2nd Shooter Technical Issues

I have a shot here that I am not happy with. The ceilings were dark wood not very good for speed light bounce, focus not good, how would I improve this shot. This is a place where lots of weddings take place so I would welcome your suggestions?
5DMKII was in manual and speed lite in ETTL. I used a Harbour Digital Design Ultimate Light Box modifier on the flash on a 45

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Wow, that is a cool little location! First, the low angle is unflattering, in my opinion. It might be better if you have included the boys legs and less headroom. Combined with the wide angle lens distortion, it just seems like an uncomfortable shot. The on camera flash lighting doesnt really help either. Its hard to offer advice about on camera flash without knowing what the other parts of the room look like. Are you backed against a wall here?

Here is an article I thought of when I saw your shot. - http://neilvn.com/tang​ents/with-a-little-help/

If you take the time to learn all the topics on his site, youll be a much better photographer.

I agree I cut off his legs and got too much of the ceiling and stairs. Behind me there was a hallway out to the reception area.

The on camera flash was angled at a 45 hence the blast of light.

I am seeing in articles that folks use ISO 800 inside churches and reception halls as light is so low, and maybe I should have stayed away fro f2.8 and gone with f8 or 11 for more sharpness?

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I stop down when I can. F4-F8 with a speedlite if i can.

Lower ISO is best but 200 is not necessary with moderately new cameras and also the availability of strobes you get clean images up to 1600 and in this type of dark ambient clients wont expect studio clean shots.

Your technique seems solid otherwise. If you cant balance your ambient consistently with TTL/EC then put your flash in Manual. Your TTL metered the background and blew out your subjects, or you did by over exposing them.

You say this is a popular spot, and to be honest it looks like a dungeon... so go get your exposure nailed down hours before this shot needs to be taken.

Was this shot RAW?

picture will be fine. its more your composition to worry about.

Dumb down the exposure a bit in post processing, add some color effects, bam!

you can bounce from the side and behind
get them all sitting down on the stairs and shoot tighter

That is a horrible location for photos. Direct on camera flash is not very flattering in this setting. You used too much flash. Your cropping is weak.

Now, how do you improve on that? Pick locations that work with your subjects, not against them. If you must pose people on a staircase, pose them in a more interesting array. Next take your flash off camera . Better yet, add another flash so you can start to use some backlight which will help to separate your subjects from the background. You will need triggers and light stands, but that stuff is part of a pros kit. Work on balancing your ambient exposure with a little flash (properly gelled) . Don't be afraid to use higher ISO. I can show you a portrait that I shot at ISO 6400 that looks awesome.

And never shoot up at people.

Better bounce card would work as well. I don't specifically mean a Better Bounce Card but some diffuser that isn't a box and actually directs the light where you want it like a whale tail diffuser. No need to shoot at such an opened aperture unless you're shooting something in low light of going for a nice DOF look. Group shots should always be at least F4 (close) or higher for spaced groups so everyone is in focus.

Everyone else has covered the other areas but that's my 2 cents.

Personally, I think what needed to happen was to kill flash power and use a slower shutter speed for more ambient light. As for fixing it, I'm not really sure. The whole room is lit by one pretty direct flash and there's not much you can do to get rid of that effect imo.

i think a cool cover up could be to turn it into a vintage looking image in post production and then get the crop/horizon right. The room looks pretty old so I think this could really work for you.

But you can't tell what kind of ambient light there is if any so saying that isn't all helpful.

_aravena wrote in post #15421089
But you can't tell what kind of ambient light there is if any so saying that isn't all helpful.

there's atleast three can lights... they're in the shot.

Just ramp ISO and bring that shutter speed down quite a bit. The best part about flash is that it freezes the subject and you can really bring that shutter down quite a bit without getting camera shake/blur.

A much higher ISO to let in more available light and a different light diffuser (one with a bounce card, as mentioned) would help. You could even drop the shutter a little more as well. But I'd have a much higher ISO.

To me composition should be your first worries, and then get it off the flash, you're using a f2.8, that should be enough by bumping your iso,

I agree the flash is in your face, the light modifier I have shown earlier does send light everywhere, some people I know swear by the Lightsphere by Gary Wong but again it sends light out everywhere as well.

Would a rogue flash bender been a better choice along with higher iso like 800 with speed around 1/60th around 5.6 and of course better composition for sure.

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …r_Large_Positio​nable.html

I will need to go back here several times for more weddings as its where most bridal parties go but not only that most venues are in poor or low light.

picworx wrote in post #15426973
I agree the flash is in your face, the light modifier I have shown earlier does send light everywhere, some people I know swear by the Lightsphere by Gary Wong but again it sends light out everywhere as well.

Would a rogue flash bender been a better choice along with higher iso like 800 with speed around 1/60th around 5.6 and of course better composition for sure.

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …r_Large_Positio​nable.html

I will need to go back here several times for more weddings as its where most bridal parties go but not only that most venues are in poor or low light.

A rogue flash bender is not necessarily the solution to creating a good photo. Your flash is still going to be on-camera, meaning that the light will be very flat. If you really want to produce some images that look better than snapshots, take your light off-camera.

You don't have to spend a ton of money do go with off camera lighting. You can get by with a cheap speedlight, trigger, umbrella and light stand for under $300.

Here's a stairway shot that I lit with two cheap speed lights. A small softbox was mounted to the key light. Bare light was used for the back light. I fired both with pocketwizards but you can get cheaper triggers.

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