How to Do Photography Lighting at a Party
- 1). Meter the exposure settings, and then change to manual mode. If you are shooting in a location with erratic light sources, such as strobes or party lights, find an area away from the lights, and hold down the shutter button halfway to get the correct metering settings. Switch to manual mode, and set the correct metering settings.
- 2). Use a flash to bounce light off the ceiling. Turn off the camera's built-in flash, and elect for a shoe-mounted or off-camera flash that can be angled toward the ceiling. A bounced flash will light the subjects from several directions at once, without giving them harsh, front-lit shadows. Additionally, pointing the flash at the ceiling will ensure that no party-goers are blinded momentarily from your snapshots.
- 3). Use a flash diffuser or soft box. Diffusing the flash will soften the shadows and lighting, lessening flares or the shiny skin effect of unfiltered flash lighting.
- 4). Shoot with a slave flash unit. The slave flash can be held in your non-shooting hand, angled at the side of the subject's face or from underneath. This is especially useful for locations with a strong light from a single direction.
Source...