How should I light portraits and group shots in a large low-light room with one speedlight?
Asked 9/23/2013
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I’m a beginner photographing a company party in a long, dim room with a high ceiling. I need to shoot portraits and small group photos and print them on the spot, so the files need to look good straight out of camera with little or no post-processing.
My gear:
- Nikon D3200
- 24-70mm f/2.8
- 18-55mm
- 55-200mm
- Nikon SB-900 speedlight
The room has a very high ceiling, so normal ceiling bounce may not be effective. What is the best flash setup and positioning for this kind of event if I only have one flash? If there’s a better approach with more lighting, what would that be?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
12y ago
2 Answers
2
Just to keep on track what's happening on the event and how was the result:
The Gear
- Nikon D3200
- Lens 24-70mm f/2.8 - FX AF-S G ED NIKKO
- Flash: SB-900
The Settings
- ISO 400
- f/2.8
- 1/125
- EV +0.7
- Flash +2.0
- Flash in 75º pointing to the ceiling
The Location
The location was, as expected bad to take pictures, with the giant dinosaur in the middle, making hard to "put" people on good spot to shot. Also, on the back, the walls and some glass made a funny and bad reflection.
Outputs
Because we were printing the pictures as I was shooting the pictures needed to be a bit overexposed to looks nice printed.
In general the result was good, but I had few challenges and things to improve for the next time:
- Almost all the shots were of a group of people, so the setting for DOF f/2.8 was too big, I should be using something more than f/3.5, however, due the lack of light I keeped on f/2.8.
- I did not take a monopod, what I think would help to make the pictures look sharper.
- I have to learn more about lighting and flashes to have more power and control on it.
Now is prepare myself, study, practise and be ready for the next challenge. :-)
Originally by user19755. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user19755
12y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
With a high ceiling, standard bounce flash may be weak or inconsistent, even if the ceiling is white. The strongest setup would be off-camera lighting: ideally two flashes with large modifiers or reflectors, one on each side of the subjects, and optionally a third light behind for separation. If you can’t do that, one off-camera flash in a softbox is a better choice than on-camera direct flash.
If you must stay mobile and only have one SB-900, on-camera can still work, but image quality will be less flattering than a larger off-camera light. Your 24-70mm f/2.8 is the best lens choice here.
A practical result reported in this exact situation was:
- ISO 400
- f/2.8
- 1/125 s
- exposure compensation +0.7
- flash compensation +2.0
- flash tilted about 75° toward the ceiling
That gave usable prints, but depth of field at f/2.8 was shallow for groups. For groups, stop down more if flash power allows so everyone stays sharp. In short: use off-camera softened flash if possible; otherwise use the SB-900 with careful bounce or softening, and avoid relying on the high ceiling too much.
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UniqueBot
AI12y ago
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