>
> Also I'm surprised no one mentioned using T32's off camera in Auto mode.
>
I've never really had too much luck with remote flashes in Auto Mode. They
can really interfere with each other and mess up the exposures. If they are
covering isolated areas, I suppose they wouldn't be that big of a problem,
but then I ask the question "why?"
My clamp or stand mounted remote Vivitar 285HV flashes are almost always set
in manual mode with the power set to either 1/2 or 1/4 power so my recycle
times are reasonable and battery life long. For the typical reception hall,
I'll point them up at the ceiling to give it the look of ambient light or
occasionally into umbrellas. Flash positioning is such that I play on the
distance card to keep light levels relatively even over the room. I'll
usually have my monolights if the room is large and dark.
A dozen or so times a year I photograph live events, be it concerts, theater
style productions, awards ceremonies, etc. These are a mixed bag of no-flash
and flash-allowed events. (yes, the no-flash ones I'd love to have a D700
for). Placement of the strobes is usually in the balconies while I'm
shooting from the main floor, down front or even on the stage itself!
Sometimes from the back. I'll run the strobes up on the stands as high as I
can and attempt to mimick the look of the normal stage lights. One big
event in a 1500 seat auditorium requires both my monolights and a 285HV
flash on full power to cover the entire 110 foot wide, by 65 foot deep stage
with even multi-light lighting. For that setup I also have a Stroboframe'd
285HV on the camera for "fill flash". The on-camera flash is usually in
Auto-Yellow. I may have up to 100 people accepting an "award" (or something
like a diploma) during the ceremony and for those moments, I use only the
monolights as the 285HVs don't recycle fast enough. Each person requires
three individual pictures during their traversing the stage. The ebay
triggers have worked nearly perfectly in this application.
On a side note, this past year while shooting this big shindig, I had the
best possible accessory--a second photographer. That was nice because I
placed him in one particular position to take care of photos that can get
upstaged from my angle. He was shooting ambient with the E-3 and they
turned out great--except for the dozens of shots where we photographed
simultaneously and my flash messed up his shots.
Now, I just have to figure out how to replace the cells in the battery pack
of a T45 flash.
AG
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