OCF Placement at Wedding Reception

A good thing to take away from this thread is that you can get excellent results using a variety of methods. Having the knowledge and the equipment will dictate which is best for the situation.

jcolman ,you said in an earlier post that you usually put your lights in opposite corners
do you then bounce of the wall like in this photo or do you point your lights to the centre
what are the deciding factors
thanks

patrick clarke wrote in post #15824095
jcolman ,you said in an earlier post that you usually put your lights in opposite corners
do you then bounce of the wall like in this photo or do you point your lights to the centre
what are the deciding factors
thanks

Sorry for taking so long to respond. I've been traveling.

I do both. I like to bounce for romantic shots. I go with direct light for more dramatic shots. However the main deciding factor is the venue itself. There are some venues that I simply can't use bounce light.

Tigerkn wrote in post #15784352
Really? Isn't the umbrella going to kill their deco? What size do you use PhotoMatte?

Not really, no. If they have a venue where two 30" umbrellas are going to kill their deco (by which I assume you mean their decorations of the room), then you probably won't even need OCF to begin with; the room must be tiny! Umbrellas are just a way of reducing (or eliminating) harsh shadows; the quality and output of light can of course be completely controlled so the OCF is acting mostly as fill or mostly as your main light source.

thomas 'if you were shooting here how would you set up ocf with all these columns

On the rails on the second floor - Some incredible pics to be made in there. Certainly big enough to fit umbrellas, but umbrellas would looks like **** there. Way too classy.

That venue is one block from my studio.

Great threads. I just bought two clamps, thanks Thomas, I am going to try them in a few weeks. My main concern is the stands getting knocked over by drunks with poor dance moves.

Anyway we shall see....any suggestions for a good alternative to an umbrella, any small soft boxes that may work?

Cheers

I leave after the first dance. If I do stick around my assistant takes the off camera lighting down and I shoot using on camera flash, bounced.

stillinamerica wrote in post #15857351
Great threads. I just bought two clamps, thanks Thomas, I am going to try them in a few weeks. My main concern is the stands getting knocked over by drunks with poor dance moves.

Anyway we shall see....any suggestions for a good alternative to an umbrella, any small soft boxes that may work?

Cheers

A small soft box isn't going to help much if your flash is far away from the guests.
Using Thomas's venue with the columns as an example, if the lights are clamped to the railing then the light is still several yards from the top of the subjects' heads. You'll lose a lot of power shooting through a softbox but not gain a lot of "softness" to the light quality, simply due to distance.

If I needed to conserve battery life, I'd just point the bare flash down at the tables. If it's a Speedlight, flip down the diffuser panel to make the beam as wide as possible, to try to avoid hotspots on the nearby tables.

If I wanted a softer appearance of the light and didn't care about battery life (e.g. studio strobes that are plugged into the wall), I'd point it up at the cream colored ceiling and crank the power way up.

Thomas, thoughts?

A couple Justin Clamps to go along with light stands isn't a bad idea. I ordered a pair and should get them tomorrow. I will try to use the clamp on this weekend wedding, if I can.
Thank you all for all the ideas and advices!!!

Great help. My clamps came in today, will play wkth this weekend. They are cool. Thanks so much for sharing guys

Can someone recommend a 10' or over speedlight light stand with a fairly small footprint. I find that keeping a lightstand away from guest's tripping over them is becoming a concern.

Joel

Sand bags are very cheap though I know they are heavy to lug around. IMO, it is too much risk wo sand bag on each light stand.

Thank you for you reply. For a single speedlite and external battery what is your suggestions for weight wise for a sandbags.

Joel