Night shooting Halloween NYC

I'd appreciate any thoughts on settings for night shots at the Halloween parade

in Greenwich Village.

 

Equipment: D200; SB800 flash; Quantum battery;18-200mm or 80-400mm

 

What ISO? 200, 400, 500. Shutter speed? 1/125

 

I've shot with this gear in past years. My flash has been good for 300+ shots.

Mostly I was close enough to the action that most shots were with a 24-120mm

zoom. So I'm thinking of leaving the 80-400 behind. Also have 80-200 f2.8 but

it's heavy also.

 

There's a balance to consider of shooting in near darkness except for street

light. The parade lasts about 3 hours. So a single quantum battery is mainly

what I have to power the flash. Of course there's AA's but that gets bulky.

What's a good balance for ISO and shutter speed? Thanks.

You might consider renting a AF 85mm f1.4D Nikkor: that would put you into the parade without dragging a lot of weight. ISO 500, 'S' mode [to blend in the speedlight and the existing light,] and you should be good to go. (With a D80, ISO 1600 or 2000 _ no flash -- would probably work OK, too.)

 

 

 

The 18-200mm lens is fine for daylight work, but night shots?

man, I'd love to take my 85mm 1.4D to the city on Halloween, but coming back to Brooklyn on Halloween night AKA gang initiation night.. !

I don't think so. :/

plus I live in BedStuy, no Williamsburg wannabes here.. ;)

On Saturday I shot the Portland (Oregon) Zombie Walk. It's not exactly a parade and I was in the middle of it. [This was a self-assignment and I was mostly playing around.] For this, a 17-55mm worked okay, along with a hand-held SB-800.

 

<p>I shot mostly around f/4.5 @ 1/60 sec., ISO 800. This allowed a little bit of ambient to expose.

 

<p>Images at http://photostore.chrisleck.com/gallery/3725850 .<div></div>

I would suggest using the SB-800's flash diffuser dome, angling the flash up at 45 degrees. Set the ISO to the maximum level you are comfortable with (I personally would not go above ISO 400) and drag the shutter (set your shutter speed to slower speeds like 1/15, 1/30 or slower). If you hold the camera steady, you will have perfectly exposed and sharp images with nice ambient lighting. This takes practice to do, so you may want to practice before hand or just up the ISO as suggested by Chris.

Hey everyone. Thanks. I needed some good suggestions to break out of my setup. Great ideas. Thanks to all. I'm definitely going to have some new things to try.

I used D200 and SB600 Saturday for a Dia De Los Muertos procession in Olvera Street - Los Angeles. I found that to get much ambient with slower lenses really pushed into shutter speeds which were susceptible to camera motion. The flash did a good job with subject motion. I tried some rear synch which did OK, maybe too much effect with too slow speeds.

 

In the tight quarters, next I think I'd want my 50/1.8 and would expect in a more open area, the 85 recommended above would likely be a good choice. I might also consider using a monopod or my tripod, legs together, if a suitable spot could be found.

How slow on the shutter speeds?

 

NYC's pretty crowded. I wasn't using much over 24-120mm last year and mostly less from 50-90mm. I don't think there's enough room to bring a monopod. The crowd is really elbow to elbow. I'll definitely give rear curtain a try.

if you have any affiliation with a publication or newspaper, they are somewhat liberal with press passes. i was there last halloween which was about 85 degrees. i was able to stand right in the middle of the parade. seek out a high position and you might need a longer focal length. good luck.

 

bob

The gallery is here:

 

http://www.pbase.com/gillettecraig/diadelosmuertos

 

The exif data gives an idea of shutter speeds. I believe although it doesn't show it, I used flash for pretty much everything, dialed down somewhat to help balance/fill. The first several procession shots show the ambient light, some I didn't include went close to or over 2 seconds - I used Program Auto not thinking about it after the day shots. I found myself panning during the longer exposures, so some of the motion is mine with the camera, not just subject's. The last were after I'd changed to a 1/60 shutter speed and little or no ambient shows.

 

(I'm not using a calibrated monitor so while these seem OK here, watching the histograms, they may be off some.)

NYC streets after dark are lit by halogens throwing off a sort of orange glow. But there's not much street light. The key I think will be to focus on the costumes and faces. Otherwise there will be too much distraction in the image. I will try a slower shutter and rear curtain sync. Just looking to experiment a little this year.