Indoor wedding lighting

selo · Dec 18, 2016

Hi,

I mostly do studio photography where alls flashes etc. are set perfectly for the situation. Now a days we get more and more wedding bookings and small parties for indoors. I ussually use a speedlight on camera and am experimenting with off camera flashes. However that is not allways possible. For situations where I am stuck with just one on camera speedlight I am looking for the best settings.

The problem I get is when i set the exposure correct for the distance i have with the subject but the subjects moves back and forth or when I want to photograph someone which is little further away, my photo gets over or under exposed.

I ussualy set the speedlight at 1/16 or 1/20 (to save battery life and faster recycle time).. shutter i try to keep as high as possible ussually 1/180 but will drop if needed.. f-stop for indivudual f2.8 for groups f4 ish. Cant go much higher.

With this setup i only rapidtly change the iso to get correct exposure.. even then i miss some nice situations. I dont feel like i am ready to shoot amything. Every step i take i have to change the settings.. which makes it hard to capture important fast changing situations.

So i am curious how you guys handle this situations? I tried some automatic settings like auto iso, shutter and ettl but nothing really worked.

This all refers to indoors btw.

I would also love to get some tips on external flash for indoors. Speedlights, battery packed flashes? How many etc.?

cherylynne1 · Dec 18, 2016

Have you read through Neil Van Niekerk's Tangents blog? • Flash Photography Techniques - Tangents He's a wedding photographer and he mostly focuses on bounce flash, which is great for indoor events like the ones you're describing.

tirediron · Dec 18, 2016

Step one: Get the freakin' speedlight OFF the camera! At a minimum use a flash bracket, but I find I get much better results using a TTL cable and holding the speedlight in one hand and the camera in the other. I normally shoot in aperture priority and use TTL flash exposure for event work. For the ceremony, I'd go manual since I'd expect the conditions to be relatively static.

Derrel · Dec 18, 2016

First of all, speedlight flash at 1/16 power, and apparently in manual, fractional power mode? Ughhhh. Definitely, Neil V's book could bring you up to speed.

Get a TTL capable flash, and a potent external battery for it, and learn how to use it in TtL mode, or A-mode,so it will be fast to shoot. You want an external battery for long events.

Look for Neil's video on YouTube, the one he did at B&H Photo.

pixmedic · Dec 18, 2016

if your not able to raise your shutter speed due to flash sync speed, just get a flash capable of HSS.
you might need to up the power on the flash.
how are you currently using the flash?
when I shot weddings, for the parts where I could use flash i generally bounced using a rogue flashbender. I also had 5" softboxes for the flashes and used them either on a flash bracket, or on a monopod using radio triggers with someone else holding it.

selo · Dec 19, 2016

Just skimmed through neils website looks very good. Ill read it today. I think ill get the book as well.

I use flash at 1/16 with a diffuser and ussually bounce it from the ceiling or wall. I normally use ETTL (same as TTL?) but at one event my battery died every hour. So i decided to shoot at manual 1/16 and the battery lasted almost the whole day.

Some weddings arr very hectic.. people are dancing everywhere and a lot of things going on. For situations where I know what is going to happen I can set everything up for that situation and get great exposure. But i dont feel like i am flexible when things get busier and i can just shoot away not worrying about changing settings for every step i take.

For normal situatios like a ceremony of bride and groom preparing of fotoshoots I am not worried about lightning.. you ussually get more than one chance also.

My worries are more for situations that are not controlled like a busy dancefloor. Or people dancing on other places. Or kids running around. Our weddings are pretty hectic.

I somtetimes go to kids birthday parties as well. Very little room and bad lightning. I cant always setup a external flash because kids maybe tip it over. Kids are running around.