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Archive 2016 · CTO for reception lights?

  
 
BSPhotog
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p.2 #1 · p.2 #1 · CTO for reception lights?


MRomine wrote:
Most of the time it is bare/direct. No modifiers. Small modifiers at the distance of OCF at receptions does virtually nothing so why add hem? Starting to experiment a little with ceiling bounce for OCF but I think it is going to give me too broad of a coverage.


That's been my thought but I met a guy once who swore that little <12" mini-softboxes actually did something 10' up in the air and 15' from the subject.

I often have an on-camera bounced flash during receptions. Anyone have strong feelings about a modifier there? Bounce card, something like the Rogue flashbender, any iteration of the Fong dong, etc?



Jul 07, 2016 at 11:07 PM
MRomine
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p.2 #2 · p.2 #2 · CTO for reception lights?


BSPhotog wrote:
That's been my thought but I met a guy once who swore that little <12" mini-softboxes actually did something 10' up in the air and 15' from the subject.


Yes it definitely does something, it spreads the light and reduces the output. Maybe if the room is small enough with white walls you might get some unintentional bounce but it would be pretty miniscule.

BSPhotog wrote:
I often have an on-camera bounced flash during receptions. Anyone have strong feelings about a modifier there? Bounce card, something like the Rogue flashbender, any iteration of the Fong dong, etc?


Just writing 'out loud' here, I'm sure you already know all these things.

There are a lot of caveats here. The biggest being, how close is 'close' to your subject? If you are close enough those things can soften the light a little.

We all know what a straight up ceiling bounce will do with no modifier. Broad area coverage and raccoon eyes.

Add a bounce card to the straight up ceiling bounce and you solve the raccoon eyes and still have a broad area coverage. There are all sizes of bounce cards, the very small built-in card that is only 1.5" x 2", a white index card that is about 3.5" x5", A Better Bounce Card, the Rouge Flash Bender, MagBounce etc. They all do pretty much the same thing, kick some of the light forward when the flash head is pointed straight up for ceiling bounce. Of course the bigger the bounce card the wider the forward coverage. But unless the subject is really close even the biggest one will not soften the light much.

You can get a more interesting directional look by doing a wall bounce (if you have light colored walls near by) than say just a ceiling bounce. But this does not always work well, much depends on the direction your main subject is facing and how many other people are in the shot and what direction they are all facing.

Then there are the dome diffusers that come from the OEM, Sto-Fen, MagBoob, Fong Dong etc. They all do about the same thing. Since they are translucent they send some light in every direction. Up and to all sides. That can be helpful or harmful. Depending on how you look at it. You get light bouncing everywhere that can add some fill, from the ceiling, the walls, white shirts or blouses etc. But again unless your subject is really close it wont really do much for softening the light.

It's all a matter of taste, do you like subjects that have a harsher look with light that has an edge or subjects that have more fill or something in between. Pick the modifier that gets you what you are looking for and that is fast and manageable to use at a wedding. Some of these things are so large and cumbersome to manage or they draw too much attention to mess with.



Jul 08, 2016 at 08:05 AM
BSPhotog
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p.2 #3 · p.2 #3 · CTO for reception lights?


MRomine wrote:
Yes it definitely does something, it spreads the light and reduces the output. Maybe if the room is small enough with white walls you might get some unintentional bounce but it would be pretty miniscule.

Just writing 'out loud' here, I'm sure you already know all these things.

There are a lot of caveats here. The biggest being, how close is 'close' to your subject? If you are close enough those things can soften the light a little.

We all know what a straight up ceiling bounce will do with no modifier. Broad area coverage and raccoon eyes.

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Absolutely. I've been very much in the bare flash camp and haven't messed with little modifiers much at all. That said, I'm always open to hearing if someone thinks there is a better way.



Jul 08, 2016 at 08:40 AM
MalachiConstant
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p.2 #4 · p.2 #4 · CTO for reception lights?


14 or 1/8 CTO gel, full whack is way too much for most lighting these days.

Lots of ambient seems to be running around 2800 to 3200K it seems.



Jul 08, 2016 at 09:56 AM
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