STUDIO LIGHTS ON LOCATION

[thomas_ward1]

Hi everyone,

I am wanting to bring one or two of my studio lights to a wedding and use them

for some portraits before and after the wedding. any suggestions? also I am

wondering if you could post your photos of this and a short discription of what

you did for the lighting.

thanks,

Tom

[jimstrutz]

I gave up doing this for most weddings because of the lack of time allowed to set up and shoot. For those weddings that allow you enough time after, or if people are willing to come early for portraits it can be very nice. I switched to smaller battery powered lights and this is a little quicker, but it still gets squeezed out most of the time. Now, I only bring larger lights if I have an assistant.

 

I usually brought two umbrellas instead of softboxes because they were faster to set up and smaller to pack around. Now I only use the umbrella on the main light, and use direct light for the fill. (Remember I am only using small battery lights.) I also sometimes use a back light to get a brighter veil, hair light, rim light, etc. The pictures look really nice, but generally are unappreciated by the client. They want to see the dress and the smile, and just don't see the details. Perhaps that says more about the local brides though. :)

[kari douma]

I use my stobe lights for formals at the wedding. I usually allow a lot of time, and most of the time I do the formals before the wedding. If I do some before, and some after, I ask the officiant or wedding co ordinator where I can store them without having to take them down. I don't get too creative in my lighting, there is not really enough time for that. I usually just set up two lights with umbrellas (Soft boxes are too big and bulky to work with for this).

[djphoto]

I've shot wedding formals with everything from a single flash on camera to studio strobes, and have come to the conclusion that the simplest setup which will give excellent lighting is a small flash on-camera and one on a tall stand. In fact, the results look as good to me as those obtained from a pair of studio strobes with umbrellas.

 

The on-camera flash can be diffused or not. I often use a Stofen, but it doesn't seem to make much difference. The off-camera flash, fitted with a small Lumiquest (6x8-inch) softbox and a Quantum IV receiver, is mounted on a Red-wing stand by means of a tilting bracket. I usually put it together before I leave home and bring it into the church fully assembled and ready to erect. It is stowed out of sight in some convenient place until it's needed.

 

When it's time to shoot formals, I simply raise the stand, pop off a shot or two to confirm that the setup is working properly and to check the histogram, making sure no highlights are burning out, then shoot away. The 5D is set to f5.6@800, which works great, because the 5D is basically noise-free at 800 and recycle times are very quick with lithium AA batteries.

 

Three things are critical:

 

1. Placement: In a line-up such as a wedding group, a second flash may cause one person's shadow to be cast on an adjacent person. I avoid this by keeping the second flash just an arms-length to my left or right.

 

2. Power: Use similar flashes, if possible, and set them both to put out the same amount of light. Auto or Manual work better for me than ETTL. A higher-contrast arrangement, with the off-camera light putting out more power looks nice and is good for one or two people, if you're careful about where the shadows fall, but in larger groups it creates too much potential for problems with shadows cast in the wrong places. Flashes set to the same output will give nice, but not dramatic, modeling.

 

3. Direction: If the second light is on your right, for example, I find it best to point it at about the middle of the left side of the group.

 

This setup is quick, simple, and easy, but it gives great results.

[brooke_moore]

IF you feel you need this try using one huge umbrella with the strobe and set it up behind you. This will give you a lot of nice soft wrapped light.

 

Simple not a lot of stuff to drag around and serves the purpose.

 

My problem with doing "studio" during a wedding is that it just shuts down any spontaneous action. Will do it if there is no nice ambient location. Had a wedding a while ago where the ceremony moved from a huge garden to the dance floor of an Elks Club. Needless to say stuffed animal heads abounded.

 

Ended up putting up a background and using strobes to do the formals in the front hallway with the bar behind me. Not great but the images look terrific and totally unexpected in the context of the rest of the day.

 

Brooke

[shma el]

I do what Brooke just sed and some times bounce on camera flush from the white wall. Here is a shot. 600 w/s "Profoto monolight with 41" umbrella plus 550EX bounce of white whall. If I can not have room for photography - I do not pull out my geers. Have a fun shooting.<div></div>

[shma el]

Oooops........<div></div>

[shma el]

Still big. Sorry<div></div>

[david_schilling___chicago_]

More often than not I take a flexout backdrop to the house before the ceremony and a large canvas to the reception. The first image is at the house, flash on bracket with an omnibounce. The second image uses 2 studio strobes set with umbrellas.<div></div>

[fotografz]

Well David, there's a case for using strobes if you can manage the time.

 

This is a timely thread for me. I'm sick of struggling with formals ... and am either securing a

Profoto 600R Kit with built in Pocket Wizards, or the Hensel dual 500 Integra kit with radio

receivers built in. This Winter I'll drill my assistant in setting them up and start using them

next season.

[fotografz]

Oops, forgot to attach an example:

 

portable white backdrop, key light strobe camera left, fold-up bounce camera right. Use

what's around the location for additional props, (lobby of reception areas often have props to

use). This was at a home ...<div></div>