Shooting outdoor evening cocktail party

In the past, I've shot parties by bouncing my speedlight off the ceiling. This weekend, the venue is a small outdoor patio. There is no ceiling, though I could bounce off the wall of the building, but that would mean bringing people to me rather than shooting them where they are. I prefer diffuse light to a direct shot from an on-camera flash.

I can put a speedlight on a stand in the corner, high up and pointed directly down toward the center of the crowd. The Phottix trigger is TTL, so that works in theory if I get people to face the corner for the shot. My preference would be to use a white umbrella diffuser on the light stand, shooting the flash through the cloth, but I won't know until that night if the light is strong enough to survive getting through the diffuser to light up candids up to 20 feet away.

Also, I have two speedlights, and two stands, but wouldn't know where to put the second one.

Any tips from you professionals about this set up? Keep in mind that I'm also the host of this party, so I don't want to carry both a DSLR and second off-camera speedlight in my other hand.

If I have to, however, I'll just put the speedlight on the camera and point it at the subjects with the diffuser on. Or maybe I'll buy one of those bendable white plastic light bouncers, or a Fongdong.

Best option?

WRS

How many Phottix triggers do you have? Can you run both speedlights off of triggers, located on stands at adjacent corners facing towards each other (but pointed down)?

I have one trigger and three remotes for the Phottix. I thought about your idea, but there's really no good place to put the second speedlight just because of traffic and the structure of the patio, pergola, adjacent deck, etc. Maybe I could strap the second one to a support for the upper deck?

Have you considered a flashbender kind of modifier? About Rogue FlashBenders - Rogue Photographic Design

Or, some Fong tupperware? The Gary Fong Lightsphere Speed Snoot Flash Speedlight Accessory.

Yes, I was looking at both of those at a Raleigh camera store this afternoon. The Rogue is a definite possibility.

Tonight at home I put the speedlight on a stand, aimed it through a white umbrella, and did test shots on the patio. My wife said, "so that thing's going to be flashing like that during the party?"

End of discussion. I'm to make all my shots during the daylight portion of the party only.

Blade Canyon said:

End of discussion. I'm to make all my shots during the daylight portion of the party only.

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Doh! I hate when that happens and all the planning gets shut down.

I did learn one important thing about shooting this way: If the speedlight is shooting through the umbrella, then the speedlight's auto-focus assist light cannot help you. It was tough getting auto-focus to work on the dark patio. For that reason alone, shooting with the speedlight mounted on camera would be the only way to go.

If the party is small, and depending on the size of the venue, the umbrella/stand can seem intrusive. Otherwise it would be helpful if you'd like to light the background and not just the main subject(s).

A modified speedlight on camera is my go-to for event shooting. Run & Gun.

singlerosa said:

Have you considered a flashbender kind of modifier? About Rogue FlashBenders - Rogue Photographic Design

Click to expand...

Got the smaller reflector that can convert to a softbox. Haven't tested it yet, but will tonight. Thanks!

Thanks for all the help. I did play around with the Rogue Flashbender, but did not want to carry that around. In the end, with no ceiling or walls to bounce the flash from, I just fell back on the good old Stoffen (Sto-Fen?) plastic cap diffuser for the speedlight, angling it at 45 degrees to make the light source as big as possible (as I was taught in a class). I was pleased with the results, though it's not as pleasing for faces as flash bounced off ceilings or walls.



FWIW, when I tested the Flashbender against the Stoffen in that situation the night before the party, there was almost no difference at all.

Blade Canyon said:

Thanks for all the help. I did play around with the Rogue Flashbender, but did not want to carry that around. In the end, with no ceiling or walls to bounce the flash from, I just fell back on the good old Stoffen (Sto-Fen?) plastic cap diffuser for the speedlight, angling it at 45 degrees to make the light source as big as possible (as I was taught in a class). I was pleased with the results, though it's not as pleasing for faces as flash bounced off ceilings or walls.

View attachment 180151

FWIW, when I tested the Flashbender against the Stoffen in that situation the night before the party, there was almost no difference at all.

Click to expand...

Interesting, at least to me.

I have the plastic cap diffuser, but have been considering the Rogue Flashbender kit. I was a guest at an outdoor event last night where the event photogs were all using Flashbenders if they weren't stationary (in which case they were using a pair of reflected umbrellas), and so I've been interested to see a side-by-side comparison of the two. The picture you attached though is with the diffuser cap and not the Flashbender, correct?

RocketCowboy said:

Interesting, at least to me.

I have the plastic cap diffuser, but have been considering the Rogue Flashbender kit. I was a guest at an outdoor event last night where the event photogs were all using Flashbenders if they weren't stationary (in which case they were using a pair of reflected umbrellas), and so I've been interested to see a side-by-side comparison of the two. The picture you attached though is with the diffuser cap and not the Flashbender, correct?

Click to expand...

Yes, the pic was with the Stoffen. Here are some test pics I did the night before the party with my very patient wife. Remember, the whole problem here was there was no ceiling or wall to use to bounce the flash. All metering was TTL and I didn't adjust the levels in post.











For some reason, my pics always look grainy after being run through the Nikonites site.