mari_s Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Hi all...I'm in a bit of a pickle and am hoping for some good advice. I'm photographing an event today (leaving in about two hours) and they have moved it inside due to weather. I was prepped for an outdoor event. I am very much a beginner and this job is way over my head. (Don't worry, I was asked to take shots to record things for the event planners not the party throwers...they know I'm not a professional and pay and expectations are according). I'm relatively competent with natural light, but haven't ever used a flash. Any quick advice on how to set my camera for shots inside a hotel ballroom of centerpieces, live band, and decor? I just got my external flash last week (Canon 430EX) and haven't had much practice. Should I bounce off the ceiling? Use my sto-fen omini bounce diffuser (haven't used it yet either)? I know this is a hunk of a question, but any advice would be appreciated! Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Lewis1664881697 Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Your camera-mounted flash is not going to illuminate a large, live band on a stage. Figure out how to use TTL (Automatic mode) with your flash and let the camera/flash combo determine how much flash is necessary. I wouldn't expect to be able to shoot a group of people with a single on-camera flash and get great results. Keep in mind that you also have mixed lighting, either tungsten or fluorescent, mixed with your daylight balanced flash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richsimmons Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 If you can bounce the light off the ceiling you'll probably get better results than pointing it straight at people. Can you get there early and practice? Chimp all your shots too and try different ways of shooting. If things are too bright, you might want to drop the power of the flash (helps recycle quicker too) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mari_s Posted April 10, 2008 Author Share Posted April 10, 2008 Yes, the plan is to get there early. I also think I'm going to use the AEB and just take a ton of shots. So, I'll keep the flash pointed up...I'm also bringing a tripod to take some with available light to be able to capture the lighting designers work. I know the people will blur. The band will be pretty tricky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_prouty Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 With no specific expectations, this is an opportunity to start forming your own style. Most jobs will be done with some expectation of a particular result. Since this is not the case here (I believe), experimentation freedom is a nice change! Make your mark! Do what you feel is needed and then go for YOUR vision. For what you are requested to shoot, I'm not sure the party goers are the subject matter you need to document. The environment is what they are selling, so make that your priority. As to using flash... well, if you must use it, bounce techniques would be benificial to the image. Just remember that bounce is not just from straight up. You can bounce off whatever you feel will give you the light you want. For "normal" purposes that means a white or light colored ceiling and/or wall. Combined with ambient light, you can get some images worth remembering, or at least sellable to a venue client. Don't forget about B/W conversion for those troublesome color balance differences. Although some stuff can be just as interesting with mixed light sources. Use different length lenses as well, if you have them. Mix it up! Have fun with this. An opportunity to strut YOUR stuff is priceless. If they want ordinary stuff, they can get it from the run of the mill guy. If you want to do that stuff, you can certanly learn it from multiple sources, and adapt it to yourself. But you should at least try to make your vision what is desired, rather than just a typical photograph anyone can do. Where you go from here is your decision. Have fun! It becomes work all too quickly! Sorry, sometimes I just ramble on and on and on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig_shearman1 Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Do NOT try to bounce off the ceiling. Hotel ballroom ceilings are far too high for effective bounce with a small flash unit. Do use your Omni Sto-Fren. It fits onto the front of the flash and you angle the flash about 45-degree upward. If the flash has any type of pre-flash or red-eye reduction turn it off, otherwise the picture isn't taken until anywhere from a fraction of a second to a second after you push the shutter button, making you miss the shot you thought you were getting. Tripod will probably just get in the way, but "drag" your shutter speed down to 1/60 or 1/30 where you can to pick up some of the ambient background light. Be sure to set white balance for daylight or flash since the flash will be your main source of light. (Flash and daylight are essentially the same color, BTW.) Don't try to use auto white balance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gholston_matt Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 Hopefully your event went well, as these guys have given you some good advice... but in order to start investing time tward the future... I would take a long look at this great website for flash photography... <a href="http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/02/welcome-to-strobist.html"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3792/2480/1600/200x75blk.jpg" width="200" height="75" border="0"></a> It is run by a 20 veteren photojournalist who shoots for the baltimore SUN named David Hobbie and he has several full courses online on all sorts of flash photography... Enjoy... Yours, RMG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mari_s Posted April 12, 2008 Author Share Posted April 12, 2008 Thanks for all of the help. I learned a lot...mainly I learned what I need to learn, now I at least have some specific questions I can find the answers to to begin my learning. Before I didn't even know what questions to ask! Bouncing didn't seem to work...don't know if my flash isn't powerful enough for the high ceiling or if I didn't set it to allow enough ambiant light to come in as well. The tripod was pretty much a huge inconvenience, but it did help with some pictures of the fire dancers and other nighttime lighting photos. I opted to go with app. priority a few times for candids and I'm kicking myself that I didn't set it for shutter priority for those situations. I did have a lot of fun. We'll see if they like my pictures. My hats are off to those of you who do this for a living. It is a big jump from taking pictures to please yourself to taking pictures to please someone else. I'll see if I can attach one or two of my favorites. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g._armour_van_horn Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 Never, ever use .bmp files! In this case, you have a high resolution image of what I assume to be a letter-size document with a photo in the corner. Just save the image, not a lot of extra white space, and use JPEG for anything online. (Use TIFF for printed documents, by which I mean brochures and the like that are printed in large quantities on offset presses. JPEG is fine for anything directly printed from a computer.) You did get an interesting shot here. Van Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mari_s Posted April 12, 2008 Author Share Posted April 12, 2008 Sorry new to this forum...and forums in general. Thanks for tolerating my inexperience. I'm going to try it again.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mari_s Posted April 12, 2008 Author Share Posted April 12, 2008 I think I've got it this time...I won't try again if I don't...and then I'll scurry over (tail between my legs) to the beginners forum. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now