Flash placement for indoor gathering

[GTHill]

My children's birthday party is tomorrow and I need some advice. I have a SB-800 and a SB-600 flash. At a previous party (elsewhere) I placed the flashes in a good position, but my problem is that as people moved they blocked the flash. 90% of the pictures will be at the 'birthday table'. I have considered hanging them from the ceiling. Thought? Thanks!

Gene

 

[Socrates]

My children's birthday party is tomorrow and I need some advice. I have a SB-800 and a SB-600 flash. At a previous party (elsewhere) I placed the flashes in a good position, but my problem is that as people moved they blocked the flash. 90% of the pictures will be at the 'birthday table'. I have considered hanging them from the ceiling. Thought? Thanks!

Gene

Even if you do hang the heads on the ceiling, what are you going to do when you want to take shots with the subjects in a different location?

Since you'll be moving and the subjects will be moving, there isn't any "permanent" location that will work well for you. I'd suggest getting a Stroboframe bracket. Think of the last time you went to a wedding. The pro had a Stroboframe or something comparable to hold the flash head roughly fifteen inches or so above the lens axis. Put the 800 directly on the camera and the 600 on the bracket which, of course, is bolted to the camera tripod socket. (No cable is required.) Then, configure CLS so that the 800 has it's intensity reduced by about a stop. Perhaps you might experiment first to see how much intensity reduction is best.

If you have a D80 (or higher), you can even use the pop-up with the 800 on the Stroboframe.

MAKE CERTAIN that the Stroboframe can be adjusted for portrait/landscape. Some do not have that adjustment (they're designed for 2-1/4" square format cameras).

 

[GTHill]

I think I have a lot more to learn about flashes. I have a D300 and have been using the commander mode with the built in flash, and the 800 and 600 placed elsewhere. I like the multiple light sources for the fill factor.

You said something about the portrait and landscape... is that to alter the position of the flash by 90 degrees? I didn't think that would make much of a difference. Again, more I need to learn.

Thank you very much for your help!

Gene

 

[Socrates]

You said something about the portrait and landscape... is that to alter the position of the flash by 90 degrees? I didn't think that would make much of a difference.

Gene

Yes, it alters the position of the flash head by 90 degrees so that the illumination matches the orientation of the picture.

 

[nicfargo]

You could just bounce the flash off the ceiling...this usually takes care of most indoor lighting. It's hard to setup lights for an event like this. That's why most people don't do it.

 

[JerryPH]

2 words for you...

LIGHTSTAND and WWW.STROBIST.COM

I recently did a b-day party and used a single off camera SB-800 on a lightstand.

I had to move it around some, but basically, when I could, I bounced off the ceiling. When I could not, I raised the lightstand to full height and pointed the strobe downwards in an area of the house that had higher and angled "cathedral ceilings".

I found setting up the lights for the event pretty easy, and would love to do it again. The only time I was not using off-camera flash was when I was forced to move back and forth between the front room and rear patio to get shots. Then I merely placed the SB-800 on camera and bounced it using my home made bounce card.

If you want to see the results of what one strobe can do, view the results here.