Low ligting with flash...

Danzaroonie

Danzaroonie

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Dan
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I was at a wedding yesterday (guest) and I was taking a few shots but trying to nail the ambient light with flash was proving to be quite hard...

The ttl (Av) would bring the shots out very under exposed and notching this up seemed to have little difference.

I end up switching to Manual mode with following settings ( seemed to get the best results):

TV= 50-60
AV= 5.5 - 8.0
ISO= 400 -800
The celling was very high so notched up the flash level too, I will post some examples later.

I assume this all comes down to practice and knowing your kit back to front. Outside I'm fine just inside shooting is proving very difficult for me find the correct settings or if i did it took about 3-4 shots before i was happy...by then people get bored...lol (i have to learn somehow put up with)

I did speak to the main wedding Tog guy ( 1 camera :eek:) but didn’t want to bother him too much. He was just shooting straight at people with no bounce, assume this was just filler flash or they would look like stunned rabbits in car lights...

So in summary any tips would be great I assume you have a base setting you set as soon as you walk into a low lit room?...just taking guest shot...I’m not planning to become a wedding photographer any time soon.

cheers

Dan.
 
Need more info. What flash gun? Direct or bounced? Subject distance?

Post a pic :)
 
I was using a Nissin I622 and I was using bounce flash which was in a large marquee and it was large. Side low level glow light with a lighting rig in the centre lighting top table areas and keys point in the room like dance floor and other tables.

Distance wise I was using the 24-105mm so keeping around a good 4-5 meters way in most shots.
 
Danzaroonie said:
I was using a Nissin I622 and I was using bounce flash which was in a large marquee and it was large. Side low level glow light with a lighting rig in the centre lighting top table areas and keys point in the room like dance floor and other tables.

Distance wise I was using the 24-105mm so keeping around a good 4-5 meters way in most shots.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you just ran out of flash power. That's asking a lot.

You would need the gun flat out, at lowest f/number and the highest ISO you dare to even give it a chance.
 
okay here goes....Straight out of the camera no PP work..so take that in mind.

1# - This is the idea of size....
6035423708_9387303549_z.jpg


2#
6035423712_8cf7850d4e_z.jpg
 
First shot, bounced flash has only just managed to light the nearest table. Not unexpected in a huge venue like that.

Second shot, is that direct on-camera flash? Exposure-wise it's okay.
 
Hi Richard,

The first shot was just a general shot of the area for future my reference....and I it was direct flash from what I can recall..

Second could have been direct based on the shadow behind...not 100 sure...should direct be avoided at all possible costs? how would I give this kind scenario a good pop to the photo is it the settings, my angle or all of this...and i need to up my creativity give it a wow factor…
 
Danzaroonie said:
Hi Richard,

The first shot was just a general shot of the area for future my reference....and I it was direct flash from what I can recall..

Second could have been direct based on the shadow behind...not 100 sure...should direct be avoided at all possible costs? how would I give this kind scenario a good pop to the photo is it the settings, my angle or all of this...and i need to up my creativity give it a wow factor…
Click to expand...

First shot is deffo bounced. You can tell by the soft shadows under the chairs, and the general look of the light.

Second shot is deffo direct, apart from the shadow behind you can tell by the light and shadows cast on the subject - camera held vertically, flash on the left.

In situations like that, you'd need a nuclear powered flash to have a realistic chance with bouncing. So it's either direct, or a portable umbrella/softbox - tricky. A professional might put three or four flashes around the room on radio triggers, plus another gun on-camera.

Easiest way that I use is a Lumiquest Quik Bounce for that kind of thing (flaps closed) which softens the direct flash. Then balance it with the ambient to fill the background. Maybe gel the flash to match the colour of the ambient light.
 
Hi Richard,

Thank you for the reply, I think I need to practice fill flash technics ( white t-shirt on a chair scenario) and I it’s safe to say in such a large environment flash on a camera is going to be limited unless you have some powerful flash canon to hand.

many thanks

Dan.
 
I think that, looking at your kit and the general exposures you were using, you could have given yourself some extra 'room' in terms of having a bit of flash power in reserve by shooting wide open (f/4) as opposed to f/5.6 or even f/8. Then you could have bumped the ISO up further to 1600 - the 7D will manage that level of ISO easily....

Like you say, you're not going for the pro gig any time soon so why not give yourself the best chance of getting something at higher ISOs, as opposed to not getting anything at all (although the shots posted ain't too bad)....
 
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