Sound like an interesting challenge. Apart from some far background
lighting for a banquet hall about 150 feet long the largest areas I've
ever attempted to light were this old barn used for weddings
<http://www.chucknorcutt.com/smith%20barn/group%20shot%20proof%20-%20img_0382.htm>
and the inside of Faneuil Hall in Boston (first shot on this page)
<http://pierre.com/musicians.html>
Both shots used 5 lights (4 along the sides, 1 up front) but no
diffusers except for the light up front. For the barn shot the lights
were hidden behind the posts and any sort of large diffuser would have
been visible.
I don't know what you're using for umbrellas but my own tests of one to
four T32s with and without a small, 32" translucent umbrella clearly
show a loss of two stops... not one as you say you're hoping for. But a
non-translucent one will hopefully do better. I have a couple of small
"brolly boxes" which I think would do better but I've never measured the
light loss.
Dr. Flash
Ken Norton wrote:
> The first day of the big event shoot was a banquet held in a large
> gymnasium. Of course, the lighting is ghastly. I shot one roll of film in
> the OM-3Ti with the 24/2.8. ISO 400, F4 at 1/30. To be on the smart side, I
> used the Expodisc for a single frame so I can white-balance in the computer.
> The rest of the images of the banquet were with the Olympus E-1 and T45
> flash.
>
> The T45 has been performing flawlessly. This is, by a country mile, the
> finest flash I've ever used--bar none. Not only is it obscenely powerful,
> but the quality of the light is incredible. I'm tempted to get a couple
> more of these flashes and replace the Vivitar 285HV flashes with them. I
> know I keep yabbering about the T45, but honestly, it is in a league of its
> own in every way. The only shame is that the flash is off to the side a bit,
> which casts shadows differently than my stroboframe equipped Vivitars.
>
> I set up the monolights in the balcony of the auditorium. (1500 seat,
> semi-circular room with balcony and mammoth stage) This year I brought them
> in from the sides a little bit more, but I'm not sure I'm going to keep them
> there. They are at the same position as most of the primary stage lights
> (five clusters of them hung from about 3/4 of the way back in the room).
> Distance from lights to stage is over 60 feet.
>
> I've always run the monolights just with their reflectors, but I'm going to
> try using umbrellas tonight. The shadows are just a touch too harsh as
> you'd expect from 60 foot distance and the hanging microphones, lights,
> speakers, etc., cause a lot of nasties on the background. Strobe height
> isn't an issue, and I can get up to the 30 degree point easily--but must do
> so from a slightly different position as my lightstands are tall enough to
> block the stage lights. The umbrellas will kill a stop of light--a stop I
> can barely afford to lose. It'll force me to be around F4 at ISO 400. But by
> dragging the shutter a little bit, the colored stage lights will warm things
> up enough to be interesting instead of stark. I did attempt to use the
> umbrellas last year, but my light position was too far to the sides.
>
> If the umbrellas don't work out, I'd rather find out tomorrow night so I can
> have it corrected for Wednesday's grand finale.
>
> Another oddity this year--I did not shoot RAW last night. If my in-camera
> settings are correct, there is little to no reason to bother. SHQ JPEGs
> with in-camera sharpening set to "0" are as easily processed in post as most
> RAW files. I'll chicken out and shoot RAW tonight because the mixed
> lighting and going back and forth between flash and no-flash exposures is a
> great way to induce human error.
>
> Workflow manager: Olympus Studio 2.
>
> AG
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