John Howard Loc: SW Florida and Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.

Have been asked to shoot at a friends 70th birthday party at night in a golf club dining facility with high ceiling, and part of the time outside at night. These are not posed portraits but candid walk around handheld shots.

Planning to use one of my nikons with a 24-70 VR 2.8 lens. I have a SB700 speed light, but have not used it much. Probably leave it on TTL mode. I am familiar with bouncing light off of walls and ceilings that are not too high. Rather than mount the speed light on the camera, I also use a coiled cable to hand hold the light and shoot one-handed.

What I do not have and have not used, is one of those "soft box" fabric hoods to put over the light to soften it. Is this a good idea and if I do get one, does the TTL work the same way or will it under expose?

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Either one of those of a bounce screen you can attach to your flash so that the flash is not pointed directly at the people. If you want you can even put the flash on a bracket to move it off camera a bit.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

I’ve shot this type of event a lot.
One thing, your subject are probably going to be pretty still.
That will let you use a slower shutter setting to get some ambient light in your photo so it won’t look like you’re shooting in a cave. Helps give some context to the photo. I’ve successfully used 1/15 sec. The flash will freeze the subjects. I keep seeing people suggest using the normal sync setting (1/200 or 1/250th).
Ignore them. They don’t shoot these professionally.

I’ve also bounced in venues where the ceiling was maybe 25 feet, but with an SB910 and SB5000.
Your hand-held technique should work, but a good bracket could make things easier.
Personally, I like the LiteScoop if I can’t bounce. It’s more manageable than a soft box and will give the same larger light source. You can leave the flash on the shoe, it raises the light source so you don’t get red-eye and will work vertically as well. No long cord or bracket required. You can easily make one with craft foam available from a hobby store. Use white on the front and black as a backer.

And I use my camera in full manual with the flash in TTL mode and usually a bit of flash compensation dialed in. Seems like it’s often -1/3 or -2/3. Nikon’s flash system works like a charm.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

The soft box will not do a lot if you're using the flash direct.

Shadows from the flash are largely dependent on the size of the light source. Without anything the flash is a fairly small source so the shadows will have sharp edges. If you bounce off a ceiling or wall the effective size of the light source is several feet instead of a couple inches, so the shadows will have such diffuse edges they will not be too noticeable.

The soft box will increase the size of the light source from maybe 2 inches to whatever the soft box size is, maybe 6-8 inches depending on what you get. Yes, it will soften the edges of the shadows, but it won't do as well as bounce flash.

Depending on just how high the ceiling is, bounce is probably the best idea. I've used it with ceilings 30 ft high. To do that you have to increase your ISO because the light does get diffused a lot.

Outdoors, you'll be stuck with direct flash but if you're in an open area there will be nothing to show shadows. If you are outdoors but shooting toward a wall or something like that then the soft box would help. Use the largest soft box you can afford (and handle).

A really cheap version of a softbox can be homemade. It consists of a piece of stiff paper (I used 120 lb card stock). I made a couple of cuts so that I could wrap the lower part of the paper around the flash head and hold it in place with a rubber band. It's easy to try out so I would suggest experimenting with something like this before you commit to it.

The Litescoop mentioned above has the advantage that it doesn't flop around like the paper so you get more consistency.

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DebAnn Loc: Toronto

Soft boxes work quite well or you can aim the flashhead upward and use a bounce card directly behind it. I currently use a Profoto A1 light with a soft bounce and it works very well.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Light scoop is nice. If you need to go compact for transportation the Rouge Flash Bender is malleable I stick one in a flat area of my bag all the time. Both are around $40 I think. You can get a bracket for as little as $20.00.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

My LightScoop fits in my bag too.
Both work great.

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

Use the Sto-Fen diffuser that came with the flash, mount the flash on camera positioned straight forward. You won't get artsy or studio quality shots but what you will get will be pleasing to the subjects. And you will look professional and not like a dork.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

The Sofen and others like it do very little to make the light softer. The light size is not that much bigger than the bare head of the flash. Size matters here. They do spread light around, making for wider coverage. Works great in a softbox.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Camera mounted flash is ok as long as you bounce. Anything small enough to put on a speedlight is probably useless beyond about 4 ft. and it will suck up power, resulting in longer cycle times and more frequent battery changes. I would avoid wasting the money on anything like that.

I like Rogue FlashBenders - but only for single up-close headshots. The thing to keep in mind is that for portraiture, even candids at weddings, a large directional light source will provide professional results. The gimmics and junk you attach to a speedlight won't. Also keep in mind that dragging the shutter is ok, but only if you put a color correction filter on the speedlight to bring it close to the color of the ambient light - and that opens a whole other can of worms.

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These images were done in a reception hall that had 18-20 ft ceilings, using a D700 and an old Sunpak 383 manual flash, with light bounced of ceiling and walls (whenever possible). Using a camera that has no issues shooting at ISO 1600 or higher will help.

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DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

A small diffuser on the flash, with the flash pointed toward the subject, will throw light in all directions. This is OK where you have surfaces for the light to bounce off of and create bounce lighting, but if the ceilings or walls are too far away all it does is lose light.

Bounce lighting can get behind the subject and illuminate the areas that would otherwise be in shadow, reducing shadowing effects.

Archboo3 Loc: Central Florida

I have started using the MagMod system, was using Gary Fong's system, but found that the MagMod works better and more flexable. I don't have to bounce of ceiling or walls that made be odd colors, and very few shadows if any.

khorinek

I shoot a lot of event photography. If the event is dark but you want to show some background, I use a technique called "dragging the shutter" which means you shoot a slower shutter speed than you normally would in normal lighting. Your flash will stop motion so you can shoot slower than normal. My usual settings in dark venue with a Canon Mark IV, 24-70 f/4 L lens and a 430 ex II speedlight are: shutter speed 80-100, aperture f/4, ISO 1600 (sometimes as much as 3200) and I turn my flash down -1/3 in the camera. IF you dont turn the flash down at lease a third of a stop, you will blow out the faces. If the ceilings are low (10 foot or less), I bounce my flash off the ceiling. A ceiling higher than that and the flash wont make it up and back down. You can use a diffuser on the flash as well.

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Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

Check out the venue before hand. Take a couple of shots to see if you get the "cave effect." It can throw off a nice portrait. There are a lot of great ideas for bouncing light rather that "blowing out" faces. A hand held flash is not a great idea. Use a camera/flash rig. You can attach the camera and use a cable to a flash. When you turn the camera sideways (portrait style) you can flip the flash as well. You cut down on shadow effects. Try Stroboflash Rig. They are under $30. A great investment in all. Throw a few special filters in your bag. My favorite is a star filter. It takes single light sources such as candles and turns them into six pointed stars. Buy one and play with it before hand. You will be glad you did!
Happy Shooting!!

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Good advice, but keep in mind the lighting when you check may not be the lighting when you shoot.