The Golden Party

So as of late I've been pretty stoked on this whole strobist style movement of photography propelled by the great David Hobby. I've gotten myself a couple flashes, had some nice photo shoots, and had enough time in between to really contemplate light. As the great photographer Joe Mcnally says, "Light is the language of photography." I couldn't agree more. And when in the situation of mixing flash and ambient light, one must really understand light.

So on another note, I've been having fun shooting 'events' for friends. My friend Natalie asked me to photograph her golden birthday party last weekend. I set up a couple flashes on stands in a extra side room and let folks get as crazy as they wanted. It was nothing special as far as setups and results go, but provided decent lighting for dynamic situation. Natalie supplied a box of props in case people were feeling the urge.

I had a rather basice setup (which I should have photographed) of one sb-600 on a flash stand, with a 30" shoot through umbrella. The other flash was on the other side and bounced off the ceiling. Above is the birthday woman Natalie and some friends she "hooked up" at a previous party.

The lighting setup worked rather well for a couple people or small groups but because the room was pretty tight it didn't work well for larger groups - where the edges would be blown out and the folks in the middle were under exposed. Here was a fun shot of Kevin and Joel.

While the dance party was going on and folks weren't coming into the "photo room," I would head out and snap some shots on the dance floor. Although not truly 'stobist' style, I was playing with mixing my sb-28 with some fun ambient light in the room. In this case there was a disco ball over in the corner.

Some of the most fun shots were taken with the golden lights hanging in the other room. Since it was the "Golden Party" (Au Yeah) I thought what better than to mix a bunch of long exposed golden light trails with some dance moves. The full gallery can be viewed here.