Advice on lighting please

[zulupentax]

Hi everyone

I am going to take some shots during a small indoor gathering, about 70 people at a very close friend's party she is organising. Well, its an engagement party of the daughter and she asked me if I didn't mind taking some shots of the occasion.
Before someone goes into details of me taking up something like this without experience etc may I just say that to put things very simply, it was either me taking the shots or else there is not going to be any photos at all. She is almost family to me and cannot afford to hire a tog.

So I am wondering how to tackle this as I think I have various options.
I have two of these which I use in my shed for some artwork. I was thinking of taking them and setting up pointed to the white ceilings and bouncing the lights from there while using my 7D.
I also have two see through umbrellas. Would you advise me to mount on the studio flashes instead and pointing them to main area where people would be sitting? This option probably would make the remaining parts of the room where 70 odd people would be sitting with lesser light. I do have a 580 EXII also and the Lencarta can be fired through their slave sensors instead of the remote triggers that can be attached to the hotshoe.

Well, you get the idea of the lighting equipment I have anyway so tips and suggestions welcome. In addition to the above I have two more Sigma dg 500 supers, and a stofen diffuser.

Lens wise I was thinking of using my Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 and the canon 70-200 f/2.8, but will bring my canon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 that came with the kit just in case.
Any tips on what apertures to lean more on while shooting? Should I work around wider apertures even though I am assuming I should have enough lighting available purely for the backgrounds isolating effects? Well, I can always mix and match anyway but would love to hear your suggestions please.

Its a great chance for me to push my boundaries with this quite friendly and relaxing occasion as I should have plenty of a wide variety of oportunities to capture different moments. Its an asian gathering so plenty of glittering and shiny dresses, nicely modelled dressed ladies around, and henna hands including the girl who must have had beautiful henna on her hands and bollywood type clothing etc.

I am quite looking forward to this and its only the lighting that I am just a bit jittery about, but once I get this sorted I am sure I will have plenty of fun photographing.

So any tips or suggestions are greatly welcome please.
Thanks

Amin

 

[Garry Edwards]

This is one of those lighting situations where quantity is more important than quality.
In other words, all that you should really be concerned about is having enough light and it won't really be necessary to worry about using the right type of light shaping tools, getting the light to come from the best direction etc.

So, I think what I would do here is to simply bounce your 2 x Lencarta lights off the ceiling. Just use the standard reflectors, not the umbrellas. This will light the whole ceiling and will produce an overhead light, which looks natural.

Your hotshoe flash can be used too, if necessary, but it probably won't be needed, and I very much doubt whether your extra hotshoe flashes will be needed either.

You may have to take a bit more care when shooting closeups of the henna hands.

 

[zulupentax]

This is one of those lighting situations where quantity is more important than quality.
In other words, all that you should really be concerned about is having enough light and it won't really be necessary to worry about using the right type of light shaping tools, getting the light to come from the best direction etc.

So, I think what I would do here is to simply bounce your 2 x Lencarta lights off the ceiling. Just use the standard reflectors, not the umbrellas. This will light the whole ceiling and will produce an overhead light, which looks natural.

Your hotshoe flash can be used too, if necessary, but it probably won't be needed, and I very much doubt whether your extra hotshoe flashes will be needed either.

You may have to take a bit more care when shooting closeups of the henna hands.

Gary that's really helpful, thank you for your input.
The flashgun stands they came with are quite tall, so is there any heights that I should consider putting the flashguns at to get the maximum benefit? Closer to the ceiling meaning as high as probably the stands will reach? Or try to find an average height so that the lighting can disperse to a wider area? I think in the end I will just run some trials but may be with your experience you might have an idea of how it works best.

This is a great chance for me also to use my white backdrop as the sorrounding is very simple and its just like a party and drinks and foods being served. So I should be able to put up the back drop in an area of the room and take some portraits as well. The shots of the henna hands probably would be taken best here with the white backdrop to bounce off the light

 

[HoppyUK]

Are you asking about pictures of individual people and couples at a party, or a big room shot of all 70 together? What is the venue like?

 

[Garry Edwards]

Gary that's really helpful, thank you for your input.
The flashgun stands they came with are quite tall, so is there any heights that I should consider putting the flashguns at to get the maximum benefit? Closer to the ceiling meaning as high as probably the stands will reach? Or try to find an average height so that the lighting can disperse to a wider area? I think in the end I will just run some trials but may be with your experience you might have an idea of how it works best.

This is a great chance for me also to use my white backdrop as the sorrounding is very simple and its just like a party and drinks and foods being served. So I should be able to put up the back drop in an area of the room and take some portraits as well. The shots of the henna hands probably would be taken best here with the white backdrop to bounce off the light

My answer is based on lighting the whole room, and I think the best height for the stands will be whatever height is needed to light almost all of the ceiling. Lighting just a small area (high lights) will work too, but not quite as well - and the higher the lights are in a party situation, the greater the risk of someone knocking them over (it's a good idea to tie them off if possible for safety)

 

[zulupentax]

Are you asking about pictures of individual people and couples at a party, or a big room shot of all 70 together? What is the venue like?

Richard, not of all 70 people together. People will be mingling around etc, no sittings. There will be like drinks snacks served etc and people will be walking around. So couples, few people, 4 s or in 5s etc standing next to the girl definitely will be involved. That's why I was thinking of bringing the back white drop. And of course then some close ups, in fact I was thinking of taking a lot of portraits, closeups, hence the 70-200 coming very handy so I do not need to be on their faces. Plenty of characters around, that I will like to take a few snaps . Close ups of the lady with henna hands and mostly of hers as she is the main subject.

Gary, thanks for reminding me to secure the lights, good thing you mentioned about them being knocked. With children around this is definitely something I had missed. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.