How to light this situation?

[Chris215]

I have a 430ex II and will be shooting a engagement session in a church hall with high ceilings and grey walls. I was planning to bounce flash, but how do I use my flash in this case with high ceilings even if just for fill flash. The place will be lit with fluorescent lights too.

[tim]

High iso, no flash.

[form]

High ISO, can use flash on walls and possibly ceiling. The combination of high ISO and fast apertures helps increase the exposure brightening effect of even distantly bounced flash. You may not get ISO400 but you might get 800 or 1600.

[JeffreyG]

How high is the ceiling? I've successfully bounced a 430EX on the ceiling of a gymnasium.

Here is the only thing to watch out for when going for a really long bounce (and this will not likely affect a wedding photog). A long bounce needs a fast aperture and high ISO for the flash reach. This can sometimes introduce enough ambient light into a scene (due to the synch speed limit) to deliver some color balance issues and ghosting (of high speed action like volleyball - not a problem in a wedding).

The other option is to gel your flash to match ambient and drag the shutter a bit while shooting bounced or direct. Perhaps use a flash bracket.

[airfrogusmc]

I would use a gelled defused strobe and a high ISO so the strobe is fill or like Tim suggested high ISO no strobe but shoot at even shutter speeds like 1/30, 1/60/ 1/125 so not to get strange color shifts from the fluorescent lights and custom white balance for both gelled strobe or available. The gelled strobe will keep the eye sockets from getting to deep if the lights and the ceiling are really high. Go one stop under the available with your strobe and set the camera exposure for the available again with the gelled, defused strobe one stop under that.

[Dennis_Hammer]

Bring an assistant and a white/gold reflector. Point the flash directly behind and bounced up slightly while the assistant stands on a small ladder or chair reflecting back to the couple. Play with the distance of the reflector to get the desired look.

[Peacefield]

My approach is kind of an amalgamation of some of what others have already suggested. I'm a strong believer in directional light. If you're by a window, use that as your light source and no flash required. Alternately, bounce off of walls, either to the side or behind you. I generally do not bounce off ceilings anymore, especially high ones. If walls are not suitable, I do what Dennis described and bounce off a 42" reflector, but prefer to use it off to the side instead of behind me; again, I want that sense of directional light but a direction other than the one the lens is pointed in. Of course, this will require an assistant. All done with ETTL, keeping the flash to within 1-2 stops of ambient, and playing around with FEC to dial in the right balance.

[Dennis_Hammer]

Peacefield I do as you do I didn't mean directly behind me, I meant directly behind the flash (in whatever direction it was pointed) I also try to use window lighting when available and bounce from a reflector for fill if needed. Stopping down the flash you can still get a nice fill that doesn't completely over power the natural light while removing any harsh shadows.

[tim]

Actually i'd probably go with high ISO, off camera flash. I've never liked reflectors much.

[Chris215]

thanks for the tip,

BTW I can go off camera, since I do have a wireless kit. How would I set my off-camera flash in terms of positioning? Never done it before, new with OCF.

[tim]

I'd have an assistant hold the slaved flash in a small soft box. The reason for using high iso is to make sure the background isn't a black hole, the off camera flash is mostly for a bit of accent on the couple. You could do it in post, but you'll get a better effect and less noise to do it in camera.

Don't practice OCF with a customer, it's not hard but you don't want to be fumbling around.

[Chris215]

I'll try that on my little sis, thanks lol

[airfrogusmc]

I would use a gelled defused strobe and a high ISO so the strobe is fill or like Tim suggested high ISO no strobe but shoot at even shutter speeds like 1/30, 1/60/ 1/125 so not to get strange color shifts from the fluorescent lights and custom white balance for both gelled strobe or available. The gelled strobe will keep the eye sockets from getting to deep if the lights and the ceiling are really high. Go one stop under the available with your strobe and set the camera exposure for the available again with the gelled, defused strobe one stop under that.

Heres an example of this type of lighting that I was explaining in this post. You don't need assistants and multiple lights. The overheads were fluorescent and the gel was a fluorescent gel
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/airfrogusmc/IMG_1137.jpg