Lighting for people dog motorcycle pictures

[caz]

I have to shoot an event for dogs at a Harley dealership-bikes,dogs and there owners. What type of lighting would be best. I have the new Sony Alpha with the Sony external flash.The area I'll be working in is all windows with available light coming in on two sides. I'm worried about reflection with flash and not enough light (without flash). Should I buy a light kit? if so which one? I read about daylight fluorescents which are suppose to be cooler and more natural, what do you think HELP!

[photophorous]

I have to shoot an event for dogs at a Harley dealership-bikes,dogs and there owners. What type of lighting would be best. I have the new Sony Alpha with the Sony external flash.The area I'll be working in is all windows with available light coming in on two sides. I'm worried about reflection with flash and not enough light (without flash). Should I buy a light kit? if so which one? I read about daylight fluorescents which are suppose to be cooler and more natural, what do you think HELP!

I'm not a lighting expert, so hopefully someone will chime in on that topic. I just wanted to say that it sounds like you will have plenty of available light, and if so, that would probably be the best way to go. Dealerships I've seen have high ceilings with windows that go from floor to ceiling. If you have that on two sides, you should have plenty of light. Is there any way you can go there and take some test shots to see how much light there is? That would be the best thing, if possible.

Paul

[cyberlord]

If the two window walls don't have direct sunlight it will be fine. Direct light will be too harsh and cause shadows.

The other problem will be if the subjects are backlit. Try to keep the windows to your back and sides and you should do fine.

[another view]

I moved this to Studio/Lighting - you might find more answers here.

Usually when I want natural light to do something, Murphy's Law steps in... Either there's direct sun which will give you very harsh shadows, or it's very cloudy and the light level will be low. In the best case, you'd have north-facing windows so direct sun wouldn't be a problem, and a clear day. With that at ISO400, you might get decent enough shutter speeds but dogs don't hold still very well.

I don't think I'd want a shutter speed lower than 1/60 considering the situation (the faster the better, but it's limited by flash equipment) and with natural light even if you have a lens fast enough to do this you'll have very little depth of field - very likely too little to be acceptable.

Lighting takes a long time to master but you can get decent results for something like this fairly easily. You could buy a lighting kit with two umbrellas, but is this something you'll use often enough to justify the expense? Two mono lights with good-sized umbrellas will give you nice soft and even (not dramatic) light, and you'll be able to shoot at the fastest sync speed the camera can handle and at a moderate aperture like f8. But they're expensive...

[caz]

Thanks, and sorry for posting in the wrong area - I'm new to the site and appreciate any help I can get
One of the windows is north facing while the other is east facing. I would love to use natural light, but as you stated you just never know what Mother Nature will throw your way. I'd rather not purchase lights, because of the cost and never using them again.
Thanks for your suggestions, what about using the flash off the camera and bouncing - I'm new at this so don't laugh if that sounds crazy.

[cyberlord]

In the morning (early) there my be too much direct light through the east window, especially if it is full height and there is no window shade of some sort.

Use the window with the most light as you key light and the other window as your fill light. Even on a cloudy day if the windows are big enough (huge) you should have enough light.

You probably dont have time to learn how to use a lighting kit so forget that option for now.

Can you go to the location and shoot some test shots to see what the lighting will be like? Post some photos if you do so we can help more.

Tim