More About Photographing Events

More About Photographing Events

By William Lulow

As a follow up to the last blog, I recently had to shoot a fashion show for Lord & Taylor here in Eastchester, NY. Usually when I shoot any type of event, I try to scout out the location first so that I can get an idea of how I want to set up my lighting. Here, I knew that there would be some kind of runway, but I didn’t know exactly where it would be until the workers began setting it up. So, here was the initial location:

But before I figured out exactly where to place my lights, I had to see where the models were going to be so that I could see how the light would hit them.

Note: I also want to state, for the record, that I am a studio photographer who believes in the power of studio lighting to record almost anything these days. So, I like to use artificial light whenever I shoot almost anything. This does not mean that I completely disdain natural light, which is most often the most beautiful. But as a commercial photographer who produces images that people use to sell things, people or ideas, lighting is critical. When you are indoors at an event, you cannot use natural light in each and every instance, because it is very difficult to control it. You might try by using your knowledge of what has become known as the “triangle of exposure” – shutter speed, aperture and ISO setting. But I don’t think the results would be as dramatic.

This was the initial placement. One light to the left and the other to the right. This was before they set up the background correctly.

I then made a few test shots with both the accent lights and my main light which was attached to the camera. So, there were three lights illuminating the scene here. This is the rig I use on the camera:

There are many bounce reflectors on the market, but I like this one for several reasons. (1) It is very light weight and easy to set up. (2) It is square and thus gives a very broad bounce to the light (3) The lamp-to-subject distance is always within range to give me fairly intense exposures, unlike bouncing the flash off a ceiling, for example. Here, it is always controlled and I can put it right where it is needed the most. Many photographers bounce their portable flash units off a ceiling. And although it is true that the ceiling kind of acts as a very large light source, you don’t have the same intensity that you get from a rig like this. Here most of the light is bounced off the reflector and a little bit gets out the sides as well. This bounce rig also acts to keep the main light about one f/stop less than my other units, thus making the accent lights reproduce as pure white in the image.

Here’s an example of what I mean:

In this shot, you can see the effects of the accent lights on the sides of the model. The hair has highlights as well as the pant legs. Also, note that the background has no shadow. That is because the main light is kept very soft.

Here is another example. Note how the accent lights make the whole picture just pop.

All of this can easily be done on location with a minimum of lighting equipment. When I do an event like this, I carry one suitcase on wheels for the lights and the batteries, one backpack for my cameras, lenses and radios and two light stands. Sometimes I will carry a tripod or monopod, but not always. This is a very flexible setup for doing locations and adding some interesting lighting to your shots.