My friend asked me to take some shots of his company Christmas party later today. This will be a first for me shooting people and I am very much a novice to using lighting other than natural. I was told that I will probably be shooting couples and small groups as they enter the party. I will be shooting with my D90. I have a SB600 with a stand and umbella and a medium Starlite softbox with 1000w bulbs. I would be very grateful for any advice. Thanks in advance.
Bryce
I dont have much experience myself but since no one has replied yet. I would find a part of the room where you can set up. Get the guests to step over to your area and try a 45 degree angle of your umbrella or softbox (use one light source). Get there early and so some test shots to get the right exposure, subject to light distance, etc. Get the guests to come to you so have consistent results. I have no experience with bulbs so I would use a strobe you are familiar with.
If you need to move around the party, use a diffuser and perhaps a bounce card or both.
Now that I have given you advice, I am sure others will pipe in to correct me or offer better
Shooting with strobe (SB600) and continuous (Starlite) together will be problematic if you don't know what you are doing.
As a novice, I would recommend you use the Starlite softbox fairly close (approx 1.5 - 2X size of the box) to your subjects. That's IF you and everyone else can tolerate the heat by the end of the evening. It will provide a decent light that the you can readily see on your subjects faces. This will allow you to position them properly for the most flattering shot. You can also use automatic settings on your camera and more easily adjust the light to get the best visual balance with the background or ambient exposure.
One strobe (SB600) will give you a pretty harsh look and if you haven't done this much you will struggle to get settings and balance right, especially if you get off camera where you need to be if you don't want Xmas mugshots.
Thanks you for the advice. I have a Gary Fong Lightsphere for a diffuser. Its good I posted something up or I would probably have tried using both light sources together.
Keep it simple. Set up your strobe and your umbrella. Position it head on to the couples, with your camera next to the light stand. Raise the strobe/umbrella so that it's about 2-3' above your camera. This will give you an effective, simple setup.
I have another question if I may as this is all new to me. Why not use the strobe and the softbox together? I do have gels to even out the WB of the strobe to the rest of the lighting.
I have another question if I may as this is all new to me. Why not use the strobe and the softbox together? I do have gels to even out the WB of the strobe to the rest of the lighting.
Thanks
There's no reason you can't. You can use mixed light sources by adding CTO gels to your strobe (or CTB to your tungsten light) just note that the color temp. will never be exact....close but not exact. This usually isn't a big deal as a little bit of extra "warm" or "cool" light in a shot can often make the shot look better.
My friend asked me to take some shots of his company Christmas party later today. This will be a first for me shooting people and I am very much a novice to using lighting other than natural.
Keep it simple and well within your comfort zone. Your obligation is people pictures; this is not experimentation time. I'd lean to flash on camera, focusing on the kind of verbal interplay that dives happy expressions.
