I was at a wedding yesterday, and tried to pay attention to what the photographer was doing to pick up anything on technique. She had two bodies: each had a different lens, and each had a bare flash. Outside, at the ceremony, every time she took a shot, the flash went off. Even though the bride and groom and wedding party were side lit, I could understand why she was doing this.
Inside was a little different. About a third of the way up the side of the dance floor, she had a bare, unmodified Speedlite on a tall stand pointing directly across the dance floor. As the wedding party was being introduced, she was all over the place, and almost every time she took a shot with her bare, unmodified on-camera Speedlite, the one on the stand would fire.
She was busy, but just after this I had a chance to ask what she was doing with the light on the stand, and she said something to the effect that "It gives additional light to the backs of people". But, the stand was never moved or rotated. She didn't really answer my question if the Speedlite was set to a certain zoom.
When dancing and other stuff commenced, she was taking photos of people with her flash pointing up with a home-made bounce card - similar to the slide-out thing on some flashes - only a little wider at the top. The flash on the stand was firing less times, but was still firing.
I have attached a couple of crappy pictures from my non-smartphone phone of this setup (I hope they come through). I have circled the stand and the photographer. I have also included a shot of the room, with it's nice, white walls and nice, white hip-roof-style ceiling.
I could only think of three things: I would love to take pictures in this room and bounce off those nice surfaces; why isn't she bouncing off those nice surfaces; I really should post this on the Forum.
Who am I to question - she obviously got hired before this. I have never shot a wedding.
If the photos are too small, give me a hint on how to make them viewable.
Dave
Comments
I would love to see this photographer's photos, just to see what her technique got her in the end. The external flash never moved.
Dave