Tips for on-body flash at wedding reception

lexie

lexie

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keith
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I'm heading to a mates wedding tomorrow night and i'm taking my camera to get shots of the reception partly because the photographer will have clocked off and partly because i'll not be drinking so i'll need something to keep me occupied. I'll only be using the on body flash and a 35-70 3.5-4.5 lens, any tips on how to make the most of this set-up?
 
the onbody flash is going to be your real problem, as it will give you harsh lught and strong shadows

if you can, get a diffuser/modifier of some type to soften the light

other than that try and keep your subjects away from the walls, that way you'll minimise the harsh reflections directly behind them

when at a party I also shoot in manual with flash so I have total control

and then i do two other things once i've got the 'must have' shots

1 turn the flash off and up the iso
2 use the flash but have long exposure settings to get light trails and movement

both the above will give you more photos showing the atmosphere as opposed to rabbits in headlights

both ideas also require experimentation and an acceptance that you'll discard a fair few of the shots

good luck and have fun
 
Cheers lee, thanks for the tips. It the harsh shadows from the OB flash that i want to avoid as best as i can, i'll try and do a bit of subtle man-management to position people but without coming across as pushy. Iso will be well cranked up for the most part though i fear
 
Shoot in manual, let ETTL (or equivilant) sort out the hard work and bounce the flash as much as you can.
 
take it off and use it remotely, or bounce it off a wall, ceiling - or a bod holding a reflector
 
Richard King said:
take it off and use it remotely, or bounce it off a wall, ceiling - or a bod holding a reflector
Click to expand...


I took the 'on-body flash' to be the camera's pop-up flash, perhaps I read it wrong.

Sounds like most of his mates are drinking so reflector holders might be in short supply :D
 
chip said:
I took the 'on-body flash' to be the camera's pop-up flash, perhaps I read it wrong.


Sounds like most of his mates are drinking so reflector holders might be in short supply :D
Click to expand...
oh that flash.. in that case.. pack the camera in a bag and have a beer
 
chip said:
I took the 'on-body flash' to be the camera's pop-up flash, perhaps I read it wrong.

Sounds like most of his mates are drinking so reflector holders might be in short supply :D
Click to expand...

this man has got it right. i'm going light and won't be carting a heap of accessories about the place with me(girlfriends orders lol)
 
Talk a bit of white card like a business card and angle that up infront of the flash. Cheapo bounce. Sorted.

It reduces power massively but if you're close it'll give you enough to keep the iso down to a reasonable level and keep it reasonably natural looking.

Failing that, the bar is a good idea.
 
Assuming you just have the pop-up flash, shoot on Av (Canon's aperture priority) and the E-TTL system will balance the flash with the ambient light. It will lighten the background dramatically and also give some ambient fill-in to soften the harder flash. You can do the same with Nikon of course, just not sure how they configure the controls.

Moderate the shutter speed by raising the ISO so it doesn't drop too low - say not below 1/30sec, 1/15sec lowest - to prevent too much ambient blurring. You can also use the +/- compensation controls to adjust the ratio of the flash and the ambient light independently, so you get the best balance - see handbook. Get this right and it won't look too bad at all :thumbs:
 
paulhinch said:
Talk a bit of white card like a business card and angle that up infront of the flash. Cheapo bounce. Sorted.
Click to expand...

Instead of white card, try and fold some greaseproof paper over the flash with an elastic band, won't cut as much light transmission but still softens it a lot.
 
Pop it in manual and use ISO800, f4, 1/60 and E-TTL. Play around a bit with the exposure compensation on the flash if bouncing, you might need to add a bit. The above will help save your batteries.

If you do experiment with lowering the shutter to around 1/15 - 1/8 for movement don't forget to pop it into rear cutain sync mode.
 
Livin The Dream said:
Pop it in manual and use ISO800, f4, 1/60 and E-TTL. Play around a bit with the exposure compensation on the flash if bouncing, you might need to add a bit. The above will help save your batteries.

If you do experiment with lowering the shutter to around 1/15 - 1/8 for movement don't forget to pop it into rear cutain sync mode.
Click to expand...

Don't do this. You will have no control over the background exposure. And don't use rear-curtain sync.

If you do have a Canon and put it in P, it will balance the flash and ambient down to 1/60sec anyway, but no further. It takes the view that letting the background go dark at lower light levels is better than risking any blurring, while Av will go down as long as it needs, taking the view that balancing the flash and ambient exposures is more important. Balancing the exposures is the best way to both lighten the background while also allowing the ambient light to soften the flash, which is the key to making the pop-up look good.

Either way, don't use rear curtain sync - it will add nothing and quite possibly make things worse. You get two flashes (pre-flash for exposure calculation, then the main flash) which are normally so close together you can't distinguish them with the human eye. But with rear curtain sync they become separated which confuses people and so with long shutter speeds they can move after the pre-flash, thinking the picture has been taken, but before the main flash actually fires; at shutter speeds around 1/15sec it is brilliant at capturing the blinking that people often do after the pre-flash but normal first curtain sync is too quick for them; it makes timing the shot difficult because the main flash doesn't fire immediately when you press the release, so you miss quick expressions or gestures.

Rear curtain sync is very useful when a) the direction of the ambient blurring is important, and b) it is predictable and controllable. TBH that's not often, and very rarely in social situations.
 
Agreed. It's not the best solution but it should give you acceptable results. I shot photographs at my son's reception like this because I didn't have an external flash, and was satisfied with them. Couple of things, shoot RAW for more flexibility in post processing, and don't use a lens hood unless you're sure it won't cast a shadow on the images.
 
i tried the business card 'bounce' flash method but the blu-tack i used to stick it on was a bit crap and it kept falling off so i quickly gave up with that method lol.

i tried using P mode and got a few good results, even my girlfriend had some success with it. for the most part though i just used Ap for the extra flexibility. there was a caberet show on when we got there with elvis, abba, lion king et al with sequinned dancers and a smoke and laser light show. the skantily clad dancers were nice but the light show was a pain in the backside from a togging point of view.

here's a couple of shots from the night

hayleylee2.jpg


elvis1.jpg
 
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