The Dreaded Grip and Grin

[Stradawhovious]

I've been asked.to shoot a grip and grin. Pretty straight forward, its a 50th anniversary party and my job, apparently is to wander around and get candids. There will be the occasional group or individual shot which I will have seperate lighting for, but mostly just going table to table snapping away at unsuspecting prey. Any advice from the more seasoned folks here........ Or should I just throw the old speedlight in the hotshoe, set er to ttl, point it at the ceiling and wrap a bounce card around it? Seems like the least invasive, most practical way to go about it.

 

[tirediron]

.. Or should I just throw the old speedlight in the hotshoe, set er to ttl, point it at the ceiling and wrap a bounce card around it? Seems like the least invasive, most practical way to go about it.

Pretty much what I would do; I assume they're not looking for award winning shots here, just nice memories?

 

[jritz]

Yeah I would go for the run and gun with a speedlight on the shoe. I normally throw some lights in the corners of the room on some stands that are triggered via pocket wizards to illuminate the entire room and just use my speedlight for the fill.

 

[Josh66]

We have these at work every time somebody retires - all I ever see them do is use a flash on the hotshoe bouncing off of the ceiling. Generally, all they're really looking for (at my job) is something to put in the company newsletter. They tend to get at least one shot of every single person that shows up, but from what I've seen they only actually use a handful of them. I'm not even sure that the person taking the pictures is actually a 'photographer' (as in, employed for that job - seems to be just some guy they hand a camera to).

For bigger events, they go all out and have a couple photographers and lights and all that...

 

[Stradawhovious]

I assume they're not looking for award winning shots here, just nice memories?

Yep. That's my initial understanding of the situation.

Thanks for the input folks! Pretty much as I expected. Should be a piece of cake.

 

[analog.universe]

If the room's not too big I use 2 speedlights on stands in opposite corners, pointed at the ceiling and a little toward the middle of the room. The hotshoe mounted flash is more reliable for sure, but if you've got extra lights to spare it's worth a shot to try both.