Open air,evening hours,sh***y LED lightning

Hi all,
There's a local band having their second funk/jazz performance tomorrow evening.The guys (4 of them) are playing in open air,w/ some 2x4 modest LED stage lights (not sure why it's this way,maybe they wanted to keep it "intimate" and have just the minimal lightning for reading the scores).However,the available light is awful.
I asked them if a possible use of flashes would disturbe them...they said "no,just go with whatever makes the photos usable".
Glass lineup :Canon 70-200L f/2.8,Tamron 28-75 f/2.8,Canon 50 f/1.4,Canon 85L f/1.2,Canon 100L f/2.0
Also,I have 3 Speedlites (Canons' 580) on hand w/radio triggers wich I'd gladly put on use.
Questions:
1.How to place the Speedlights? (geometry vs/ the stage)
I also have some 4-meters light stands,usable or not?
2.Bare flashes or umbrellas (reflective,shoot-through)?
I also have some umbrellas to choose from but I'd not want to transform the concert into a circus (however,weather report says "no wind" so no worry about that).
Any idea/advice heartly appreciated.
TIA!
Regards,

others here may have more hands-on experience with speedlites at a concert, but if it were me, i'd be looking at doing something like the following:

- strobe mounted stage left, near front of stage (using a justin clamp or stand)
- strobe mounted stage right, near front of stage (using a justin clamp or stand)
- one of these two strobes at half-the-power of the other, so you have a primary source coming from one side and a bit of fill from the other. I'd then position myself primarily on the darker side and shoot from there (short side lighting versus broad side). Of course, move around if you can, but that i snot always possible.
- flag both of the bare-bulb strobes on the audience side so that the audience cannot see the light source and is therefore not as disturbed by the flash, and all light is directed onto the stage, straight at the musicians and back to the drummer (or rear musicians if any).
- keep your ISO still fairly high (800 perhaps) so that the flashes don't have to output as much (easier on the band and the speedlites), and can also recycle faster (easier on you).
- shoot at or near wide open to increase the effectiveness of the flash output.
- if needed, use your 3rd strobe on-camera for its focus-assist-beam only, with the flash-firing turned off (it might be too dark to focus easily otherwise).
-
I think this setup would add some interesting, dramatic, off-angle lighting, yet overall retain a dark atmosphere that reflects the actual experience.

Just some thoughts... good luck. Will be interesting to see the results, so please come back and share.

Pfft, flash umbrellas would be a great distraction to the audience who have PAID to get in.

I would never use flash unless I was really sure on my flash photography, at the moment I am going around small clubs again to learn this aspect that I am seriously lacking. I used to put them on ETTL, until a couple of months ago. I put my flash on Manual with levels so low it doesn't appear to make much difference to the composition. If that is the case I then put it up to 1/64th of Manual power. I tend to see a lot of noobs in the flash photography tending to put their Manual mode on full power, leading me to cringe on how annoying that must be to both musicians and audience

Second the "no umbrella" bit. And the "sure on flash photography". You won't have time to mess around
Use high ISO, low (manual) flash power and a reliable radio trigger. You might want to use on camera flash (set to ETTL) for fill.

I do this when shooting DJ's or audiences sometimes: https://photography-on-the.net …hlight=flash#po​st14495382


Here's another thread: https://photography-on-the.net …t=off+camera#po​st12685430

For this image I used three external flashes. Two at the front of the stage pointing to the middle of the stage and a third behind the stage left pointing to the drummer/center of stage. Some color gels on them (blue, red). This photo was shot with a slow shutter to fill in some ambient too:

You can see the one behind the band in this photo and guess the one on the right.

Nice