Flash at Wedding Parties

What is the best way to use your flash at wedding parties. If I want to take pics of people dancing what should my settings be on and what other lens should I add to my list?.
The venue will be dimly lit and I reckon there will be disco lighting.

I have a 5D, 24-70 2.8 and a 70-300 4.5 to 5.6 DO IS,Speedlite 580x.
Thanks

There's a ton of options with your current gear, but there's not really one answer.

For one, if the ceiling is white (or gray) you could simply pop it on the hot shoe and bounce it. Something like ISO 800, f/2.8 and 1/60th on manual mode will probably give you an ambient exposure of 1 - 2 stops underexposed. Your flash on TTL will take care of the rest.

However, if the room has mostly tungsten lights, you might want to slap a 1/2 to 3/4 CTO gel on the flash, so you avoid the orange of the lights.

If you shoot in vertical mode a lot, consider a flash bracket that can flip between horizontal and vertical, this will make it much easier.

At the last wedding I did, I put two flashes on small stands (or on top of stuff) in opposite ends of the room and used radiotriggers. Both flashes bounced towards the middle but didn't light the ceiling in the middle of the middle of the room (because it would look ugly in the frame).
I alternated and combined this technique with another flash on low power that I just held high with my left hand.

You could also rent a second flash and use that as a slave to give some extra light from the side.

Eitherway, if you're unfamilliar with using multiple flashes, or off camera flash, I'd go with the bounced flash, but in case you run into a venue with something like a red/black/wooden ceiling, it's nice to have a backup plan.

This is a huge question and there is so much info on the web that is available for free for you.

Go to YouTube and do a search on Sly Arena. There is a nearly two hour video on there with him talking about Canon flashes. To get you started this is a great video.

The OneLight Workshop by Zack Arias would be a good to buy.

Definitely do not use direct flash.
Bounce it, use a modifier, etc. I'm not a big fan of straight overhead bounce, but modifying the light will help. Experiment!
The 24-70 should serve you well for these shots. If it's lit the way you describe, I would probably shoot around ISO 800 in manual mode 1/60 f4.0 for starters. Again, experiment! I agree with the use of a gel on your flash, and do it all the time.
Good luck!

direct flash is ok, as long as it's not on-axis (at least that's my preference)...
I always prefer to bounce, but sometimes that's not an option - picture an outdoor wedding reception late in the evening

Post #2 Tim discusses his method. Just click on "How I photograph wedding receptions"

https://photography-on-the.net …ght=how+to+ligh​t+weddings

If I didn't have my OCF set-up, and I only had one 580EX, I would buy a Rogue Flash Bender, I think they're $40. They provide a decent quality of light, much softer IMO. You can also pick up a really cheap trigger system from Pixel and actually get that 580EX off your camera and into a 16/24 inch softbox. The cheap Chinese triggers, softbox, stand, and bracket could cost as little as $150-$300 depending on who you buy from. This isn't the "best" solution, but for the money you can get started with something that will look totally different from on-camera lighting, in fact, far superior.

TweakMDS wrote in post #13742078
For one, if the ceiling is white (or gray) you could simply pop it on the hot shoe and bounce it. Something like ISO 800, f/2.8 and 1/60th on manual mode will probably give you an ambient exposure of 1 - 2 stops underexposed. Your flash on TTL will take care of the rest.

It sounds like you're not a pro and do not aspire to be one; you're going to a wedding and want to take nice pictures with some pretty nice gear.

With that in mind, I would keep your approach fairly simple and guide you towards TweakMDS' first suggestion:
- Camera in M
- Meter so that it records the ambient 1-2 stops dark
- Flash in ETTL
- Bounce off the ceiling if possible

The only think I would add is to use a bounce card. No need to drop $'s on the commercial ones; I shoot with a 5x7 sheet of styrene velcro'ed onto my flash. Bouncing is great, but you also want to be able to direct some of the light forward.

A couple more things you might want to consider. I see you're using a 5D. On your LCD screen, scroll down until you see the Custom Functions menu. From there, go to Custom Function #14, and make sure you set it to Average (the default is Evaluative); this makes for much better flash readings in dark rooms. (there's been some debate about that, on this forum, but after having shot 100+ weddings with a 5D and an on-camera flash, I can tell you that using the Average mode is excellent for indoor shooting!).

Secondly, about bouncing your flash. Yes, bounce flash is much better light than direct flash. However, if you'll be bouncing it off walls/ceilings that aren't white, you will get a color cast. This is when you might want to get some kind of bounce card. Even rotating the flash head so it points up at a 60 degree angle, in combination with the small bounce card that pops out of the 580EX units, is better than bouncing the flash off the wall behind you if that wall is dark brown.

The disco lights sound kind of cool, actually. You might try setting your 5D to Tv mode, around 1/20th of a second, and dialing down your flash by 1 stop. This will make for some interesting lighting as the ambient light from the disco ball (or whatever) combines with the light from your flash. For example,
here's a trick you can try when you're shooting the dancing and you feel like you've exhausted all the standard shots:

Again, set your 5D to Tv mode at 1/20th of a second. Put on your 24-70. Make sure your flash is on (bounce it if you can, even if it's just bouncing against the bounce card attached to the speedlight). Compose your shot with your lens at 24mm. At the exact same time as you push the shutter button, zoom the lens all the way to 70mm. Look at the resulting image on your LCD screen and you'll see what I'm talking about. You can play around with the settings after that first shot, to get it just the way you want it.

This is kind of what I was talking about, albeit in broad daylight.

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I second the suggestion to get a rogue flashbender (or another brand of bounce card). Bounce most of the flash, but use the bounce card to bring a little light into their eyes to avoid raccoon shadowing.

Peacefield wrote in post #13807081
- Camera in M
- Meter so that it records the ambient 1-2 stops dark
- Flash in ETTL
- Bounce off the ceiling if possible

This.

gonzogolf wrote in post #13812792
I second the suggestion to get a rogue flashbender (or another brand of bounce card). Bounce most of the flash, but use the bounce card to bring a little light into their eyes to avoid raccoon shadowing.

The flash bender is a great solution. Keep it simple