Thanks! And yes I definitely struggled with the flash power, any less and I wasn't really seeing an effect, but I think the final result was a bit too bright/harsh. Will keep experimenting for next time :-) The top/first one above actually had no flash, just a huge window light, and is definitely one of my favorites! But, since you asked... here are a few more, all with available light only.

Thanks again!

Huge thanks to everyone who responded! The shoot went extremely well, and for the most part I didn't end up needing any flash. I did get braver when I saw several speedlight pops and eventually even a photographer using a light stand with a tiny octabox on it, so at that point I pulled out my own flash and took a few photos. Didn't get arrested, whew ;-)

Attached a couple photos, my favorite one and one with flash (even though I didn't end up liking it as much).

Thanks so much, that's great to know! I guess I'll bring my lights in the carrying case and bring them out if it seems right. Bummer about your shoot falling apart, but best of luck in the future!

Haha that makes more sense... I thought he had gone and found my website! Oh well, I'll take the positive vibes anyway!

Thank you! It's my first paid couple's shoot (I am more confident in family photography) and I only do this on the side--this time is for a coworker and her fiance who have always wanted pictures in the City Hall. So really it's a couple's shoot, for a couple who happens to be engaged, and they want their scenic location to be indoors in the City Hall staircase area, rather outdoors like I'm more familiar with.

I appreciate the support though! Always tough on my own work :-)

Thanks everyone for all the input so far--you guys rock!

I probably should have added a photo to clarify at the beginning. I attached the type of shot I had envisioned (using one I later found from https://sashaweddingphotography.com/city-hall/ since I don't have my own). Unless he got incredibly lucky with well-positioned window light beams, I assume the left image had off-camera flash with a big modifier.

- I'm comfortable with bounce flash, but as some have mentioned, not an option given the huge room size/ceiling height.
- Budget is only $100, and the permit costs $100, so I'm ultimately wanting to keep a low profile and remain the amateur that I honestly am (not a huge production).
- I have a nice fast/wide lens and am comfortable with getting enough "good" shots using only available light, even indoors
- My plan is to save these fancy flash shots for the very end, so even if it doesn't work out I'll have gotten the rest of what I need. I'd just love the chance for a "WOW" shot with lighting, so figured I'd take a chance.
- I can't get to the venue before unfortunately--2 hours away and no time in my schedule, but I will show up 30 mins before the couple to get established
- I'll definitely call and ask for guidance/permission from the site.

I think that covers most of what I read--thanks again for all the input!

Thanks, good point! I checked the website but a direct call will hopefully help get some more clarity. Appreciate the quick response!

This is a very specific request, but I haven't found anything on the Googles or forums, so hoping some Hogs can help out!

I'm doing an engagement session for a couple in San Francisco City Hall, and a lot of the research I've done suggests that off-camera flash will help tremendously to get the results I have in mind. Searching through the official rules at http://sfcityhallevents.org/film-photo it lists two main criteria for flash:

1. Lighting equipment must be battery-operated.
2. Do not use flash equipment that will cause a significant visual disturbance.

Number 1, check. No issues with my Yongnuo speedlight.
Number 2... what the heck defines a "significant visual disturbance?" A bare flash going off for a cool backlight effect? A flash with an attached modifier like a MagMod/GaryFong/Rogue Flashbender? A flash on a stand with a shoot-through umbrella? A certain level of flash power? That pretty much covers the scenarios for my current gear...

I'd really appreciate any advice from someone who has shot with flash indoors at SF City Hall and can tell me roughly what their equipment/setup was, and if they ever ran into issues with causing a "significant visual disturbance" in the process. Not looking to steal anyone's ideas or "what were your settings" type questions, just general pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

If you're coming from FF I'd imagine you will notice a significant change in the high ISO shots (I've never shot full frame) but having come from Nikon APS-C with a D3300 to now having an Oly EM10 Mark II, I actually tend to like the Oly shots better than the Nikon shots in the ISO 3200-6400 range. Not because of noise, which is prevalent on both, but because the Oly seems to retain better colors and *much* better white balance when really pushed. This is consistent across RAW and JPG from what I've seen.

Sometimes I miss the pure image quality of an outdoors ISO-100 detailed shot with the nice 24mp sensor on the Nikon, but since having a baby most of my shots are now indoors in low to terrible light, and I've been pleasantly surprised by how usable the Oly files are. In terms of printing, I recently shot an engagement session and the couple had printed 16 x 20 photos for the wedding that I attended, and everyone loved the pictures. Were they the absolute sharpest at that size, suitable for a gallery? Probably not. But they got the job done, which is enough for what I do.

Final note: depending on your subjects, the in-body stabilization is the real deal. I regularly take crisp 1/2 second exposures on a 50mm equivalent (25mm native) lens when the baby is asleep. At that level, unless you always have your tripod handy, you may even be matching or beating what you'd get from the FF in such a dark scenario.

The 35mm f1.8 should be very useful for most of what you'll need. Open up to f1.8 if it's indoors and/or when shooting portraits of a single person. About f2.8-f4 should cover group shots assuming people are at roughly the same distance from you. If there's enough light, f4 or f5.6 would probably serve you well for most action or documentary style shots.

If it's a roughly even mix between what you described (reunion event itself, some groups, and some portraits) I don't think you'd really need to rent anything else--just use the 35 1.8 and keep either the kit or the Tamron as backup if you need to go wide for tight spaces. If you're going to be very portrait-focused and want a more traditional blurred background look, the 50mm 1.8 is cheap and should be sufficient while retaining some versatility.

Apart from lenses though, a flash with TTL will help a lot for darker indoor scenes, and may be where you'd get the best return on money spent.

Agree with most posters that the issue was probably that she was seeing the scene as exposed without the flash, which I assume was very dark.

**However, not all mirrorless cameras actually stop down the aperture--even if the EVF appears to get darker as you stop down. I can't speak for Sony, but I have an Olympus EM-10 ii and there's a "Depth of Field Preview" feature that actually does stop down the lens if you want to preview depth of field. Otherwise, the physical aperture of the lens remains wide open until the moment of shooting, even if you've stopped the aperture way down electronically. I'm not an engineer, but I can only assume the EVF is doing this mathematically, not by physically closing the aperture.

I was very curious about this myself because when I use my 25mm 1.4 lens at 1.4, I often don't get enough depth of field so I stop it down to something like f2.8. The image in the EVF (or LCD) still shows depth of field similar to 1.4 as I'm composing, but when I actually click the shutter, the resulting image shows the much-greater depth of field that equates to the aperture I actually selected.

I'd love to know if a Sony user could perform a similar test with a fast prime--take a shot wide open, take a shot at F8, full manual exposure, WYSIWYG set on the EVF, and compare what you see in the viewfinder/LCD as you're composing and focusing in each case.