Advice needed , on lighting an event tomorrow

tomorrow is the reception for my nieces baptism..

I'll be playing the photographer (as well as godfather)

This is the location , http://villarussocater​ing.com/gallery/palace​-room/

cameras are a7sii w/16-35 f4 and A6500 w/55 f1.8 .. will be using flashpoint zoom li on R2 on camera..
also wanted to bring a pair of flashpoint 360ii ttl lights ..

I haven't been to the location , but it appears to be a big room there and I don't expect these three lights to cover everything but i'll see how I set up the 360's if at all .. maybe only for important moments ..

The Main Concern I have is the fabric or whatever on the ceiling .. will that affect how light bounces ? absorbed?

well anyway i'm not very experienced with event photography , atlesast not bigger locations like this.. any advice at all would be appreciated..

All the ambient looks like incandescent, do you have any color correction gels?

crap !!
not exactly ,, didn't even think of that
I have a pack of rosco calcolor kit 12x12 sheets .. could that help?

this here --https://www.adorama.co​m/rocalkit.html

Need a second shooter?

Good luck with the event

Typically one would use something like a 1/4 CTO.

If you put a 1/2 yellow and half red together you can get there somehow. Typically yellow and magenta make a better orange. I'd suggest starting by putting some combination over a speedlight and try to come up with a ratio that is close to incandescent. If you start with 50/50, turn the speedlight towards a white/neutral source to bounce off then point your camera near a light bulb. You can get in the neighborhood.

Once you have a ratio in mind you can make a plan of attack for gelling the speedlight and 360s.

I would definitely plan to bounce the 360s from the upper level pointed to the center of the ceiling. The fabric is sheer and will provide nice soft light below. An on camera speedlight ETTL with negative FEC pointed at the subjects will provide fill.

Oh, there is magenta too. I need dinner.

50/50 should prove to be very close.

1/2 is strong, (full/1 once you layer them) you can use a hole punch to cut coverage a bit, since the 360s will be bounced the colors will blend by the time they reache the floor.

Speedlight is a different story.

Thanks .. all your input is really appreciated.. am going to get there a little before even starts and mess about with the gels see if I can get something going...
otherwise . all pics will end up being black and white

well it is what it is will do the best I can
thanks again

.. if it was house party style situation and I could say come on over I would ..

Thanks .. ill make the best with my limited event photo experience

Put the 360II units in opposite corners on TTL,
Put the speedlite on camera as master with each 360 in its own group.
Aim the on-camera speedlite over your shoulder as directional bounce fill.

Select Auto ISO, shutter speed high enough to minimize camera movement, don't worry about people movement.
Fire away.

You're making this a lighting exercise. What your family want are pictures of the event with reasonably lit faces.

I generally have ambient exposure on M and about -.7 EV. Then let the off camera flash add light with one at -.3 EV and the other at 0EV. The on-camera bounced fill I have floating based on how much fill is needed to make the faces look good.

Click on my website link below if you want some examples. That's my default for events.

I agree with dmward, that's how I'd approach it.

You're doing the normal thing and way over-thinking it. A family even just needs well lit faces and some great moments captured. You don't need to go crazily creative with lighting or setups.

How did it go?

Well , in terms of lighting .. it went ok.. the 2 360's as i suspected werent quite enough , of course they helped but i had iso higher than i wanted and so the camera with speedlight attached faired a bit better one without did ok.. but pics a bit on darker side ..
Still a good experience, fun family time, lots of great pics

I eneded up not messing with gels just set it to awb.
I think for that particular location 4 360's would have worked nicely

The frustrating part was this was my first experience at an event without my previously owned 5d3 t4i combo..
And so adjusting to the sony pair of cameras was challenging and the slower AF was very evident .. some could have been user error im sure , but even back when i was a total complete noob at this with my canons ive never had so many OOF pics.. that being said , i beleive most of my issues were user error as i said , i am new to the sony system

Oh well still got some really great pics for the family and had a gr3at time ..

Thinking of picking up a 6d or 80d or something canon aside from my t4i

rantercsr wrote in post #18292440
Well , in terms of lighting .. it went ok.. the 2 360's as i suspected werent quite enough , of course they helped but i had iso higher than i wanted and so the camera with speedlight attached faired a bit better one without did ok.. but pics a bit on darker side ..
Still a good experience, fun family time, lots of great pics

I eneded up not messing with gels just set it to awb.
I think for that particular location 4 360's would have worked nicely

The frustrating part was this was my first experience at an event without my previously owned 5d3 t4i combo..
And so adjusting to the sony pair of cameras was challenging and the slower AF was very evident .. some could have been user error im sure , but even back when i was a total complete noob at this with my canons ive never had so many OOF pics.. that being said , i beleive most of my issues were user error as i said , i am new to the sony system

Oh well still got some really great pics for the family and had a gr3at time ..

Thinking of picking up a 6d or 80d or something canon aside from my t4i

What were your camera settings?
I shoot weddings with A7RII and either AD600, or AD360 in large venues. Along with V860II on camera to control the off camera lights along with on camera fill.
I've found that what works best is to set the ISO to auto and then use M for camera settings. Keeping the ambient about -.7 EV.
One off camera light is TTL +0 EV and the other is TTL +.7EV. That works well to provide some side/kicker lighting.

I've used versions of this approach for years with Speedlites as well as strobes. Speedlites are really enough in all but the largest and darkest venues.

If your images are underexposed I suspect that you were trying to use too low an ISO.

With A7RII 3200/6400 are quite acceptable.

dmward wrote in post #18292798
What were your camera settings?
I shoot weddings with A7RII and either AD600, or AD360 in large venues. Along with V860II on camera to control the off camera lights along with on camera fill.
I've found that what works best is to set the ISO to auto and then use M for camera settings. Keeping the ambient about -.7 EV.
One off camera light is TTL +0 EV and the other is TTL +.7EV. That works well to provide some side/kicker lighting.

I've used versions of this approach for years with Speedlites as well as strobes. Speedlites are really enough in all but the largest and darkest venues.

If your images are underexposed I suspect that you were trying to use too low an ISO.

With A7RII 3200/6400 are quite acceptable.

Your points are good but the OP's principal issue was the amount of OOF shots.

dmward wrote in post #18292798
What were your camera settings?
I shoot weddings with A7RII and either AD600, or AD360 in large venues. Along with V860II on camera to control the off camera lights along with on camera fill.
I've found that what works best is to set the ISO to auto and then use M for camera settings. Keeping the ambient about -.7 EV.
One off camera light is TTL +0 EV and the other is TTL +.7EV. That works well to provide some side/kicker lighting.

I've used versions of this approach for years with Speedlites as well as strobes. Speedlites are really enough in all but the largest and darkest venues.

If your images are underexposed I suspect that you were trying to use too low an ISO.

With A7RII 3200/6400 are quite acceptable.

Thanks for this advice.. I should have paid closer attention the first time you laid it out.. truth be told when I read auto iso .. I just felt

but as it turns out my method failed ,

I am going to mess around with your advice here at home and try to recreate the lighting situation as best as possible.. not quite the same I know.. but better than nothing

you are correct , as I sift through my pics from a7sii and a6500, and I look at the numbers , I was trying too hard to keep iso down..

and I believe that is why so many oof shots ,, cameras were hunting like crazy as the meters were sometimes hitting -2
I realized this and mad some minor iso adjustments but I don't think I did enough
a few other settings I have looked into that some other forum memebers suggested so that the camera wont fire unless focus is acquired as well

so yeah.. pretty much it appears lots of user error here!!
live and learn ..