Chruch Wedding Lighting

[randy_kurtz]

Hello, I am in the market to buy lighting for for church wedding

photos. I have 20d body,17-40mm , 50mm 1.4 ,24-70mm, 70-200mm 2.8

lens,and 580ex.I love my 580ex do you think maybe two 550ex as

slaves with umbrellas? Whats the best for me? $1500 and under.

[gpb]

<p>When using the 550EX as slaves with umbrellas, you will have to be extremely careful

about light placement to ensure that the IR signal isn't blocked, otherwise the slaves may

not fire reliably. This can compromise your lighting setup. If you want to stick with the

small flashes, using Stofen Omni-Bounces will give you more flexibility in lighting

placement, and easier setup.

 

<p>Shameless plug for my site: you can read my <a href="http://irgth.com/

reviews/">reviews of

550ex and Stofen Omnibounces</a>.

 

<p>If you want to go the umbrella/soft box route (less flexible, but overall better lighting

in

most cases), I'd go with Pocket Wizard to trigger the slaves, as it is much more reliable.

I've rented ProFoto Acute stobes before and loved them, but that is way over your $1500

budget.

[wedding-photography-denver]

Consider the Alien bees. A 1600ws with a good stand and a 45" umbrella will do the job nicely and the light is consistent in its output. Add a vagabond battery for about 600+ shots on full power, and your bill will come to about >$850. Works well if you are able to set up lighting.

 

OTOH, I have used a couple of 550's on stands with 32" umbrellas, placed at about 4' apart (me in the middle) to good effect. I use an ST-E2 for the trigger in that case.

[kelvinphoto - arlington, t]

there no need to bring strobe, umbrella, etc.

 

since you use digital, one 580ex with omni bounce will do the trick. try to use natural lighting and use your 550ex as a fill. if you use as a main light with 550ex or any strobe, the wedding in the church will turn into a dark cave wedding. try to use iso between 800-1600 depend on the light condition of the church. church is not a studio location. you have to compensate your flash with the available light to make the environment look as natural as you can.

 

The point here is to fill your flash by bouncing 45-90degree, use the right iso, shutter speed, and f stop to capture not only the foreground, but also the background.

 

practice make perfect!

[jeffc1]

With the 20D and nice lenses you have you really have no need for flash, just bump up the ISO a bit? I have the same equipment, and it's what I do. Unless, of course, the lighting is WAY low. Then I have 550EX's (3) with diffusers. What I do with them depends on the church and what I am shooting. I would forget umbrellas and use diffusers (Sto-Fen Omni Bounce) if I were you. They work great! They sell the flashes in kits for such use (B&H). Unless the wedding is going to wait on you moving your bulky umbrellas ;) Good luck.