High Ceiling, low light plus a question about program mode

Ok, so lets step back to last week.

I bumped into another wedding photographer at a hotel and he was taking a formal shot indoors, bouncing his flash whilst in program mode.

He saids he uses it for most of his shots...whereas I use manual..or try to, but AV for times when the lighting continuously changes.

Fast forward to this week, I have a wedding tomorrow and some of the formals (the group is only 10 people) concern me. The indoor formals are in a room where the ceiling height is 30ft (10metre dome). I currently only use on camera flash and I'm a bit lost as to what to do in this respect.

Based on another shot I saw taken in similar circumstance the exif stated they use F/3.5 ISO 1600 at 1/15sec on a 450D without flash.

I want to be at 1/60 at least so intend to go to 2.8 with ISO1600.
If I need to use flash I may try program mode for the indoor shots.

What are everybodies thoughts on this?

P might work, might not too. Use manual on the camera, expose for your background, then use flash for the subjects. You might be able to bounce, zoom the flash head to 105mm and use a battery pack.

F2.8 isn't enough for group photos, F4 would be a minimum and F8 would be better if you have more than one row of people. Personally i'd bounce two AB800s off the ceiling at full power, or put them on light stands up high pointing down through umbrellas.

I agree not 2.8 for groups, stick the camera and flash on manual. Expose for the ambiant light and bounce the flash, if too dark increase the power of the flash. Should come out with reasonable results.

I always shoot groups at 5.6.

Well oddly enough I was using flash in the room with the low ceiling...it was much darker.
I didn't have to use it in the main room...I used ISO 3200 but the images came out great and less unpredictable.

Program mode was used for some of the formals and the first room. The flash was stopped down to suit. I need to understand program mode a bit more.

Just need to work on my composure now:

IMAGE IS A REDIRECT OR MISSING! HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

Your composition is fine in this image.

I'm not so sure about the trash dumpster though. Each time I look at it I hate it, like it, hate it, like it...

The bottom line is the couple knows exactly what's next to them so they approve I'm sure.

I hope we don't see you on the news...

Shockey wrote in post #10303150
I hope we don't see you on the news...

Me neither, in the bad sense I mean.

We walked past it and they said why not then changed their mind.
I managed to coerce them into doing so and all the other wedding guests were over the moon about it.

It was one of those weddings where the general attitude amongst the group was warm and welcoming.

A good day, today.

LOL

Gel wrote in post #10302723
Well oddly enough I was using flash in the room with the low ceiling...it was much darker.
I didn't have to use it in the main room...I used ISO 3200 but the images came out great and less unpredictable.

Program mode was used for some of the formals and the first room. The flash was stopped down to suit. I need to understand program mode a bit more.

Just need to work on my composure now:

I would say you need to understand exposure better, rather than understand program mode. ISO3200 is fine, but I prefer not to use it for all the images, especially since it's often coupled with slow shutter speeds.

You can't stop down a flash. You stop down a lens, which refers to the aperture blades inside it. Flash power could be said to be dialed down I guess. It's just language, but you might as well know it so if you talk to photographers you know the lingo.

Best posing tip: make sure people are comfortable.

tim wrote in post #10304106
You can't stop down a flash. You stop down a lens, which refers to the aperture blades inside it. Flash power could be said to be dialed down I guess. It's just language, but you might as well know it so if you talk to photographers you know the lingo.

Best posing tip: make sure people are comfortable.

I was using -2 to -3 EV on the flash itself. I didn't want to go crazy with the setting on program mode. If anything they were limiting due to the flash being on as I was stuck with the shutter at a max of 1/200 sec.

I think I need more understanding of the whole flash and TTL concept. I was finding even in program mode that I could be too close to the couple with the flash (even bounced and dialled down to -3 EV). Program mode wouldn't give me much freedom with the shutter speed / aperture due to the flash. Capturing ambient light by bumping the ISO up worked well though.

With the ISO3200 I was at 1/100sec. The ambient light was jjust enough to get away with it, flash took more away from the picture than it added.

Part of me was wondering does TTL actually do it's job when you bounce?

Gel wrote in post #10305873
I was using -2 to -3 EV on the flash itself. I didn't want to go crazy with the setting on program mode. If anything they were limiting due to the flash being on as I was stuck with the shutter at a max of 1/200 sec.

I think I need more understanding of the whole flash and TTL concept. I was finding even in program mode that I could be too close to the couple with the flash (even bounced and dialled down to -3 EV). Program mode wouldn't give me much freedom with the shutter speed / aperture due to the flash. Capturing ambient light by bumping the ISO up worked well though.

With the ISO3200 I was at 1/100sec. The ambient light was jjust enough to get away with it, flash took more away from the picture than it added.

Part of me was wondering does TTL actually do it's job when you bounce?

Read the book understanding exposure. It doesn't cover flash, but once you understand ambient exposure well flash exposure will be easier.

TTL stands for through the lens, no matter what direction you point the flash it works, so long as the flash has enough power. Higher ISO makes this easier, but also increases how much ambient light is in the image. Shutter speed cuts ambient light but doesn't affect flash, as long as you stay at your sync speed or lower - 1/250th or 1/200th, depending on your camera. Above that it works but because of how FP mode flash/high speed sync works you lose a lot of power. The sticky threads on flash in the lighting forum would help you out a lot.

Well executed flash looks better than most ambient light, unless you're lucky or position people well.