Shooting Events On Location
by William Lulow
One type of job I am asked to do frequently is to shoot a corporate event or other gathering on location. This usually means that I need to go to a corporate meeting venue or other place large enough to accommodate a number of people for a corporate meeting. Sometimes the locations are in conference centers, stores, outdoors or perhaps in a client’s back yard. Wherever I go, I usually use my portable lights. My kit consists of a speedlight mounted on my camera plus two external lights that can be moved around the room to provide more interesting lighting to whatever the subject matter is.
This is what the unit attached to the camera looks like:
You will note that the flash is aimed UP at the bounce card which is approximately 5″x5″ square. It’s enough to make the light quite a bit softer without losing too much power from the light being indirect.
In one particular application, I used two extra, off-camera lights to help provide the accents. Here was the setup:
Here is one of the images from this arrangement:
You can see how the extra lights add highlights to the subject in addition to providing more light to the venue itself. In this case, I was actually working with THREE lights, but you could achieve a similar result with just one light on the camera and one off. In this case, again, the extra lights were providing accents. But you can also use them to provide light for the background.
Here is a shot that was an outdoor party at night. If I had just used the on-camera light, all the backgrounds would have been dark because light from speedlights is not as powerful as that from studio units and cannot light a background sufficiently. Here I placed one light in the background to light what was in the back of the shot:
Actually, for this image, I used two OFF-CAMERA lights and shut off the one on the camera. Otherwise the people in the front table would have been too bright and I wanted those folks with their backs to the camera to remain dark.
I usually place my lights in strategic spots around the room so that different parts of the venue can be showcased. With my mainlight mounted on the camera, I am always assured that whatever or whomever I am aiming at will be lit properly. The accent lights serve to give the images an extra bit of interest. Here are some more examples:
This was a corporate meeting with a presentation. Video presentations usually have to be shot using a slower shutter speed so that the camera’s shutter is in sync with the presentation. So this shot was set up using a tripod. Screens often have to be shot with available light because a flash’s reflection would wipe out the information on the screen.
Here, you can kind of get an idea where I placed the extra light. It was placed to the back and created all the highlights on the people dancing. The mainlight was, again, mounted right on the camera so that all the people were lit from the front.
This wasn’t a meeting, but it was a quick location shoot which I made with my portable lights, the same setup I would use for a larger venue. The accent light was placed in one of the offices to the right of the camera, and the subject was lit with my on-camera flash.
And yet another example:
This image shows the actual position of my lights to cover this bar (cocktail party) scene. The good thing about these kinds of shot is that the lights can be cropped out, if necessary to clean up the shot. Here’s another example:
In order to show the chef’s work, I turned down the power of the flash and let the ambient light take over a bit.
In order to use off-camera flash, you can either learn how to set up units as slaves, with one master, or get a radio flash triggering system. The one I use is the Pocket Wizard:
It consists of one transmitter and two or more receivers that are then connected to your other flash units with cables. For me, this is the best way to ensure that all lights will be synched together so that they will flash when you trip the shutter. Each flash unit is mounted on its own light stand and has a battery and the Pocket Wizard receiver. They can all be controlled from the camera position. I use them for my studio lights as well. Once you have a setup like this, you will see how easy it is to control multiple lights without any cables or the necessity to plug anything into the wall. One thing I always advise is to have plenty of batteries on hand and to make sure that your Lithium-ion batteries for the flash units themselves, are charged as well.
So, my basic setup always consists of at least three lights, one on the camera to provide a constant light and the others placed either as accent lights or to light up a background which would be beyond the reach of the on-camera light. This gives me flexibility to obtain some great shots of the event all lit with an extra flair.
You can then achieve a variety of results with your portable lights.
