A few years ago, my sister-in-law got married. I was asked to take photos, even though there would be a professional hired.
To give you some background information, you should know that when I was in college, I worked for a local portrait-and-wedding photographer (PPA Master Photographer). I learned quite a bit during my time there, one thing was how to make candid shots look much better by using 2 lights.
With my boss's setup, one flash (EI 100 guide number 110, maybe 160) was on a bracket 12" above the lens of the camera. The second light (same power) was mounted at the end of a monopod held about 3' over my head and a few feet ahead of my boss. This made my light, the one on the monopod, into the main light with a lighting ratio of about 2:1 or one stop brighter than the light on the camera. The main thing I had to look out for was to point my light at the groom (assuming he was wearing black) or point it at the far end of a group (so people at the near end didn't get overexposed.
This really worked well and made his candids and on-site portraits look significantly better than the the average pro who only used flash on-camera. To anticipate a question, this was not the lighting setup he used in the studio or for serious location portraiture, just for reception hall family groups and such.
Now, to make this on-topic...
I took my EOS 5 with a TTL Hot Shoe Adapter in the hot shoe and a Speedlite 300EZ mounted on top of that. I connected the TTL Hot Shoe Adapter to an Off-Camera Shoe Adapter with a Connecting Cord 60. Into the OCSA I put a Speedlite 540EZ. By the way, this would not work with an Off Camera Shoe Cord as it will not let you put a second flash on-camera.
So, 2 flashes a 300EZ on-camera and a 540EZ off camera. I held the off camera flash in my left hand raised at about a 45� angle from horizontal and at about a 45� angle away from the subject.
I set both flashed to full power, relying on the maximum power differences between the flashes to maintain my lighting ratio. I let them zoom with the lens and used P mode for full automation (I might have used green "Full Auto" mode, but I don't think so).
My working method was to put the 540EZ in my pocket while I zoomed (EF 28-80mm f/2.8-4 L) and focused. Then I picked up the flash with my left hand framed the subject with the camera held in my right hand.
Results, terrific. They had a nice off-camera lighting look to them, much higher quality than the average snapshot. Some were even better than the paid pro who only used one light (on a Bronica ETRS).
For those of you who might be worried that I was stepping on the pro's toes, I assure you that I didn't. I'd lived that life and I let her get her job done before I did anything.
Unfortunately, I've given my wife the boot and she's taken all the prints and negs from her sisters wedding, so I can't share the results visually. If I ever replace my EZ flashes with EX, I'll do the same thing wirelessly with my 10D and a pair of 550EX's.
The truth is, you could probably improve your candid flash results by holding one flash off-camera on an Off Camera Shoe Cord, but I wouldn't hold it as far away from the lens.
Mr. Bill
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