Off Camera Flash: Wedding Reception

I was at a wedding this past weekend where I finally got to use my PocketWizard off camera remotes. (1 Mini TT1 and 2 Flex TT5's with Canon 430 EXII flashes.) The particular reception was outside, but had a fantastic balcony to mount the flashes to.


I had recently purchased some ball bungies from the Home Depot, as a recommendation on the Strobist website, to my camera bag. They came in very handy in mounting the flashes to the railings allowing for the elevated flashes.

In addition to being a great place to play with the remote flashes, the balcony provided some elevated areas to capture the events unfolding below. Here is a shot of the fading sunset in the background, but the wedding guests illuminated by the dual remote flashes mounted to the left.


Before the end of the night, I unmounted the flashes and gave to a couple of friends on the dance floor, and started experimenting with "mobile" remote flashes. Although, the pictures were less than stellar, they had a blast dancing around and pointing the flashes.


One disappointment in the PocketWizard remotes is the fact that I was not able to use a Canon 430EXII Speedlights as remotes and in the hotshoe at the same time. (The Canon Forums provided the insight to fix this in the future, but unfortunately not in time for this wedding.) I had gotten the 430EXII's as the 580EXII's were causing distance limitations due to the frequency noise put out by the flash. I did have a 430EXII in the hotshoe, but kept it off most of the time. It was nice towards the end, as I could switch back and forth between the remotes, and the on camera flash while the others were refreshing. I'd also like to get the remote cable so that I can use the PocketWizards as a shutter remote as well. For more information on PocketWizard remotes, click here.

For more images using the remote flashes, please visit the Smith wedding gallery at the m2 Photography website.