Technique for using 430X with high ceilings

Shooting with: Digital Rebel XS, EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS, Speedlite 430EX II


I'm going to be attending a retirement party for a coworker this week. It's being held in the standard conference room/banquet facility, so the ceilings will be too high to bounce a flash off. So what's the best technique for capturing shots that aren't completely washed out from a direct flash (flash direction, settings, etc.)? It will be similar to a wedding where there's probably some shots from a distance and some close up. I doubt the lighting will be sufficient for shots without flash, and even if they are, it would probably be something like f/2.8, ISO1600 which proves difficult.


ETA: lens

Have you thought about shooting David Hobby's style with "on-axis fill"? (Canon version anyhow, he shoots Nikon).


It's about using hand held speedlight away from camera body as key lighting (your 430EXII), and the on-axis flash (can be the pop-up flash) to light up the shadows. This creates dimension and a nice "3D effect" as he puts it, and creates real depth in the portraits as opposed to a 2D flat look (you can see great examples on link below).


Here's an introduction post, andthis articletalks about how he used it on assignment.


The way he sets it up, even though it's off camera it still relies on TTL via cord. So once you have the settings right you can just go "Run and Gun" as he puts it [:)]


*edit* - You also would want to diffuse your key light to reduce specular highlights and get softer lighting. Handheld, I would recommend Lumiquest SBIII (or SBII)

You could always buy a light diffusing-thingy that attaches to your flash if there is nothing else to bounce off of without giving you a crazy color cast.. If you want to stick with what you got, pull the white card on your flash up about a third with the flash pointed up and see if that doesn

Edit: skip what I typed and listen to the other dude. I must type slower than I thought.


You could always buy a light diffusing-thingy that attaches to your flash if there is nothing else to bounce off of without giving you a crazy color cast.. If you want to stick with what you got, pull the white card on your flash up about a third with the flash pointed up and see if that doesn

Thanks for the idea...going to take a look at it. Although I think using off-camera flash could be involved for this amateur.


I should have added...what do professionals do? You always see photographers at evens with high ceilings (awards shows, wedding receptions, etc.) or no ceilings at all (red carpets, sporting events) that have their flashes mounted on-camera. I assume these pictures must come out looking great. Or do they just live with the direct flash look?

Pros take their 1dsIII and add noise in post to make it look authentic:)

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Originally Posted by andnowimbroke

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Edit: skip what I typed and listen to the other dude. I must type slower than I thought.

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And here I was thinking..."wait a minute!! I don't think that I'm that bad!!" haha [;)]

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Originally Posted by davideglasgow

Although I think using off-camera flash could be involved for this amateur.

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It's "off-camera", but technically exactly the same as having it on camera because it's connected via the TTL cord. So the only difference is that you will be holding it out left and high with your left arm and the camera in your right hand. The direction of the light is the only thing that changes.


The difficult part is the initial settings. You are compensating your popup flash to be about 1-2 stops below whatever your 430exII decides to be proper lighting. For details on that, reading the manual would probably be a good place to start.

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Originally Posted by davideglasgow

I should have added...what do professionals do? You always see photographers at evens with high ceilings (awards shows, wedding receptions, etc.) or no ceilings at all (red carpets, sporting events) that have their flashes mounted on-camera. I assume these pictures must come out looking great. Or do they just live with the direct flash look?

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I'm only speculating here, but Award shows and Sporting events are typically well lit as is. So I'd think the flash is used more for fill than as key (specular highlights are relatively non-existant when used as fill). If it is used as key it may be more along the lines of "Mediocre photos, rather than No photos at all" (not always).
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Speedliting.com is a good source too. Has a new hour long video near the top of the page to help with some basics

Don't spend your money on a Lightsphere contraption as I bought two full systems from Gary Fong and they are expensive for what they are. They add a lot of weight to the end of your flash's swivel head where if you are moving through a crowd it will quickly fall off, get lost and most importantly get in the way of doing any other work. I lost one dome top and then I lost the main part of the rubber bowl where I could never find it. 100's of dollars lost plus it zaps the power of your flash when you need light at more of a distance. Another fact you will spend more time telling guests what it is and how it works then shooting. Major drawback! The less attention I get the better when I'm working unless its a pretty girl. If you're going to get a diffuser I'd recommend the smaller Omni Bounce unit. Lower dollar item with similar results. Next issue is the type of lighting that will be seen at this event. Most of the time its the tungsten lighting and its the most obtrusive orange/amber lighting available. Canon cameras never seem to do a good job capturing the proper white balance in these conditions plus you want to match up your flashes light to the surrounding light as much as you can. No point in having a orange background with your subject a whitish blue. Solution, buy a photography gel in the proper amber color then cut it down and insert it into the Omni-Bounce unit. Or you could buy their amber colored unit for shooting in tungsten lighting conditions. Both will do a better job then just using the flash alone.


Also, like mentioned before drag the shutter a bit which means set a little lower shutter speed to capture more light in the background but let the flash light up your subject which I like to select that power option. I used to go into events already set up in camera manual mode, flash manual mode, manual focus, lens set to around f/4, ISO 800 or 1600 depending on the amount of light, amber gel strapped to the flash, shutter set at 1/30 to 1/50 of a sec, Image stabilization on if the lens has it and then adjust from there to get the results you want. Also pay with WB but keep it in the higher numbers. Go in early and take test shots until you get comfortable with the right combination. Sometimes I had to take multiple pictures of the same shot to get it right at first or if the lighting changes from place to place. People will usually understand and pose for multiple shots when needed. Zoom in on the shoot after you take it and make sure everyone's eye's are open.


Another solution that works pretty good is to turn down your flash with its compensation adjustment. Kind of use it like a fill flash where you can get good results with it facing directly forward. You will want to gel the 430EX because like I mentioned there will most likely be a big difference in color temperature.


I have years of experience shooting this type of stuff where part of my full time newspaper job unfortunately included me shooting many, many indoor activities like high society balls, meetings, dances, award ceremonies, luncheons, banquets and etc and these are some things that I had to learn on my own.

I second these suggestions... great advise. I use a Demb flash card mounted with the head of my flash swiveled 90 degrees. I can go from landscape to portrait and still maintain a lightsource very close above the axis of the camera to help prevent side shadowing. The demb diffuser softens the forward light and cuts it about a stop. It also allows a large majority of light to bounce around in the room adding to the ambient. I always gel. I have CTO in 3 different flavors but usually stack 1/4 CTO until I get the WB I need. Midwest Photo Exchage is a good place to order sheets. I cut my own, rather than buy Rosco sample packs. I use old Quantaray 9550 heads which have a wide angle diffuser great for holding the gels. ProMaster carries the 5750 series which is identical. I shoot manual ISO 800 mostly. f4 @ 1/125th is a great place to start. Big tip: aperture controls the amount of flash light coming into the camera, shutter speed controls the amount of ambient and ISO controls both. F4 on full frame is a bit shallow so flash power has to be compensated up when increasing aperture. If more ambient is needed then I simply back down the shutter speed. Personally, I don;t like to drag the shutter because you can get trails if the ambient is too bright. It takes steady hands and very good technique to get great results with that method. What I usually do is try to get a 1/2-1 EV underexposed image without flash first. If I can get that comfortably with ISO 800 and shutter no slower than 1/60th I'm good to go. I'll add flash bounced if I can or deflected from the Demb diffuser and dial in the aperature for good depth of field/exposure. Always try to keep things simple for yourself and remember that any sort of practice in preparation makes your job easier and more enjoyable.