Ugly shadows from bad angle... AF360

[TBLF]

Well, I guess that's what it means to get rusty. Went to the rehearsal tonight. Found out the building has some pretty horrific low drop ceiling tiles. Poping out from an isle seat and shooting upwards will NOT be the way to go, as you can see from a sample shot...



This was with the DS & Tamron 28-70 2.8 and a Vivitar handle bracket w/Pentaxt AF360 with the diffuser in place. The built in diffuser doesn't help much. I'll have to shoot straight at them at eye level and bounce flash off the low ceilings I guess. It's over exposing a tad, and I guess I could dial down the flash a 1/2 stop, which might also lessen the shadows. Thoughts?

There is enough available light for hand helds without flash, but with the lens wide open, focus will have to be dead accurate and the white balance will be an issue.

Any tips for this challenging environment?

At least I've got the formals nailed, and was able to test the multi light setup tonight, those shot's look fine.

Tomorrow's the big day... I need all the help I can get!
--
EricV

 

[Cideway]

Bounce of the ceiling, the you can still use your lo angles, have a flash angle of about 60
--

Don't put all your eggs in one basket, use an egg carton and stop being such a poser.



GMT +9.5

 

[Chris Brace]

I'm bit of a bounce addict, but it does need to be tested or you need to be experienced, in case you run out of oompfh with a tiny flash at longer distances.

Chris

 

[carpents]

Hope this isn't too late, but the built-in on the AF360 is a wide-angle converter, not a true diffuser. There are cheap (Sto-fen for one) diffusers out there that help a bit with stuff like this, but it still helps to just bounce. Real diffusers take down your range, too.

I've also seen spectacular results with some bubble wrap taped around the head of the flash.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!
--Sean

 

[Schleiermacher]

If you bounce flash off ceiling, you might try attaching a white index card to the back of the flash with a rubber band and allowing it to extend about 3 inches up above diffuser. This will force a small percentage of the flash to bounce off the card and directly onto the faces of your subjects. It is just enough light to illumine eye sockets, etc. which can otherwise be a bit dark and shadowy when using bounce flash. The index card method is well-tested and a really nice way to round out bounce flash.
--
Schleiermacher
Pbase Supporter: http://www.pbase.com/mmathews44

 

[TBLF]

All good thoughts, thanks.

Actually, the AF360 has a shiney white shelf that come out when you pull down the diffuser. It gives you the option to shove the diffuser back in and leave the shiny white shelf sticking out. I think this is what I'll do, along with bouncing it off the ceiling.

I have a Lumiquest soft box diffuser I used to use on my AF280T, and it's pretty good but kills a lot of power and you have to booger up your flash with big swatches of Velcro, and even at that, I don't remember it staying it place very well...

I'm heading over to the Brides house around 1PM EST to get the "gettin' ready" shots. I think I'll use the FA50 1.4 and available light for most of those...we'll see what it's like when I get there.

I bought a 12 pack of Lithium AA's and will use those for the ceremony and formals until I use them up, then head for my several sets of 2700MA rechargables, hopefully not even needed with the Lithiums in the works. The Flashes may chew up some though... Good thing my lighting setup for the formals plugs into the wall!

Any last minute thoughts?

Thanks again!
--
EricV

 

[ido]

use the ceiling to defuse the light (assist with sto-fen) or use with http://www.lumiquest.com/