Lighting for Group Photo of everyone at a Reception

[www.withheart.ca]

ok here's the senario:

 

I've got a recption venue that has high ceilings and a balcony that over looks

everything. I'm planning to do a group picture of everyone at the reception

(about 100 people)from the balcony.

 

The lights in the room could prolly be turned up to full (they will be dimmed

otherwise). The oveall light in the room is bad with the lights on full anyway.

 

Anybody have any suggestions for the best way to light the group? I've got

four 500w/s strobe lights and two umbrellas. I also have a nikon sb-800 flash.

I'm humming and hawing over here on how to approach and would appreciate any

advice a experienced person could lend me. :)

 

THanks again!<div></div>

[www.withheart.ca]

Yikes I forgot to resize that image. I'll post a smaller one as soon as I can figure out how to :).<div></div>

[ned1]

How to light any ballroom: place a flash at each corner, up high, facing up toward where the ceiling and corners meet. These will act as giant umberullas. That's how Life magazine lit big events back in the 60's. The presence of the balcony may actually work against you here since the corners below it may be too low and the ones at the top will be partially blocked. This may not work but maybe you could point a flash into each corner up in the balcony and two at the ceiling from below the balcony to get some bounce.

[ned1]

Or maybe you could put an amber gel on the flashes, point them at the ceiling, and drag the shutter. At that distance 1/8 of a stop of movement won't matter much.

[ned1]

Sorry, read 1/8 second of movement. Good luck. Pick up a book on architectural lighting for some help.

[sandy_labana]

Sorry, I can't give you any suggestion but would like to know what you did and how the photos came out. Would really appreciate if you describe your experience. It is an interesting problem and comes up often. Good Luck. Sandy

[www.withheart.ca]

Will do Sandy! Good idea.

 

Also thanks to the gentleman who had the corners as large umbrellas idea. Interesting idea. Unfortunately I don't have six lights though ;). But maybe I could light the background that way and do something different with the foreground.

 

Hmmm...

[kelvinphoto - arlington, t]

You don't need strobe or a lot of light if you understand indoor lighting. The settings below will work any high ceiling or color wood or whatever you running into problem with your indoor lighting.<br>

 

The key to lighting to any indoor event is to set your camera setting to 0-1 stop of whatever the background reading is.<br>

 

<img src="http://www.kelvinphoto.com/customer/Dang_Nori/wedding/slides/kelvinphoto.com_292.jpg" />

[dave_yong]

HI Kelvin,

 

Great picture. You Said: The key to lighting to any indoor event is to set your camera setting to 0-1 stop of whatever the background reading is. Could you please elaborate some more? What i understand is you take a meter reading of the background and open up one stop. Seems to me that the light intensity in the background and in the front of the group are the same. Opening up one stop can overexpose the front?? I am confused..

[picturesque]

First of all, consult the below thread.

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00HYH3

 

Then, if you want to use your studio lights, set up two on either side of you/the camera, pointing down on the people below. Use the typical slight toe in toward the center (not too much) and feather the heads toward the farthest part of the group on the floor. Or bounce the two heads upward toward the ceiling in the classic bounce pattern (not into the corners). I would not use umbrellas in either case. Anything on the floor would be too low unless you had gigantic stands.

[www.withheart.ca]

Nadine thank you! I love it! I'm gonna try using my lumisphere and flash! Great idea. I just wasn't sure it would work.

[conraderb]

Michelle - if you can have the lights behind you somehow and pointing backward, I think that should be adequate to cast a powerful and soft spread of light.

 

of if you can't get them behind you (since you are on the balcony), have the lights on the lower level pointing back against the wall so that the light will bounce off the wall and toward the crowd.

 

I assume you have some way to sync the flashes. if you are shooting film, get a flash meter. otherwise, sounds pretty easy.

 

conrad

[bakarichavanu]

Great to see these lighting tips. But I am wondering, why wasn't the above photo cropped so

that seats would not be so deistracting? The lighting, but I think it could benefit from a crop.

[kelvinphoto - arlington, t]

This is a 4x6 proofs. how would you crop it to make 4x6 without cutting people of?

 

Here you go for my technique.

get your meter reading for background. if it read 1/30 sec, f2.8, iso@1250, then set your camera to 1/30sec, f2.8, f4, f5, or 5.6, and iso@1250.

 

easy at that. If you use your flash a fill, this will allow you to capture the natural feel/mood of the wedding. And this is how I like it.

[www.withheart.ca]

Thanks. we'll have to see how it goes. wish me luck! It's tomorrow ;).