Do you use a flash bracket at weddings?

JayClark79 · January 4, 2010

Im just wondering how many people use a flash bracket at weddings VS just a flash mounted on top of the camera?

jeffreaux2 · January 4, 2010

JayClark79 wrote:

Im just wondering how many people use a flash bracket at weddings VS just a flash mounted on top of the camera?

I use neither.

I either hand hold flash or use it aloft on a monopod.

tenoverthenose · January 4, 2010

I used to use one and I liked it for what it was. But it added too much bulk for me at the end of the day and I generally like my flash off camera anyway. One more thing I need to sell....

mmmatt · January 4, 2010

Indoors I bounce 90% of the time and keep my flash right on the shoe. Outdoors I shoot off camera 70% of the time for posed stuff, and about 20% ambient. Outdoor services I shoot ambient whenever I can but otherwise use a bracket. So, bracket for outdoor services unless I have pretty good ambient light, bracket indoors if I cant bounce the room which is very rare, and bracket for posed stuff if for some reason I cant do off camera.

I hate using brackets and as much as I would like to throw them all away I just need to use them sometimes.

Matt

Agnieszka · January 4, 2010

Nope, not me ... I even got one as a gift once (I feel guilty that I never used it ... but then ... I never asked for it either ...).

Blurmore · January 4, 2010

Not since I was shooting a Hasse and a Mamiya C330.

JayClark79 · January 4, 2010

ok based on the responces in this forum i cancelled the order i placed earlier this afternoon for a bracket.... ill just bounce

(im not shooting a wedding exactly, my stepmoms brother and his wife are renuing his vows for thier 30th wedding anniversary and i was asked to shoot it)

mmmatt · January 4, 2010

JayClark79 wrote:

ok based on the responces in this forum i cancelled the order i placed earlier this afternoon for a bracket.... ill just bounce

(im not shooting a wedding exactly, my stepmoms brother and his wife are renuing his vows for thier 30th wedding anniversary and i was asked to shoot it)

Do you normally bounce with your 383's? TTL is helpful there. do you have auto thrystors on the 383's... that should do it. If the room is dim and anywhere near large you will have troubles shooting under 1600 iso. Are you satisfied with the high iso performance on your rebel?

I'm just being the devils advocate here! Bouncing ceilings isn't too big a deal for the average camera in an 8-10 foot whiteish ceiling, but if you are shooting against walls or in a big room you will need fast glass, lots of flash power, and good high iso performance. If this is an important event for you I would recommend getting a bracket unless you are sure you can pull of the bounce. Of course, you can always shoot with a flash on camera pointing forward and just not shoot vertical... nbd other than the potential for having to do some red-eye removal in post.

Matt

jeffreaux2 · January 4, 2010

mmmatt wrote:

Do you normally bounce with your 383's? TTL is helpful there. do you have auto thrystors on the 383's... that should do it. If the room is dim and anywhere near large you will have troubles shooting under 1600 iso. Are you satisfied with the high iso performance on your rebel?

I'm just being the devils advocate here! Bouncing ceilings isn't too big a deal for the average camera in an 8-10 foot whiteish ceiling, but if you are shooting against walls or in a big room you will need fast glass, lots of flash power, and good high iso performance. If this is an important event for you I would recommend getting a bracket unless you are sure you can pull of the bounce. Of course, you can always shoot with a flash on camera pointing forward and just not shoot vertical... nbd other than the potential for having to do some red-eye removal in post.

Matt

FWIW...

I shot several weddings with a pair of Rebel XTI (400D) before I got the 50D. The noise was there, but not a huge issue. Of course I did choose the lowest possible ISO that I dared get away with.

I had help with my most recent wedding and my second shooter used a Rebel XT. I was actually suprised at it's ISO1600 performance. Not bad with the noise at all!!! I was using my 50D(with 17-55 F2.8IS) AND XTi (with 70-200F2.8IS). I had lent an extra 17-55 F2.8IS to the second shooter. This was an outdoor wedding after dark and we shot ISO 1600 on all of the cameras.

I would think that the ISO1600 noise for the Rebel T1i would fall somewhere between the XT and 50D...at worst.

That said, you might consider renting or borrowing a 17-55 F2.8 IS. Your 50mm will probably be your only useable lens for this situation...and I find that lens to be too hit or miss (with focusing)for such an event. You can toy with the idea of using flash, but if this is taking place in a church there is probably ample ambient light IF...IF they will only TURN them on. Ask about that....or go to the venue ahead of time to get a feel for what you can and can't get away with.

l.k.madison · January 5, 2010

jeffreaux2 wrote:

FWIW...

I shot several weddings with a pair of Rebel XTI (400D) before I got the 50D. The noise was there, but not a huge issue. Of course I did choose the lowest possible ISO that I dared get away with.

I had help with my most recent wedding and my second shooter used a Rebel XT. I was actually suprised at it's ISO1600 performance. Not bad with the noise at all!!! I was using my 50D(with 17-55 F2.8IS) AND XTi (with 70-200F2.8IS). I had lent an extra 17-55 F2.8IS to the second shooter. This was an outdoor wedding after dark and we shot ISO 1600 on all of the cameras.

I would think that the ISO1600 noise for the Rebel T1i would fall somewhere between the XT and 50D...at worst.

You were surprised at the noise because on some of those your second shooter might have squeaked in an ISO800 here and there.

sweet caroline · January 5, 2010

jeffreaux2 wrote:

I use neither.

I either hand hold flash or use it aloft on a monopod.

Ditto.

Jeremy Winterberg · January 5, 2010

I had considered getting one, but no I do not use one. Its either off camera directional or bouncing off of walls and ceilings... gotta love directional light!

I agree with the 17-55mm 2.8 IS... amazing lens, and I love any version of this lens I can find. When I shot canon I had a Promaster version glued to my 50D. And now that I'm shooting a D300 with Nikon I have the Nikkor 17-55mm 2.8G welded to my camera

.

Since this is just a renewal, and its for family, I wouldn't stress too much. They're not going to care THAT much about the quality of the pictures. Trust me, they will love whatever they get. Especially if you're doing this for free (idk if you said you were or not). The important thing is to have fun and learn from your mistakes!

Matthew Saville · January 5, 2010

JayClark79 wrote:

Im just wondering how many people use a flash bracket at weddings VS just a flash mounted on top of the camera?

Party like it's the 80's!

Every time I see someone using a flash bracket, I just laugh. It is truly the mark of someone with very little artistic skill. Of course that's just my opinionated opinion. But I have yet to see an image with direct, flash-bracket flash that struck me as artistic let alone memorable.

The only reason you'd ever need a flash bracket would be if you were shooting outdoors in bright sunlight with mottled light hitting your subject's face, in which case you're either downright stupid for posing the shot that way, OR you're not in control of the posing to begin with.

Even when there is the nastiest of sunlight on my subjects, I find that ambient still works for me. NAIL your metering / exposure and you'll be fine... Often times I'll shoot in spot metering + aperture priority, which sounds like suicide but is actually quite effective. Allow me to demonstrate:

(The groom is waiting for his bride to come up the aisle...)

(...And he shifts a little bit, seconds later, right when I have only a split second to capture the expression I want. Maybe SOME people can adjust their exposure perfectly in a fraction of a second, but I can't. And maybe some people feel it's okay to just blast them with fill-flash, but that's not my style...)

My main goal as a photographer is usually to not even have to get out my flash to begin with. But when I do use flash it's either off-camera or bounced.

=Matt=

tenoverthenose · January 5, 2010

Matthew Saville wrote:

Party like it's the 80's!

Every time I see someone using a flash bracket, I just laugh. It is truly the mark of someone with very little artistic skill. Of course that's just my opinionated opinion. But I have yet to see an image with direct, flash-bracket flash that struck me as artistic let alone memorable.

=Matt=

Ouch! Although I mostly agree with you, back when I used a flash bracket (and sadly, it wasn't in the 80s', or even the 90's) I used it to easily bounce light.

For example, shooting in really tight and dark hotel room (this is well before cameras with hi iso) and you need light. I wanted to bounce my flash off of that wall to my right, so I aim my flash that way - good thing I'm shooting this in landscape orientation. Wait now I need a portrait shot, good thing I brought my flash bracket! Just turn the camera and fire! That was the best thing about a flash bracket to me, keeping the flash aimed at the same place no matter how I had the camera orientated.

That actually happened to me. Of course now my flash is rarely above the lens, so I never encounter this situation anymore. And if it ever did, I could just hold the camera in an awkward arm bending pose, hey whatever it takes to get the shot.

Danspage · January 5, 2010

" Fyi "
"" DIGIC 4

In 2008, Canon introduced the new DIGIC 4 processor, used by the EOS 500D/Rebel T1i, EOS 50D and EOS 5D Mark II, as well as some new PowerShot cameras.
Dual DIGIC 4 processors are used in the EOS 7D & EOS-1D Mark IV.

Canon claims improvements such as:

Much faster image processing when compared to previous processors
Improved noise reduction in high-ISO images
Improved performance while handling larger 14-bit RAW images ""

This DIGIC 4 works about as well in the rebel t1i at $650.00 as in the eso 7D.

Matthew Saville · January 6, 2010

tenoverthenose wrote:

Ouch! Although I mostly agree with you, back when I used a flash bracket (and sadly, it wasn't in the 80s', or even the 90's) I used it to easily bounce light.

For example, shooting in really tight and dark hotel room (this is well before cameras with hi iso) and you need light. I wanted to bounce my flash off of that wall to my right, so I aim my flash that way - good thing I'm shooting this in landscape orientation. Wait now I need a portrait shot, good thing I brought my flash bracket! Just turn the camera and fire! That was the best thing about a flash bracket to me, keeping the flash aimed at the same place no matter how I had the camera orientated.

That actually happened to me. Of course now my flash is rarely above the lens, so I never encounter this situation anymore. And if it ever did, I could just hold the camera in an awkward arm bending pose, hey whatever it takes to get the shot.

I understand what you mean, when you prefer to only rotate the camera in one direction and the wall you want to bounce off of is in the other direction, you need a bracket. But I've done just fine rotating the camera in the direction I need. With the right hand-holding technique, it's not the end of the world...

I do exaggerate when I say that flash brackets are completely useless. But I still firmly believe they are quite the un-fashion statement, if you know what I mean. They just don't look cool. I even feel okay using a Lightsphere, but not a flash bracket.

Of course, to each their own! And if the job absolutely demands such a tool, I guess you gotta use it...

=Matt=

Do you use a flash bracket at weddings?

Comments