quick graduation opinion needed...

[livin4lax09]

I'm shooting graduation this year and I have my lights set up. When I went to rehearsal today I shot a couple test shots and here's one of the shots I got. Opinions as far as the quality of light goes? I'm thinking of using my 1.4x but I really want to get these images as sharp as possible, because it's my first year doing it and I need to nail it if I want to get more business next year. The full body crop may be what parents like too...but as I said, I'd appreciate opinions. Keep in mind the graduates will actually be turned more towards the light when receiving their diploma instead of facing the camera as I am here.




thanks everyone

oh yes, I should mention at the moment I have two b800s on 15' lightstands about 25-30' apart bouncing off the white ceiling in the bench area. It's a hockey rink.

[MJS]

Why not dressed in a suit, just off to the side of the stage. The parents will know you are shooting for them. Use a short zoom and one of your portable strobes either on camera, or on some kind of strobe bracket. Your bees will be too little and too obnoxious. Sometimes keeping it simple is the best way to go. Make sure you have an extra set of batteries or something like a quantum battery for the strobe.

Good luck with it.

[livin4lax09]

no direct flash because I absolutely hate the look of direct flash because it's damn ugly. My objective is to give parents something they couldn't get by just walking in with a DSLR. When you think about the amount of flashes going off anyways, the bees won't really be much of a bother.

[Sebastian]

Brent,

If you want an accurate preview of the lighting you'll need to shoot it in the same conditions that will be present at the time of the ceremony. My main concern is that once the lights are down the subject's left side will be in very dark shadow.

[WesternGuy]

Brent, if you haven't seen it yet, you might want to look at one of the latest threads about wedding crashers stealing photographic equipment at three weddings in Texas. I am not sure if it could happen at a grad, but...

Cheers,

WesternGuy

[MonkeyWrench]

Brent,

As an amature I can't really offer you any advice but from my experience you are already doing one of the best things you can do...and that is PLAN, PLAN, and PLAN some more. Good Luck. I am sure you will do just fine.

[Greg McCary]

I don't know if this helps, but I have a proof of my son getting his diploma this year. The photog shot almost at the angle you are standing at maybe just a little more to the left. Almost at a 45% angle to the back of the principle handing off the diploma. The photog took the picture just as the principle was shaking my sons hand. The lighting where the picture was taken was fairly well balanced and there was no shadows on the left side of the face. I don't remember a flash going off either. If I had a scanner I would send you a copy. When is the graduation? You might get with the person in charge of the house lights?

[livin4lax09]

thanks for the replies...

sebastian: these are actually the conditions that are present at the graduation. THis was shot at ISO 500, f/4, 1/400, which is about 1.5 stops below ambient, so not a whole lot of ambient light is sneaking through to the left side, almost all the light is from the strobes. It's a gray floor that reflects a bit of light back up.

WesternGuy, between me and my assistant we should be able to have everything covered. I'm only taking what I need anyways. Thanks for the heads up though.

Monkey: yes that is something I have definitely been doing. Advertisements for this were drawn up and sent to the school more than half a year ago.

Greg, I'd really like to see that proof if you've got it. Shoot me an e-mail, I believe you have my address. House lights are as bright as they go, not very. I shot f/2.8 1/200 ISO 1600 I believe last year, and I really want to drop the ISO if I'm going to be printing for a lot of parents.


For reference, here is one from last year's graduation (just happens to be my ex girlfriend). I wanted a product much more professional than this one... done with on-camera and a good amount of ambient.



though I do like the framing...yeah I may bust out that 1.4x

[another view]

If you want an accurate preview of the lighting you'll need to shoot it in the same conditions that will be present at the time of the ceremony.

Very true. I'm guessing that you won't see the real conditions until shortly before you start shooting, so if something's not working you won't have much time to think about it and make the changes. I'm certainly not an expert on this but take what you're reading here and come up with a Plan B in case you need it. Plan C might even be flash-on-camera.

A couple of thoughts - is a tall, dark background going to affect your light? Are you using radio slaves? Regular optical slaves could fire your strobes from anybody's camera, and with film they could get pretty good results with whatever settings program mode throws at them (lots of latitude with color neg film).

[livin4lax09]

again, real conditions are pretty much this. I should have mentioned I graduated with this same administration in the same building, so I know the exact set-up. They don't like to change things. I have my 430ex in case anything goes wrong, but that's what today's graduation rehearsal was for. I'll be there 2 hours early as well on saturday with an assistant, so it should give me plenty of time to get everything sorted out.

yes, pocketwizards on the strobes, with 1 hardwired. Optical relays are disconnected. The accidental triggering was actually the first thought that popped into my mind.

[another view]

these are actually the conditions that are present at the graduation.

We were typing at the same time...

Grey floor - with the commercial lighting projects that I work on, I'd usually consider a floor like that as a 10% reflectance (IOW only 10% of the light shining on it gets reflected back up). It's not critical for me to be within a few percent and I try to be conservative anyway - which is probably a good idea here. What I'm saying is that once you get away from pure white, you lose any reflectance very fast so you'll lose any help from it. The shiny white paint inside a brand new fluorescent fixture is usually 86%; white walls about 70% and it goes down from there.

[another view]

again, real conditions are pretty much this

Arrgh - did it again!

Sounds like you're doing everything you can possibly do to be ready for the shoot. Good luck, let us know how it goes!

[Greg McCary]

Brent, the angle is the same as what I got. Only the one I have is a full body shot. What you have here is much better than mine. It would be nice if you could get rid of the red banner or cover it up. and that black box too.

[mjs1973]

You should put your strobe, with a huge umbrella right on the stage so it covers up the decorations, then tell everyone that you're a pro!

[livin4lax09]

You should put your strobe, with a huge umbrella right on the stage so it covers up the decorations, then tell everyone that you're a pro!

hahahahahaha I actually thought of that when I was setting up, and laughed to myself.

[Sebastian]

Arrgh - did it again!

Sounds like you're doing everything you can possibly do to be ready for the shoot. Good luck, let us know how it goes!

I second that!

[berrywise]

Going to have any problem being that far away from the action? No way anyone is going to block your view by standing or something silly?

The two graduations I've taken part in the guys just set their light stands off to sthe side of the stage so as we left the stage we had our photo take with the president/principal then.

How many graduates are there? Gonna be able to change out flash cards fast enough if they don't fit on one card (I had like 1000 kids in my h.s class).

[livin4lax09]

no, there shouldn't be a problem being that far away. I am in the front row, so I shouldn't have anyone in front of me. I am considering shooting tethered just so my assistant can see the screen and tell me exactly what number(s) corresponds to what name. I like the idea of picture with the principal, but a lot of the time what is most important (at least to the parents I have talked to) is their kids actually being handed the picture. Besides, they can get posed pictures with the principle after anyways. There's only about 200 kids in the class, I believe. such is the reason I am also considering shooting tethered.

[Greg McCary]

Just curious Brent. Will you shoot these in RAW? What will your camera settings be and what lens do you use? If you don't mind.

[livin4lax09]

jpeg, needed fast write times and a lot on a card. ISO 400, f/4, 1/320, AI Servo, Single Frame. 70-200 f/2.8. the entire thing was a ****-show. nothing really went as planned. there's only so much you can do when you get there all set up and ready to go and the administration has rearranged the chairs. I ended up shooting from the floor in front of the stage, using a freakin giant white blown out wall as my background. I'm pissed, hope the parents still buy. I think next year im going to magic arm the strobes to the ceiling and just shoot with remote cameras set on tripods.

[another view]

nothing really went as planned

There's something you can always count on! Jpeg sounds like the best option too. You'll have 200 of the same photograph (obviously 200 different people but everything else will be the same) so as long as the settings are right for the first shot, just fire away. Faster write time, more images per card, less or no post processing - all about turning it around quickly in a situation like that.

[livin4lax09]

here's one shot from the ceremony. That damned white wall is what is killing me. As you can see, I was planning on shooting from the side more and not seeing that wall at all, since it was getting a good amount of the strobe. But as I said, everything went to hell as soon as it started. this is just run through a basic action, nothing else done to it. I do like the color and rimlight though...


AHHH PHANTOM ARMS!

[berrywise]

Just remember that that majority of people don't know what makes a good photograph so if you got a lot of expressions like the one you showed you should have plenty of buyers. I like the idea of mounting the strobes in the ceiling, light the whole damn gym so you can move wherever you want.

[livin4lax09]

very true, tomorrow I will start receiving order forms back. That will be the true test of how well I've done.