How would you handle this venue?

I'm 2nd photog on Saturday and just got some info about the reception venue. It's going to be at the Artists for Humanitie's function room (the Epicenter) in Boston. I asked the main photographer if she could ask about what the lighting situation will be.

If there are colored lights, I'm not sure how to go about it. Gel my flashheads, I suppose? I don't have the lighting equipment to light the room myself - besides, I'm the 2nd photog and not the main one.

I still want to do a good job. There doesn't look to be much to bounce off of, either. I have a Lumiquest Promax 80/20 system collecting dust in my closet. Should I go with that?

Here are photos of the hall: http://afhboston.org/e​picenter_pastevents.ph​p

Gaff tape an index card to a speed light. Instant bounced flash.

I have the Lumiquest to bounce... unfortunately, that's still not a very large light source and not very directional.

I'm more worried about color.

If I were shooting here I would not gel the flash, i would set WB for flash and use a decent defuser (or even the index card idea) and shoot with low enough shutter speeds to bring the colors in the background lighting up while freezing your foreground (and lighting it properly) with flash. I have had good results with this in the past, just watch for errant highlights if they are using moving lighting.

I would not use any diffuser or any index cards or stuff like that as it increases the harshness of bounced flash

Instead, keep rotating and tilting your flash towards surfaces that are close enough to bounce off - looking at the photos:
- the black curtains
- white poles
- white curtains
- white ceiling
- exposed cross section of the white panel section that forms the floor of the top level level

You'll need to set your ISO very high (e.g. ISO 1600+) etc. and use a large aperture prime, and those surfaces will be more than sufficient.

It'd be critical to keep rotating your flashhead so that you're bouncing off an appropriate surface.

Finally, if you're struggling for flash power, move your subjects under the lower ceiling sections as much as possible to maximise the power you have available

smorter wrote in post #15603201
I would not use any diffuser or any index cards or stuff like that as it increases the harshness of bounced flash

Instead, keep rotating and tilting your flash towards surfaces that are close enough to bounce off - looking at the photos:
- the black curtains
- white poles
- white curtains
- white ceiling
- exposed cross section of the white panel section that forms the floor of the top level level

You'll need to set your ISO very high (e.g. ISO 1600+) etc. and use a large aperture prime, and those surfaces will be more than sufficient.

It'd be critical to keep rotating your flashhead so that you're bouncing off an appropriate surface.

Finally, if you're struggling for flash power, move your subjects under the lower ceiling sections as much as possible to maximise the power you have available

This ^^^^^ with a 1/2 or full CTO on the flash. I do it all the time and works like a charm.

What is your goal by putting gels on your lights? Are you attempting to neutralize the ambient?

Personally, when I have lighting like this I gel a 3/4 CTO. I don't want the lighting to be sterile. BUT, more importantly I want to match what my other shooters are doing. Since you are a second, check with the primary shooter and do what they do.

They had tons of purple accent lights all around for these. High ISO, large aperture and around 1/125th second to let in ambient light to capture the mood of the room but shooting about 1 1/2 to 2 stops under ambient and then bringing it back up with combinations of on and off camera flash.

One more with one camera bounced of ceiling for fill and two off camera cross lit. 1/2 or 3/4 CTO on all

My goal is simply to make sure the subjects look natural, but I hope to maintain ambiance through ambient.

Thanks everyone. A few questions:

• You can bounce off of black curtains?
  
• What happens when you bounce off a white wall that's been lit with purple lights? Does the bounced light carry with it some of the purple?
  

Nathan wrote in post #15603999
What happens when you bounce off a white wall that's been lit with purple lights? Does the bounced light carry with it some of the purple?

The short answer is: No. The bounced light is the bounced light, and the purple light is the purple light.

If you get a purple color cast on your subjects from a wall lit with purple lighting it is because you are allowing that ambient light in your photo. One way to avoid this is to meter your ambient exposure 1-2 stops underexposed. Then let the flash take care of the rest. When your bounced flash hits that white wall lit with purple lights it will vastly overpower the ambient light and will reflect back onto your subjects with the white flash light.

Remember that when using a flash there are actually 2 different exposures happening at the same time: Ambient exposure and Flash exposure. How you mix these two together determines your overall exposure. For most people, the flash exposure is handled by the camera by using TTL mode. You tell the camera how you want ambient, and it will adjust the flash power accordingly. You can get a decent exposure in a dark venue by using only natural ambient light and no flash. Or, if you had enough juice, you could take a picture outside in direct sun during the summer solstice using a flash and end up with an entirely black background. Just don't forget to remind your subject that the blindness is only temporary.

Hope this helps.

gh patriot wrote in post #15603336
They had tons of purple accent lights all around for these. High ISO, large aperture and around 1/125th second to let in ambient light to capture the mood of the room but shooting about 1 1/2 to 2 stops under ambient and then bringing it back up with combinations of on and off camera flash.

Strategy worked well.
When there is a choice of color, ambient color is room is what the Bride has chosen and accentuation of that in your images makes the important decision maker of the night, quit happy.