's sisters was getting married and he asked me to video it since I do video production work full time.

The reception was in a really small hall, the dance floor was 40ft x 40ft and I was looking around to see if anyone would feel kind of cramped because of the assistant+softbox. I surely felt cramped and I tried to get out of the way as much as possible and just zoom in on the action. I've been at quite a few weddings and this was the first I saw where there was a manned moving softbox at the reception.

I feel that he needs to to learn about how to control the ambient via shutter dragging and ISO and not use so much flash light.

[DVS_WiNdz]

I've been to a few weddings where the photographer did bring lightstands

[ktgiggle]

I used umbrellas once for my brother-in-law's wedding, but just to do formals (pictures of guests with the B&G at the reception entrance. ) I agree it's too much hassle to use this for action shots, and as Lloyd said, you're much better off with speedlights and PWs :D

[Chris71]

I have heard the term dragging the shutter quite a bit lately, is that just slowing down your shutter speed to let in more ambient?

[Alexajlex]

I have heard the term dragging the shutter quite a bit lately, is that just slowing down your shutter speed to let in more ambient?

Exactly. The shutter controls how much ambient light you let in. The lower the shutter speed the more light gets in. The shutter speed has no effect on how much flash light you are getting. Dragging the shutter at a low shutter speed (1/15) for a shot where the BG are dancing will produce a sharp picture of the BG because flash freezes the action (there may be some blur in the background but it would be hard to really see and it is in the background anyway).

ISO can be used in the same way. Say you have 1/50 F4 @ ISO 200 with a flash. You can allow more ambient light in (so the background is not dark like a cave) by simply increasing the ISO to 800 for a 4 time ambient light increase for example (or ISO1600 for 8 times more ambient light).

[ktgiggle]

I have heard the term dragging the shutter quite a bit lately, is that just slowing down your shutter speed to let in more ambient?

Lots of information in http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=138907, and also
another good illustration for dragging the shutter is here http://planetneil.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/3-dragging-the-shutter/

[Wilt]

Do any of you bring along light stands and umbrellas to use off camera flash at a wedding? I was thinking about using one for the after ceremony shots of the wedding party. What do you think? Too much of a hassle, or do most of you just use a hotshoe flash?

Obviously it would be too much of a hassle for the pre ceremony, and shots during the cermony, but I was thinking it might be ok for the wedding party shots that are going to be at the alter.

Just looking for opinions and suggestions.

I have double-lit my wedding coverage for a long time. Light stand, remote flash, softbox. Use for altar shots and for reception shots which are somewhat contained in location. For example, cake cutting is in a 'predictable' location, as are the garter toss. Even first dance is predicably within the confines of the dance area, though not as contained as the cake cut. If you set a second light, it does not have to perpetually be moved about...after all the sun does not move in reponse to your subject and camera position outside!!!


Double lighting can elevate your coverage to be better than your competition during the photographer selection process that a bride goes thru.

[Chris71]

Wilt, when you say double lit, are you using a remote flash through a softbox and your camera mounted flash?

[Wilt]

Wilt, when you say double lit, are you using a remote flash through a softbox and your camera mounted flash?

Yes, the on-camera unit (an external flash mounted on camera) is in a softbox, with its intensity deliberately set to serve as Fill, and the off-camera unit is on a light stand in a softbox and is radio controlled, and the intensity is deliberately set to serve as Main.

[Curtis N]

Wilt,
For your off-camera light, do you meter it or just make an educated guess on distance/aperture?

[Wilt]

Wilt,
For your off-camera light, do you meter it or just make an educated guess on distance/aperture?


Neither! :) The off-camera unit is a Metz 45 with an accessory which allows a remote photosensor to be mounted some distance away from the head, so that it can still perform Auto exposure automation in spite of a softbox blocking the normal photosensor. I set it for the same aperture as I am using on the camera, and the on-camera flash is set to provide -1EV FEC. Elevated somewhat above the crowd, it is positioned somewhat like the morning sun would be outside, and that angle helps diminish the issue of distance to various parts of its coverage area.