Wedding, lit with Christmas lights! help!

[Life in Motion]

Okay i agreed to take photos of a friends wedding. for practice and just to see if it is an area that i would like to even eventually get in to. Being my first wedding I am nervous to say the least, however the couple are very laid back and should be a good first wedding to practice on. Or this is what i was thinking when i agreed to it, then today i find out that the whole inside of the building is going to be lit by only christmas lights strung across the ceiling, which is not a low ceiling ! So now my oh this will be a good practice shoot has turned into..."low light conditions only lit with christmas lights and a high ceiling" the worst possible lighting situation for a first wedding shoot i'd say!

So, here's my question! what are the chances of this being enough light for my 50mm 1.8 to expose properly without any noise...unfortunately my camera is the Canon xs and doesn't have very good high iso settings without noise? Also i only use my flash off camera for now and have a softbox and umbrella...thinking maybe umbrella for a broader light spill, could i position it close to the front of the wedding ceromony and turn the power up high and get a few good of the vows possibly? ugh, my mind is racing and grabbing for any shred of knowledge on this topic....any advice is much appreciated!

HAS ANYONE DONE A SHOOT LIKE THIS BEFORE? I am in dire need of some advice

[scootermcq]

You don't have a hope in hell of exposing that with ambient light.

You can go off camera with an assistant, but that can be really tricky for any photojournalistic type images. Great for the formals, but real pita for run & gun type situations.

I would suggest building a DIY diffuser and a stroboframe for that sort of photography. Not pulitzer winning photography, but will get you dependable, consistant photos that look good and will make the bride & groom happy at the end of the day. Sometimes KISS is the way to go.

A wedding uses your full arsenal of equipment & knowledge. Bounced, off camera, on camera with diffuser, and sometimes even monolights. The trick is knowing what to use when.

[gs.davies]

This sounds like the problem I faced at the weekend, shooting my friends singing in a bar. That was lit by Christmas lights, candles and some very dim spots in the ceiling.

At ISO100, I needed half a second at f1.8. I use the rebel xt with a 50/1.8 so the ISO1600 noise is poor.

Flash was a shoe mount on camera with a diffuser and I couldn't get it to fire low enough just to fill, so all my flash shots spoiled the ambience in th picture.

Perhaps try a tripod an ask them to be still, at ISO400 you might get away with 1/8th.

I've also tried putting a home made snoot on the flash today to try 'spotlighting' subjects in similar light today with a little bit of success. If I'd had something like that on Saturday (and some correction gels), I might have got some better shots.

To preserve the ambient light (which presumably is important to the bride and groom) you're going to need slower speeds anyway with a little bit of well placed flash. Hopefully you can dial yours down more effectively than I could mine. I guess a softbox would take up a stop maybe.

You could always process in B&W if you have to shoot ambient and do some arty stuff on the Christmas lights for their album in colour with a nice shallow DOF from your tripod too.

Good luck!

[scootermcq]

Just to illustrate, the couple at the altar were shot with a DIY diffuser as there was no place to bounce. The couple at the bridge during formals were shot off camera with a softbox. The diffuser does not give the wrap I would love, but it is safe and gives dependable results. There was also no way to have an assistant at that altar without becoming way to distracting during the ceremony.

[scootermcq]

Originally Posted by gs.davies

Flash was a shoe mount on camera with a diffuser and I couldn't get it to fire low enough just to fill, so all my flash shots spoiled the ambience in th picture.
Good luck!

Drag the shutter.... aperture controls the amount of flash allowed in, shutter controls the amount of ambient allowed in and flash will freeze your subjects. It is also extremely helpful to gel your flash to match the ambient light of the room so you don't have conflicting light sources. The bride & groom at the altar were shot with CTO on the flash head and the WB set to tungsten to match the room.

I usually start around ISO 400, 1/40 to 1/60th and around f4.5-5.6 I will adjust from there as needed. Fire full manual and leave the flash on TTL to control the exposure on your subjects.

[Life in Motion]

Originally Posted by scootermcq

Drag the shutter.... aperture controls the amount of flash allowed in, shutter controls the amount of ambient allowed in and flash will freeze your subjects.

I usually start around ISO 400, 1/40 to 1/60th and around f4.5-5.6 I will adjust from there as needed. Fire full manual and leave the flash on TTL to control the exposure on your subjects.

Thank you for all of your input! i really appreciate it. i know this is totally the worst lighting situation for a beginner . But i will see what i can come up with. I can at least test out some different things at the rehearsal which may help. What type of DIY diffuser do you use?

thank you again for all your help!!!

[scootermcq]

Originally Posted by Life in Motion

Thank you for all of your input! i really appreciate it. i know this is totally the worst lighting situation for a beginner . But i will see what i can come up with. I can at least test out some different things at the rehearsal which may help. What type of DIY diffuser do you use?

thank you again for all your help!!!

I use a direct rip off of Chucks....

DIY Reflector-Diffuser

[Life in Motion]

Originally Posted by scootermcq

I use a direct rip off of Chucks....

DIY Reflector-Diffuser

Hey do you use a hot shoe...or just on camera? I don't have a hot shoe right now, but may be worth the investment? Easier than dragging it around off camera, may give a little more depth and less flat lighting?

[scootermcq]

When I am shooting with the diffuser alone, it is mounted on a stroboframe camera flip, with the flash attached via a ttl cord. This keeps the flash over the camera axis for portrait orientation and landscape. It also has the benefit of rasing the flash, so it bounces the shadows down behind the subject, vs outlining their head on a wall etc. So, in answer to the question, yes I use it on hotshoe.

Off camera & manual flash while not impossible is a bit of a burden in an ever changing wedding. Picture the bride & groom coming down the isle just after saying their I do's You are walking along backwards in front of them with snapping away. Your assistant is not moving fast enough with the flash & you are over exposing them. He/she finally gets moving faster, and now you are underexposing. Now, the bride & groom start to run down the isle, and they never filled you in on that little plan they had in their head. You start to back peddle furiously, but your assistant is asleep at the switch, and the bride & groom and now ahead of them and not getting any flash at all. Of the 20 images you attempted to capture, none turn out and you have to ask them for a mulligan.....

Yes, I use TTL, hotshoe for run & gun

[Life in Motion]

Originally Posted by scootermcq

When I am shooting with the diffuser alone, it is mounted on a stroboframe camera flip, with the flash attached via a ttl cord. This keeps the flash over the camera axis for portrait orientation and landscape. It also has the benefit of rasing the flash, so it bounces the shadows down behind the subject, vs outlining their head on a wall etc. So, in answer to the question, yes I use it on hotshoe.

Off camera & manual flash while not impossible is a bit of a burden in an ever changing wedding. Picture the bride & groom coming down the isle just after saying their I do's You are walking along backwards in front of them with snapping away. Your assistant is not moving fast enough with the flash & you are over exposing them. He/she finally gets moving faster, and now you are underexposing. Now, the bride & groom start to run down the isle, and they never filled you in on that little plan they had in their head. You start to back peddle furiously, but your assistant is asleep at the switch, and the bride & groom and now ahead of them and not getting any flash at all. Of the 20 images you attempted to capture, none turn out and you have to ask them for a mulligan.....

Yes, I use TTL, hotshoe for run & gun

This may sound ridiculous but here i go anyway lol. Is there such an adapter that would adapt my ball socket adapter to the top of my camera? This may not make any sense, but i use my flash off camera, could i somehow attach the top part, basically create a hot shoe with it, seems like i should be able to connect it somehow if i just had an adapter of some sort?