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As an adjunct to the Tangents blog, the intention with this forum is to answer any questions, and allow a diverse discussion of topics related photography. With that, see it as an open invitation to just climb in and start threads and to respond to any threads.
I am a wedding photographer who has been shooting events with several direct flash units for many years. In some cases such as room lights the heads might be completely or partially bounce and in most cases the on camera is (maybe softened but) usually direct. Although I've been happy with this method but the lighting discussed in this forum is much more natural and (beautiful) and seems to embrace today's style as well as technology. It also seems simpler and in some ways less work. (Coordinating two light people and a set of room lights can be a full time job by itself and it doesn't lend itself to spontaneous PJ style. ).
My question though is how can a photographer catch an active dance floor in situations where there is little or no reflective surfaces such as an out door parking lot or a tennis court, or an airplane hanger or a stadium and in some cases a huge (I Mean Huge) ballroom? Are we talking umbrella or do we resort back to my old ways?
Comments
As much as a pain it is sometimes to put up lights, that is overall the best solution. The only thing I would do is add umbrellas to give a softer light. I may add that with technology of the newer cameras the high iso is cleaner and you can get more pleasing results with less light. I used to cringe when shooting higher iso's but now I can get great reception shots at ISO 1600 +. My personal approach would be to add one or two flashes with umbrellas and have a flash on camera and work the angles that give me the best exposure for the background. That way my subject does not look like a deer in headlights and the background is slightly lit to give some assembelence of whats going on. I hope that helps!
PS....I use the Phottix Strato II's which have the ability to turn on and off specific lights on command by using the butttons on the back. May add to the thought process but also may add to your PJ style.
Regards,
Jay
In fact, I like that Idea so much, i'll do it myself.
Review/tutorial
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-10046-10396
And the link to pricing...
http://www.paulcbuff.com/plm.php