Reception lighting 101

mtimber wrote in post #12482748
I am thinking however to add some silver foil to the front face and see what sort of catchlights that would give...

That might be cool. I use the silver side of my large reflector a lot for portraits.

I just did a destination wedding where the reception had a straw/wooden roof and open air so there was nowhere to bounce the light. How would you guys light such an area?

Imagine a hut like this...but can fit 200 people.

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jcolman wrote in post #12482834
That might be cool. I use the silver side of my large reflector a lot for portraits.

I tried it and the catchlight was very small.

I was wondering what a small concave mirror would do attached to a flag mounted on the flash.

Would that create a "larger" catchlight as it disperses the light over a wider area?

Maybe someone who understands physics would know?

funkybuddha wrote in post #12489329
I just did a destination wedding where the reception had a straw/wooden roof and open air so there was nowhere to bounce the light. How would you guys light such an area?

Imagine a hut like this...but can fit 200 people.

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I use umbrellas/monolights combos in venues with wooden or dark colored walls. However for a destination wedding where I would not be bringing my bigger lights, I would use a speedlight or two firing directly into the middle of the room. I would use my on-camera speedlight as fill light.

mtimber wrote in post #12489357
I tried it and the catchlight was very small.

I was wondering what a small concave mirror would do attached to a flag mounted on the flash.

Would that create a "larger" catchlight as it disperses the light over a wider area?

Maybe someone who understands physics would know?

Personally I think that using a mirror would create more problems. However you never know until you try.

jcolman wrote in post #12489619
Personally I think that using a mirror would create more problems. However you never know until you try.

I have ordered one, to see what happens...

Should be interesting...

jcolman wrote in post #12489613
I use umbrellas/monolights combos in venues with wooden or dark colored walls. However for a destination wedding where I would not be bringing my bigger lights, I would use a speedlight or two firing directly into the middle of the room. I would use my on-camera speedlight as fill light.

I thought so. That's what I did. I capped the OCF speedlites with stofen diffusers, and used an on camera for fill. I just had some issues with weird shadows in some spots of the room, so every once in a while I would move the lights around the perimeter of the room and try to get shots as needed. I don't know....but it felt a bit inefficient. I kinda of want to just set the lights and leave it be.

Here's the actual venue.

great post jcolman
just a quick question(or 2)
the set up you show for the couple exiting the building ,you said you captured with the flash set where the flash is pointed upwards at 90 degrees
doesn't this go against conventional wisdom since outside there is no bounce surface?? would direct flash with appropiate fec be a suitable option??

patrick clarke wrote in post #12496748
great post jcolman
just a quick question(or 2)
the set up you show for the couple exiting the building ,you said you captured with the flash set where the flash is pointed upwards at 90 degrees
doesn't this go against conventional wisdom since outside there is no bounce surface?? would direct flash with appropiate fec be a suitable option??

My flash is pointed up however it is aimed at a joe demb "flip it" to bounce my light onto my subjects. The reason I use the flip it is two fold. 1. It increases the "size" of my light just a bit which softens it (albeit not very much) 2. It places the light another few inches higher which gives me better shadow placement on faces.

Pic of my set up

That pic is posted on 3 out of 4 pages in this thread now :rofl:

davie rogue wrote in post #12497893
That pic is posted on 3 out of 4 pages in this thread now :rofl:

I'm trying to set a new record.

Wonderful info here

Nice work!

very nice shots. and thanks for the lighting 101 : )

jcolman wrote in post #12498144
I'm trying to set a new record.

I'll help get this thread to page five with a fairly useless quote+comment then