Lighting a church

<p>I got a nice tax return so I want to give back to my church. We do a lot of events where we need photography, but we do not have any studio lights. I read on Strobist that major league basketball and hockey photographers hang lights from the rafters and fire them with radio triggers. I was wanting some ideas about hanging 2 Alien Bees B1600 from our church rafters. I would guess that are ceiling is about 25-30ft. tall. We already have stage lights hanging, so it wouldn't look bad (we have a non-traditional church, it is more like a auditorium). Anyway, what are your thoughts? Would the Bees be enough power to light the entire stage? The stage is about 20-25 feet long by 10-15 feet deep, plus some stairs.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>Hmmm. I believe the AB1600 are sufficiently powerful enough for lighting the stage, but there might be an issue in facial lighting from that height. Stage lighting is one thing, but photo strobe lighting from that far above may lead to darkened eye sockets (the dreaded 'coon eyes). Having the flexibility of moving the monolights around should be the dominant consideration.</p>

<p>That's going to be a challenge for 2 strobes with the width of the stage. Plus with the ceiling so high, you could be getting lots of dark shadows going down the faces from the lights. They seem to have the power but If you set them 15-20 feet apart I would expect some darkness/shadows in the center and if too close together, darker around the sides. You might try 2 but I would get 3 transmitters when you buy the radio wireless set. That way you could add a 3rd light lower down, at eye level. to fill the center and the shadows if you need it for larger groups or find the middle area of the stage isn't bright enough.</p>

<p>Another option could be those construction Halogen lights. There would be no flash control and they do get hot but you could afford more of them to fill the width, depth and fill in shadows. Then just White Balance the camera to the lights and shoot. Is flash really required to stop action or could this work if the light was bright enough to allow higher shutter speeds? Would the people on the stage prefer lights pointed at them that stay on or flashes firing during an event? I'm wondering if a powerful pair (or more) set of flashes pointed at them would disturb the event more than the constant light that the people's eyes would adjust to.</p>

<p>The halogen light would require White Balancing as they are around 3200K (warmer looking) vs a typical flash output of 5200K (Cooler Daytime sunshine equivalent)</p>

<p>I would second the above comments about the angle and the potential downside of harsh lighting for photography under those circumstances. Another consideration is how hot those lights would get being that near the ceiling--I would go the extra money and get the X-1600 from White Lightning and have them set them at the factory to have the cooling fans run continuously so that you don't fry the circuits when the lights are on for a long time or are used for a lot of flashes in a row. </p>

<p>Maybe I'm wrong but I would imagine that those construction lights wouldn't be as good as the stage lights that they already have, partially because their light isn't particularly well focused for the longer distance that's probably involved. They are however cheap for the amount of light they provide. Peter may have a point that some people may have issues with powerful flashes being used during services/performances. Maybe some boost to continuous lighting might be good too so the flashes can be used with less power and aren't so disturbing.</p>

<p>What if I had the ability to turn on and off the B1600 so they are not on all the time? How do they do this for the pros?</p>

<p>If you have a K20D you should do test shots of the existing stage light (which presumably works during services) at iso 800 or 1600...rather than flash. 1600 color can be printed beautifully to well over 11X17. Film and lesser DSLRs are another story, of course.</p>

<p>Check the Strobist.com archives or DVD set...somewhere a pair of AAA strobes light an entire basketball court.</p>

<p>AB1600s make slow strobe exposures, like 1/900th or slower. If stopping action is important, strobist-type strobes (such as a few Vivitar 285HV) would be more effective because they work at around 1/10,00th. I use Skyports with mine but have not lit a big space with them yet.</p>

<p>Dan, If you already have a lighting pipe install or permanent truss a few simple fixtures or lenses and gels might offer a great and cost effective solution. What kind of lights are presently installed? What dimming system are they connected to? If there are Lekos (Source 4 or a similar variant) already installed there's a good chance that they have 26 degree lenses for key lighting, swapping the lenses for 50 degrees will provide a reasonable stage wash with 4 lekos. You can put color-corrected gels in gel holders to correct them for camera (video or still). The real challenge after that is to eliminate shadows with some back light. Is there a back truss / lighting pipe installed? Does your church have some Par Cans that can be flown from the rear? If so are they 1K par 64's, 500W Par 56, or something smaller like 200W Par 46's. Another two 50 Degree Lekos would do nicely as well. This type of set up would also offer an ideal set up for video. Please give us a little more information if possible. Depending on your churches current lighting equipment it may be possible to adjust existing assets to achieve the desired result. Just buzz along a little more info....</p>

<p>...also note that big sporting events are lit with battery-operated strobist-type lights as often as not...Canon & especially Nikon. I doubt anybody uses bulky AC-operated 650ws stuff (AB1600s).</p>

<p>I'd be tempted to throw a pair of AB1600's up on the lighting trapeze with the biggest shoot-through available. It can't cause more shadows than the existing lights. Gel CTO to match the existing incandecents and you'll have every wedding photographer in town recommending your venue.</p>

<p>" It can't cause more shadows than the existing lights." ..um...not true, assuming the existing lights are set up reasonably well in the first place. In addition, the most massive conceivable shoot-through becomes a tiny, specular light source when it's set up at a distance. A "soft light" becomes increasingly harsh as distance increases...as we all know.</p>

<blockquote>In addition, the most massive conceivable shoot-through becomes a tiny, specular light source when it's set up at a distance.</blockquote>

<p>This is true, but the reason I said shoot-through, not softbox or silver umbrella is that the backscatter and room bounce contributes significantly to the image when you use a shoot-through indoors.</p>

<p>Dan, what kinds of events are you talking about shooting? </p>

<p>Being 1/2 theatre kid and 1/2 photographer, my initial thought would be to donate a few really good quality lekos that you can aim/place where you need them for each event, and then supplement that with your trusty old flash gun.</p>