More Lighting Techniques For Event Photography

More Lighting Techniques For Event Photography

by William Lulow

When you are asked to cover an event like a corporate meeting, party or even just a private party, you could show up with your camera around your neck with a flash on top of it and certainly get pictures of the people there. Or, you could bring along some extra lights to get some much more interesting shots that would make the event really come to life.

Lighting is what drives a photograph’s impact. Light from a flash mounted on top of a camera is very limited in what it can do. These days there are a number of ways you could employ extra lights when shooting an event that will make your pictures really stand out. Here are some examples of events I have shot all using two, three or even more lights. This image was made with a light off camera to the right to light the woman and the flash on the camera lighting the man:

This image was made with one off-camera light. The main light on the camera was turned off to create the shadow figures framing the subjects.

This image was made also using just an off-camera light with the main light on the camera turned off to create the shadow area framing the main subject.

Each of these examples were made with at least two lights (except for the last one here which only used one light). I start with one on top of the camera. I always use that during an event because even on the off chance that my other lights don’t fire, I will always have the main subject lit correctly. I now use my MONOLIGHTS as additional lights instead of my older speedlights which each needed a battery attached and a radio hook up. Today, my camera setup looks like this:

This is a double flash (hotshoe) bracket I found which allows me to mount my camera speedlight as well as the flash trigger to use my other lights. I can use as many additional lights as I think I might need to get really great effects at events. It also works if there are multiple rooms that need coverage during the same event. I usually try to position these around the venue so that I can cover more than just a few spots of action within the event itself. This is all accomplished with the use of the radio flash trigger. As long as I am within the distance covered by it, my lights will fire when I need them. I am also able to switch them on or off from the camera position and do the same with the on-camera flash. So, the results are almost endless.

I have decided to use the Westcott Monolights as my secondary lighting:

I have been experimenting with these and they work fabulously. And whereas my speed lights really didn’t have any light modifiers that worked well, these have some honey-comb light directors that keep the light from spilling on to any nearby subjects. Here’s another image showing one position of two extra lights to cover an event:

Once you position your extra lights, you can then move about the room and if you keep one light behind your subject it will create a nice HALO or EDGE LIGHT effect. Your subject will then be lit by the flash on the camera while the others provide highlights, thereby making the lighting much more interesting.

My goal, when photographing events is to try to create some more creative images around the action that is taking place that is closer to my actual, studio setup work.

I publish these articles on lighting for events from time to time and cover many updates as I discover new and different ways to get really creative results with basic coverage types of photoshoots.