Ring Flash or Bracket for Wedding?

Hi all;

I have a question that may have been answered before but I couldn't come up with much during a search.

In wedding (or event) photography, we often just use our 660RT's on camera (or off camera if we have time and room for carefully placed shots).

The issue is when we're moving around a lot. One thing that I cannot stand is the portrait "side lighting" that one produces with a flash that has no bracket, BUT I also hate flash brackets ...I know I really can't have it both ways, but I am trying to look for a reasonable idea.

1. Would a ring flash be pretty good for a wedding. I have seen shots that look pretty good. I know the lighting is flat, but the shadow detail can be cool, and if the exposure is set well, you can possibly modulate the ring flash effect as a fill light while still getting those shadows around faces.

Do you guys agree with the above statement? If so, what ring flash would you recommend for this purpose?

2. If not a ring flash, I would use a flash bracket as long as it's not huge and clunky. I have 2 cameras and so does my partner, so they would have to be small enough to sit on a Spider hip holster and still be able to rotate well.

I have never used a flash bracket and the market has TONS of them, so it's hard making the right decision on that.

So looking for recommendations on this. And thanks to everyone for providing great advice over the years!! I really appreciate this site.

Thanks in advance!
~T

I've personally never used a ring flash for a wedding or any event but I do frequently use a bracket. The bracket I use is a "Custom Brackets" brand. It is clunky (but I've gotten comfortable with it). The advantage to using a bracket is that it's easy to turn the flash head for bounce flash if desired (and I use bounce flash very frequently). That's not something that can be easily done with a ring flash.

Wow, this is a bit of a flashback, if you'll excuse the pun. Side shadow is not acceptable from a professional photographer IMHO, so good that you're thinking about this.

Back in the data where the 10D / 20D / and to a lesser extent the 5D Mk1 were king, we used flash brackets. Clunky things they were, but effective. The shadows usually falls behind the subject.

These days high ISO performance is so good that we don't bother with them at all - I don't even know if I still have one. Bounce your flash off something like a ceiling, wall, or have someone with an off camera flash in a hand holdable soft box.

I wouldn't use a ring flash. You'll get small shadows and harsh light.

Wow, a post from someone about using a flash bracket with digital camera...almost unheard of any more!

Here is a shot of an older Canon dSLR (shot many years ago) with a Newton Camera Bracket, which puts the flash directly above the lens axis to avoid side shadow. Two photos showing that this relationship to lens axis is maintained regardless of camera being used in Portrait vs. Landscape format.

Never used a ring flash for wedding work. I used to use a bracket years back but not any more. Higher acceptable ISO speeds allow for easy bounce. I will often use a Stofen diffuser on my 600-RT flash. Sometimes I will put the RT transmitter in my flash shoe and move the flash over my head or to side as required (cordless). All depends on ambient light and venue.

I would go with a bracket. For me the ring flash give strange looking catchlights.

Yes, we ended up going with the large stand ring flash...throws very cool light onto the subject with a large circle catch-light, not the pin light catch-light you get from hand handheld or lens mounted ring light.. GF uses it for selfies on a FB clothing group and I use it to basically go "lazy" on lighting when I cant a cool shot of her or the kids