Large Hall, Church, Low light photography

[Pure Life Photograph]

Hi,

This is my first post, Im not sure if this is right place to post.

I've been asked to photograph a birthday party in a banqueting hall.

I have fear that the lighting is going to be fairly low. I have my own D80 and a SB-600 flash unit.

I wanted some advice on what to use to diffuse the light from the camera. There's many options such gary fonts lightsphere, using an award bracket and other home made options.

I can ask for the lighting to be quite bright in the hall, but thats probably about it. I don't want to let my client down with dull low light photographs!

Personally I don't like using flash, and prefer to use a 50mm f1.4 lens for low light photography. But in this case, bright colours wont come out and thats what people want to see.

 

[Pure Life Photograph]

Anyone???

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.
I've moved your post to a more appropriate place, that should help.

The best way to soften the light from you flash, is to bounce it off of walls and ceilings. Point it up, to the side or even behind you. This will, of course, depend a lot on the room you are in and the surfaces that you have to bounce off of.

When bouncing, you may also want to throw some light forward, which is where a lot of the accessories come in handy. A simple bounce card attached to the back of the flash can be enough. You don't need to spend $50 for a plastic flash hat.

If you can't bounce the light...then you may want to use a diffuser or try to get the flash off of the camera. It's not strictly necessary...you can use direct flash if that is what works for you. You can try experimenting with 'dragging the shutter' to get some ambient exposure in the shots.

The key is being able to adapt to the situation you are presented with.

 

[SpeedTrap]

How high is the ceiling?
The best case would be to bounce the flash off the ceiling, that will give the best light, now if it is too high or too dark(Paint is dark) I just use a Stofen defusrer for all my flashes and have never had a problem and it costs alot less than a Fong does.

 

[SandShots]

youre gonna have to diffuse it for sure. at least for the church. at the hall you might be able to bounce it.

i face my 580 up with a diffuser on it and works good for me.

start practicing in similiar light conditions now.

 

[Bigpopa]

I have the same issue as well I have a wedding coming up that will be shot in the same enviornment. I would try to get in there but they want money for every little thingjust to step foot in there would probably cost me.......

 

[SandShots]

I have the same issue as well I have a wedding coming up that will be shot in the same enviornment. I would try to get in there but they want money for every little thingjust to step foot in there would probably cost me.......

gotta start somewhere