Using bounced flash in a pine room?

ShoeQueen

ShoeQueen

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I've been happily using my SB600 bounced off the ceiling at various dance events where there has been low light and a nice white ceiling.

But I'm doing a wedding in a few months that has a sloped, pine ceiling. And pine walls, floors - the whole room is pine! I know I can't just bounce my flash - suggestions? I'll probably be using two flashes, so I could take one off camera for things like the first dance but I need an option for general table shots. Should I get a white reflector and bring someone along to hold it?
 
Tbh you may be best just bouncing the flash and then correcting your white balance once you get home, considering you shoot RAW should make this easier.

Or use your flash bounced with flash gels to match the colour of the room to which then adjusting your white balance will be consistant across the whole frame for the person and the ambient room,
 
J4MIE_P said:
Tbh you may be best just bouncing the flash and then correcting your white balance once you get home, considering you shoot RAW should make this easier.

Or use your flash bounced with flash gels to match the colour of the room to which then adjusting your white balance will be consistant across the whole frame for the person and the ambient room,
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Thanks. I'm going to check out the venue this week so I'll do some test shots and see what works. I've been looking at some albums of receptions held there and I notice a lot are in B&W, which is another option for some of the shots - first dance shots etc are often nice in B&W.

I've never used flash gels before - any suggestions on what colour might work?

This is the room...
 
crikey, enjoy that one... Think I'd probably sack off the bouncing and either go hand held with a ttl cable, or just put a stofen on it and go with it...
 
Thanks - yeah its rather challenging. Especially for candids, where I don't want to be too noticeable. I prefer bounced to a stofen but I may not have that option.
 
Flash mounted bounce card or softbox?

I think if you try to correct the WB you'll loose the warmth that wood gives, not a good room for white dresses.
 
PaulJC said:
Flash mounted bounce card or softbox?
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Thanks - I'll look into those. Going on a speedlight training course next weekend so there may be stuff like that for me to look at.

PaulJC said:
I think if you try to correct the WB you'll loose the warmth that wood gives, not a good room for white dresses.
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No - which is possibly why I've seen a good few B&W images in wedding shots in that room. I was thinking if I bring a white reflector and get someone to hold it for a few shots (eg with the bride and her lovely white dress) and try something like a softbox for the table shots?
 
Lovely room :) Could be worse, you need to trial it.

You could park multiple guns around the room on radio triggers, then orange-woody colour gel (CTO would be close) with a mini softbox like Lumiquest on-camera. Polish off in PP. Common enough technique, needs lots of power - a few studio heads would do it.

Since there looks like a bit of ambient pretty much filling the room (and assuming those lights will be on full) I'd be tempted to go with slow-sync flash with a CTO gel, again with a mini softbox on camera. Main subject is most important.

Mono is always an option if it goes skew.
 
HoppyUK said:
Lovely room :) Could be worse, you need to trial it.
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Yes its lovely - and if I was just there as a guest I'd be delighted - especially as it has a large wooden floor instead of the usual teeny tiny excuse for a 'dancefloor' that most venues have.

HoppyUK said:
You could park multiple guns around the room on radio triggers, then orange-woody colour gel (CTO would be close) with a mini softbox like Lumiquest on-camera. Polish off in PP. Common enough technique, needs lots of power - a few studio heads would do it.
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I don't have the equipment or experience yet to use studio heads - and I don't want it to get too complicated - I'm wanting a way of going round getting table shots and guest candids.

HoppyUK said:
Since there looks like a bit of ambient pretty much filling the room (and assuming those lights will be on full) I'd be tempted to go with slow-sync flash with a CTO gel, again with a mini softbox on camera. Main subject is most important.
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Yes I expect the lights will be on. And I could end up with a good few mono shots...
 
ShoeQueen said:
Yes its lovely - and if I was just there as a guest I'd be delighted - especially as it has a large wooden floor instead of the usual teeny tiny excuse for a 'dancefloor' that most venues have.

I don't have the equipment or experience yet to use studio heads - and I don't want it to get too complicated - I'm wanting a way of going round getting table shots and guest candids.

Yes I expect the lights will be on. And I could end up with a good few mono shots...
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Slow-sync flash is the easy way. And it should look very good, retaining much of the original atmosphere.

You set the exposure for the ambient light, probably bumping the ISO a little to stop the shutter speed getting far too long, but don't worry about it - a bit of background blur with people moving about will look okay and they'll be out of focus anyway. I wouldn't go below 1/15sec though.

Then the flash on iTTL will match the f/number, and freeze the main subject. Adjust the flash output and ambient exposure to get the balance you want. Can do it on auto or manual, as you prefer. Use auto on the gun so it will adjust output according to distance, and auto on the camera will also adjust the ambinet exposure if it gets a bit darker in the corners of the room. Your choice.

Gel the flash with a CTO (colour to orange) to get the flash colour to match the ambient. It doesn't have to be exact and leaving the background a smidge warm retains admosphere. Do a custom WB for the gelled flash, or adjust in post.

A mini softbox to soften the flash. The bigger the better, but you've got to be practical. I have a small brolly on a bracket which gives fab light, but it's massively unwieldy and looks daft. Something from Lumiquest? http://www.lumiquest.com/products.htm
 
Thanks for the detailed explanation Richard - very helpful. :)

I'll practice that and will get a set of CTO gels. The wedding isn't til October so I have time to practice and revisit the room if required.
 
You're welcome.

Don't forget to soften the direct flash in some way. The main subject is the most important bit. I use a Lumiquest Quik Bounce and if you do much of this kind of social photography you'll find it very useful. It's designed primarily for bounce-fill but is very versatile and can be pressed into service for something like this, flaps closed. Ideally bigger though.

Also watch the inverse square law - double the distance means one quarter the light. Eg, if you're shooting a whole table, those near the camera will be maybe 2m away, and those at the far side will be double that and therefore two stops down. Balancing the ambient will help fill them in and even things out.

Compromise as best you can, ie arrange people so they're all roughly the same distance from the flash, or just shoot them two at a time ;) Also, the closer you are, the larger the softbox becomes relative to the subject, and therefore softer. That LM Quik Bounce for example, softens the light usefully for solos and couples, but move back for a group and it hardly makes any difference - you need a brolly for that! The key is choosing the best compromise for the situation.
 
I'll definitely be softening the direct flash, not fan of it. Good point about the distance. I'm hoping that at the time I do the table shots, all those big lights will be on and the place will be reasonably bright and I'll try to balance the ambient with flash.
 
I've been to the venue - the large light in the middle of the room is surrounded by a part of the ceiling that is not pine, but instead is like a burnished silver - like a big giant silver reflector basically. Taking shots with flash bounced in this area of the room is fine (did test shots there and under the pine part and its a big difference) and this is where the top table is located. (Also have met with B&G and they don't want table shots but instead want guest shots as they mingle before speeches - in a different areas downstairs.) Makes life a bit easier. :-)
 
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:thumbs:

If the downstairs area has a normal height white ceiling, then a Stofen style diffuser cap works pretty well for bounce-fill, balanced with ambient. They're so easy, cheap and robust. You can get a set of three for about a tenner on Amazon - clear, amber (CTO) and greenish (fluroescent).
 
Thanks. :) Feel a lot happier now I've seen the room, done some test shots and had a good chat with the B&G.
 
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