How I photograph receptions

Wedding receptions are often very, very dark places, i've seen receptions with ambient light levels that need ISO3200/F2.8/0.5sec to expose correctly! Even with a modern camera and fast primes with ISO6400 and F1.4 you'd need 1/16th, which personally I find too slow because of camera shake and subject movement. The quality of light isn't always very flattering, with a mix of candles, tungsten bulbs, and fluorescent lights. Because of that I choose to light most receptions, overpowering the ambient light, though sometimes I set up to enhance it using gels and lower powers. Beware that a cto gel to match tungsten can lose a stop of power. If you want to take an ambient shot to show the atmosphere it's easy to flick back to Av mode and ramp up the ISO to try to get a decent shot.

I typically use two Canon Speedlites (550/580) on these stands, with Canon CP-E4 battery packs to cut recycle time by 2/3. The lights are triggered by Skyports, with locking PC cords from www.flashzebra.com so I can have a flash on the hotshoe as well. I use this cord to connect the skyports to the flashes, and this bracket to connect the flash to the stands. I used to use Sunpak flashes, but they didn't recharge quickly enough for me, and with a home made battery pack one of them almost caught fire at a reception, so I switched to all Canon for performance and reliability.

If the venue has white ceilings I usually use between 1/4 and 1/2 power on the flashes, which gets me ISO400-800, F2.8 - F4.5, depending on the venue. If the ceilings aren't white I point the flashes directly at the head table, usually at around 1/16th or 1/32nd power, which gives me ISO400 F5.6 or so.

As a quick aside - for location lighting I use a Morris Soft Box which is about 20", with the speedlite, battery pack, and skyport mentioned above. My assistant holds it, it's quite light.

Here's a few examples.

#1 - this shows the setup

tim wrote in post #7323354
On camera speedlite fill, skyports triggering speedlites fed by CP-E4's. Flash on camera not always turned on. Speedlites on stands between 1/4 and 1/2 depending how I feel on the day. Lights on stands pointing at ceiling if it's white, otherwise pointing directly at the head table on 1/32nd or so. I usually get ISO400 F4, more or less.

pretty cool image!!

Thanks for the example Tim. Looks nice and bright.

How do you trigger the Skyports if you have a flash on your camera hotshoe? Where do you have the Skyport trigger connected to fire the remote flashes? Do you use the 2.5mm sync port on the transmitter?

If I were doing the same thing I would hide a low bare flash behind the table too if there's room, and set it at low power, just to give an edge light.

Most places I've been to don't have such conveniently low, white ceilings.

I'm glad you posted this because I've heard of a few people saying the don't use on camera flash for receptions at all, just a few strobes perpetually pointed at the ceiling. My question, though, is how do you adapt to the ongoing event? The dancing, people at the tables, etc. Do you move them around all night? Do you use them just for head table shots?

Probably moves the stands. I would (and do) if needed. I use anywhere from 3-5 off camera flashes now for wedding receptions. I almost always want a kicker edge/rim light and a good fill light somewhere, especially for the dance floor.

I want to try something like this! Not sure it'll work that well with canons wireless triggering though.

rammy wrote in post #7323612
Thanks for the example Tim. Looks nice and bright.

How do you trigger the Skyports if you have a flash on your camera hotshoe? Where do you have the Skyport trigger connected to fire the remote flashes? Do you use the 2.5mm sync port on the transmitter?

I have a speedlite on the hotshoe, and the skyport transmitter is velcro'd to the flash head and connected to the camera's sync port. Yep I use the little sync port on the transmitter.

form wrote in post #7323799
If I were doing the same thing I would hide a low bare flash behind the table too if there's room, and set it at low power, just to give an edge light.

Most places I've been to don't have such conveniently low, white ceilings.

I'd say about 1/2 of the reception halls I photograph in have white ceilings. For the ones that don't I shoot the flashes direct at much lower power.

I could have hidden the stands, or I could photoshop out the light stands, but I don't see a big need.

Peacefield wrote in post #7324973
I'm glad you posted this because I've heard of a few people saying the don't use on camera flash for receptions at all, just a few strobes perpetually pointed at the ceiling. My question, though, is how do you adapt to the ongoing event? The dancing, people at the tables, etc. Do you move them around all night? Do you use them just for head table shots?

I move the lights whenever I need to. As they are they light the front half of the hall fine. I have the on camera speedlite if I need to light other places.

photagraph wrote in post #7326121
I want to try something like this! Not sure it'll work that well with canons wireless triggering though.

Nope, it'll be unreliable. You need skyports, pocket wizards, or the alien bee ones.

Thanks for posting this Tim!

That looks like a perfect location for off camera lighting. Lately the locations I have had are not so perfect.

Radiopoppers are a great option for those of us in civilized nations

They're coming to NZ very soon!! Eagerly awaiting

I have no desire for radio poppers. In this situation having a consistent amount of light means all my shots come out the same brightness, and need exactly the same post processing. Using ETTL they're all going to come out different and would need to be processed individually, by hand. That slows my workflow down a LOT.

Also using ETTL you do occasionally get some weird results. In long grass the other weekend I had 95% good exposures, but 5% were two stops overexposed with the same framing. I have no idea why.

I use manual flash more than I use ETTL now, I just like the consistency. Of course I have an assistant manning the flash when we're doing an interactive session, by myself it'd probably be too time consuming.

Tim- I have a 580EX and 4 430's, what could you do with this set up..with all 430's on stands? Be CREATIVE>

Assuming you're using the built-in infrared, I would put them really close to you at all times and pray the triggering system works.

Creatively I might try a triangle or square pattern and point them from the corners/edges into the middle of the room, all raised and pointing downward, all with umbrellas/brollies. The 580EX would then fill wherever needed.