Off Camera Flash And the Event Photographer

I have never quite decided what an event photographer is. Or what an event photographer does.

An infantry assault over open ground in the face of machine guns is an event - likewise a wedding is an event, similar to the infantry assault, but with the officers up at the front...and generally at a wedding the machine gun fields of fire overlap more...

So what does an event photographer need - besides nerve, a camera, and a hip flask? Well they either need a long lens to stay out of the way or a short lens and a flash to get in amongst it. Those of you given to fits of horror at the thought of flash may be excused - you are artists and we make allowance for you. The rest of you need to see what is actually going on.

Nearly every serious camera has some form of hot-shoe connection on it. This can be the place to put your flash if you want the light to blast straight forward. Good for police mug shots but a bit limiting for some other subjects. That hot-shoe connection is a useful place, however, to base a wireless control for your flash - and then you are as free as the air to place it anywhere that helps.

Hahnel, Promaster, Yongnuo, Pocket Wizard, and a dozen other small manufacturers make wireless flash triggers that do the job. The expensive versions have TTL connection between the flash and the camera while the economical models just send a "fire now" signal to the flash gun and you have to do all the power setting on the flash yourself.

This is not onerous on some flashes - you can lock Nikon, Fujifilm, or Canon flashes into "manual" mode and then use the button or dial control on the flash to go from 1/1 power down to 1/64 power. You get a quick feedback from the LCD screen and soon recognise how much power you need.

The greatest joy of this unleashed approach is that you can operate a light camera with one hand and then hold the flash in peculiar and particular positions to punch light into the scene. You can even abandon it to point in out of reach - as long as you can prop up the rig.
No-end of scenes benefit from fill flash - in some cases even to the extent that the fill becomes the dominant light.

If you free yourself from the top of the camera you can light anything!

Wireless Connections VS Connectionless Wires - Hahnel et al.

A general rule of military operations is to keep things as simple as possible - if there is less to go wrong less will go wrong. It will still go wrong, mind, but the area that you'll need to fix will be smaller.

For years I have suggested this to people who want to fire flash guns somewhere other than on the hot shoe of the camera. The choices have been:

1. PC cable from the camera to the flash gun. PC Socket or hit shoe adapter.
2. Infrared transmitter on the top of the camera and infrared receiver in the flash gun.
3. Infrared code from the on-camera flash and infrared receiver in the flash gun.
4. Radio transmitter on top of the camera and radio receiver into which the flash gun plugs.
5. Radio transmitter built into the camera and radio receiver built into the flash gun.

Old hands will recognise the proprietary system their camera operates on - some Nikon cameras  will work with No.3 and the Canon EOS 5D Mk III will do the No.5 with the appropriate flash gun. These people are catered for so they can go to the coffee shop now and wait.

The rest of us have to choose a system that will be simplest and most reliable for our circumstances:

1. If you are in a studio that has fixed lights and camera - and there are such things - and you can route a PC cord to all the lights, then do so. As long as you are not going to clothesline yourself with the wire you have a foolproof hard-wired connection.

2. If you are always moving about your studio in the half-dark and the lights are also being shifted, opt for an IR or radio trigger and make your life easier and safer.

3. If you are going to shoot outside with the flash gun at variable distances and positions choose a radio system. The IR might work but might be blinded and/or intermittent in bright sunshine.

4. If you are faced with the choice of using a system that gives a go/no go signal to the flash gun or one that has a radio frequency TTL conversation going on between the camera and the flash gun, consider whether TTL is going to be absolutely necessary.

The price you pay for it is extra complexity and increased battery usage - but sometimes the extra control that you can exercise from the camera position is worth it.

It will be larger and pricier than the go/no go wireless version.

Note: for any of the electrical systems take note of the battery requirements - opt for the ones that use commonly-available batteries. ALWAYS carry spare batteries - reliability of these systems is fine if there is enough voltage.

If you can do what you want to do without flash or with a folding reflector then you have eliminated one more complexity. Mind you, ask the photo assistant who is tasked with holding a 5' x 6' reflector at the beach when the sea breeze picks up what they think of your decision....

Sun On A Stick - Lastolite

I came from a province in Canada where the sun only shines two times a year - and one of those times is in the middle of the night so if you get up late you miss it. It was so gloomy the grizzly bears were fitted with fog lights so they could find the campers in the dark.


Imagine my pleasure to find Western Australian weather. No more troubles with gloomy skies at weddings. All sunshine and bluebirds. Yeah - all sunshine until 1: The clouds sock in, 2: Those bluebirds are nesting magpies, and 3: The bridal couple want to be fashion stars. Not gas giants or dead dwarf stars either...

The bird problem is still with us, because you can't shoot them. So is the bridal couple problem, because you can. We can't solve these, but we can banish the clouds. Come into the shop and have a look at the Lastolite soft boxes.

I use a Nikon D300 with an SB700 flash on the top and a Gary Fong Lightsphere on top of that. It throws fill light in beautifully from the front if there is some form of main light coming from another direction. Here's where the Lastolite Sun On A Stick comes in. I put a Lastolite Ezy-Box softbox on a Nikon SB600 flash and this on the end of a Lastolite extension pole. My assistant, Igor, acts as the lighting man, moving as directed to throw main shots onto the bridal couple if there is no sunlight to illuminate them. He can functionin under eaves, trees, or railway bridges. Also inside dim old churches - the softbox light coming off the top of the pole is not too harsh in these delicate environments.

At this point I must record my wonder at being prohibited flash in one religious venue upon the grounds that it would disturb the sanctity of the affair. I privately reflected that the Proprietor of the church was  responsible for the entire solar system and everything out past that and so far kept the Sun shining without too much trouble...but then the mother of the bride had a series of short words with the minister and the objection was withdrawn. Remember that at your next wedding - if you cannot get the Royal Marines, get the mother of the bride.

Back to the light. The Nikon system of IR control for the outboard flash works well inside a building but might be fooled by high light levels outside. If this is a problem, look for one of the Pocket Wizard TTL control box systems - you'll never have triggering troubles. If you are a Canon user, remember that the new Canon 600 flash has an inbuilt radio receiver. However you do it, you get to control how intense the outboard light is from the camera position - as long as you and your light operator understand what you are trying to achieve you can get a real studio effect in the most confused light. This is a great way to cope with the dappled mess you find under trees and in Gazebos.

Small Note: In the dear old film days we tried this with a Radio Slave outfit and Metz 45 flashes and sometimes it worked. But I had to communicate the instructions to Igor across the void by means of hand signals and pre-arranged letters on the Metz flashes - it was all very crude. Now I can dial what I want from down the front and he just moves into position. It is really the secret to success for shots at receptions of speeches and dances, though surprisingly the frontal flash still looks better for the cake cutting.

Final Note: If you are a wedding worker who never intrudes into the sanctity of the ceremony and always stands off to the side with a 70-200 lens and falls into a gasping fit when the idea of flash is suggested....well fall over that way and don't get in my way. I have a flash and sharp elbows and nobody is going to get between me and bride. She is going to be illuminated if it kills her.