The majority of wedding photographers do not work with an assistant. For these people this means the use of flash photography requires another level of physical effort. Why? Because controlling an off-camera flash rig can be cumbersome and time consuming when trying to concentrate on your framing and roaming between guests and locations. The goal of course is to create soft light from your small camera strobe unit – to make the light softer you need to make it bigger.
Without doubt the best quality option is to get small lightweight lightstand and use your speedlite on this with an umbrella. A shoot-thru umbrella is preferable because it can get closer to the subject and so become a bigger light source. When moving about you can also close the umbrella quickly to form a compact unit. If you are taking group shots you can then use the umbrella in reverse for a bounced effect giving a larger spread of light. The disadvantages of the umbrella are that it does naturally waste some lighting power through spillage (compared to a softbox ) and on a windy day, they can prove impossible to use outdoors.
Of course, in tight or crowded indoor locations popping open an umbrella may not be practical and even dangerous, so particulally as a wedding photographer you may instead stick with on camera flash. However, all is not lost because in this configuration you still have the option to bounce your light off walls and ceilings (if available – so no use outdoors). As an alternative you can also use a good diffuser like the Lightsphere2 or the Lastolite Micro ApolloXL – with the later proving more versatile for outdoor use too. If you seek to create professional looking images, you need to soften your light source to produce flattering photography at a wedding – direct flash is a no no unless in bright sunshine or used from far away.
You will probably also be aware that on camera flash introduces another problem of orientation. If you turn your camera vertically for a portrait shot the flash is now off centre and will produce shadows or red-eyes. The solution is to use a camera bracket which allows you to rotate your camera while leaving the flash in the same overhead middle position for consistency.
Another point to consider is how you are going to trigger your flash. In a fast moving situation like a wedding you don’t particularly have time to calculate the manual flash power or use a light meter. This is why many wedding photographers may prefer to leave the camera and flash to do their automatic flash ETTL metering. Pocket Wizard offer their MiniTT1 radio signal transmitter kit which now allows you to maintain automatic flash metering over hundreds of feet, removing all limitations from where you may wish to place your flash creatively. If you prefer to keep your flash unit mounting on the camera with a diffuser, just make sure the ETTL transmitter of the flash is not blocked by your choice of diffuser or you will not benefit from automatic metering.
In winter months you will find your batteries do not last as long as the cold weather sets in. The solution is to use an External Battery pack for your flash. Not only will a Battery Pack give you increased hours of usage, but you will also benefit from much shorter recycling times (how long you wait before being able to take another flash picture). Finally, only use NiMH rechargeable batteries by the way – they recycle much faster.
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