Reception shots, CC please

Went to a reception as a guest and took the 35L with me. Basic LR processing on these. CC appreciated. Also curious how the white balance and exposure looks. I just calibrated my monitor with the eye one 2.

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Yeah, inside lighting is tough. You almost always have to have a good flash strategy. I started shooting pro and I've decided I have to use a bracket no matter what I shoot indoors. It helps. I can shoot at 1/200 faster, depending on the conditions and that way, there's more sharp focus and less blur. Your last shot was at 1/80 for speed and that's too slow for dancing. But as a guest, these are very nice. Congrats!

how does a bracket help you shoot faster shutter speeds?

It doesn't, just that the light is higher to avoid shadows. I should have clarified above, but I will here. Brackets are not required, but as I've done my share of indoor events photography, I find the bracket useful. It's not required. I shoot in manual and do many test shots before an event. The best way to shoot at a reception is to have off camera flash, actually, way up high in several locations. That is not available most of the time. With some of the new flashes, you can shoot faster speeds with a few adjustments.

SuzyView wrote in post #11065595
Yeah, inside lighting is tough. You almost always have to have a good flash strategy. I started shooting pro and I've decided I have to use a bracket no matter what I shoot indoors. It helps. I can shoot at 1/200 faster, depending on the conditions and that way, there's more sharp focus and less blur. Your last shot was at 1/80 for speed and that's too slow for dancing. But as a guest, these are very nice. Congrats!

Thanks for the comments. Yeah, I had no flash strategy. I hardly used the flash at all at the reception. I was enjoying the reception and too most of the shots from my seat. The official photog didn't use a bracket, but was carrying a speedlight around with off shoe cord all night. That must of been tiring to do all night. That seemed a little inconvenient.

I've seen it as well. Most of the time, we can get away with setting up a tall stand with off camera on 2 of 3 walls or corners. That takes care of a lot, but it's not too safe or convenient as changing batteries for instance can get tricky. But I like the Custom Bracket with my 5D2 and 24-70. It's been useful this summer and I have to admit, I don't feel as weird as carrying an off shoe cord with a speedlight attached the way you described. The bracket set up is heavy, but I'm used to it now.

These are great shots from a guest perspective, well done. Reception lighting is a pain in the rear. That's one hell of a cake!

Really nice considering that you did not use any off camera lighting.