Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Technique Tuesday: Fast, Easy Event Lighting

Good Morning Everybody,

Indy Dunes2I have to tell you, it's been a whirlwind around here all day yesterday and all day today. We pull out bright and early tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. and are heading up to northern Indiana. We’re taking a “round robin” weeklong trip on the way to our wedding in Crystal Lake, Michigan this coming weekend.

The game plan is to see the beautiful Indiana Dunes (above) – a site my wife has been wanting me to see for many years – and then spending evening in that area. The next day we planned ahead up to Grand Rapids and catch up with my good buddy and marketing guru, Chuck Lewis, and who has been featured here DigitalProTalk a few times. As a matter fact, will have Chuck scheduled as a Webcast guest later on in July. I'll keep you posted as to the details.

MichiganAfter our Grand Rapids stop on Thursday we travel the rest of the way up to Crystal Lake near Frankfort Michigan where the wedding will be taking place.  Actually, once we get up to Frankfort, Michigan, we actually get to catch our breath. We've been invited the photograph the rehearsal dinner on Friday.  Saturday is the big day but should really go smoothly.  After the Sunday brunch the following day will continue our travels through Michigan.

In any event, trying to get all the loose ends tied together before heading out on the seven-day trip can be a little daunting – particularly since we have so many different, non-related activities scheduled in these next seven days. And, somehow or another I need to continue working on the book so I don't fall behind. I keep thinking, “If I only make it through June and the first couple days of July, I'm home free.” I smile as I say that knowing that it seems things never really seen the slowdown around here. But it's always exciting and always an adventure. I just keep trying to keep to smiling through it all ;~)

Fast, Easy Event Lighting

On that note gang, why don’t we get on with today's Technique Tuesday. I'm pretty excited about today's post because I want to review with you some new lighting techniques that we just instituted at a recent wedding. I've mentioned that several times here at DigitalProTalk that the new high ISO cameras offer us all kinds of easy, efficient lighting opportunities when photographing our events. That’s what I want to talk about today.  And, I have to tell you, after this past Saturday's shoot, I am more stoked than ever to make these lighting changes to all my upcoming events.

The bottom line is this – this weekend everything went as smooth as silk and we got some great results. Why not hit the PLAY button below and I'll share with you the lighting techniques that I’ll be using from this point forward on all of our events. I promise you – it’s a great tutorial.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. I'm glad I was able to get the post up early because it's back to work for me. I'm actually seeing the light at the end of the tunnel so hopefully by this evening we will be good to go for early departure tomorrow morning.

How about I plan to see everybody again soon right here at DigitalProTalk.

Have a great day, – David

7 comments:

  1. Test Comment for documentation.

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  2. What changes would you suggest for this light setup in a single story bslllroom lower ceiling where lights are not able to be so high?

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  3. I love Charlevoix. The town is beautiful this time of year .


    Mike

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  4. David, I love the cross lighting and use it often, with on-camera fill. But to my taste, you've got yours too hot, and you've lost all of the atmosphere of the event lighting. That beautiful blue ceiling combined with the orange of the rest of the tungsten makes a beautiful palette to photograph against, as seen in your initial photo. Pull the cross lighting back a bit and/or gel them to match the room lighting scheme. I would have gone blue in this instance, with about 2/3 or a stop down from the main exposure. Then you can use the on-camera to bring up the exposure, and yet you don't end up flat lighting. Don't gel the on-camera and white balance for flash...and you don't kill the beautiful mood. Crosslighting is exciting, but not at the expense of an ambience killing nuke. 30 degree grids in that room would probably also help keep the beams hottest on the dance floor and prevent the flat lighting of the walls and ceiling. Overall, I like your results and suggestions better than the single on-camera blast style, but it can be greatly improved by balancing a bit to keep some room lighting atmosphere.

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  5. Do you diffuse those room lights at all? If so, how? Great presentation, David.

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