Using the Lumiquest Softbox III and HONL grids for wedding photography

As much a I love my Alien Bees strobes, when it comes to weddings I always try to pack light. Don't get me wrong, I always bring the ABs with me, just in case, it's just not practical at all to carry them around with you. For that reason, I try to resolve most of my lighting situations with SB-800/900s. In addition, if I can get away with not using an umbrella, I will and the Lumiquest Softbox III has become a permanent resident in my camera bag for those occasions. Another item that has found a permanent spot in my camera bag is David Honl's Speed Grid. I have both versions, the 1/4 and the 1/8. If you want to add a new level of dramatic lighting to your photography, then you definitely need to get these and keep them in your bag!

In this particular example below, I used an SB-800 with a HONL 1/4 speed grid behind the couple and pointing at the wall to get some detail on the brick wall. I lit the couple using an SB-900 with the diffuser cap on and the Lumiquest Softbox III attached to it. I triggered both lights with an on-camera SB-800.

Alien Bees vs. Nikon's SB-900: The Battle Continues

Well, is not really a battle, as each one has their place and time and at Stephanie's and Rene's big day I had to use both. The first and only time that I had to bring the ABs out was for the family and bridal party pictures. This particular situation required quite a bit of power because the couple wanted their images taken under a gazebo on a very bright day (can you say severely back lit?).

The following image was taken with a simple setup of one (1) AB1600 on a medium foldable ocatbox at camera right at 1/2 power triggered via PWs and one (1) AB800 on a 22" beauty dish at camera left at 1/2 power triggered via PWs.



The same setup was used for this larger group image:


By contrast, I just required one (1) SB-900 off camera on a Lumiquest Softbox III set to TTL -0.7 EV and one (1) SB-800 set to TTL 0.0EV positioned across the room (you can see it in the picture). All triggered via Nikon's CLS.

Using Strobist Techniques for Tricky Lighting at Weddings

This past Friday (July 3, 2009) I shot a wedding at The Berkeley Church in Toronto. The location is beyond great for wedding photography, as it's an 1800s restored church turned into a banquet hall/event venue. The place where the couple held their wedding ceremony is lined with stained glass windows which created severe backlighting. The challenge was in lighting the couple without having the flash wash out the whole scene and killing the light coming through the windows. After trying a few setups a couple of hours before the actual ceremony, I finally settled on an SB-800 fitted with a HONL Speed Grid. positioned at 25-30 degrees camera right, triggered via Nikon's CLS. Here are a few of the resulting images: