First dance and party

[epes]

<p>

<p>Ok, at the party, I ussualy have this problem: my shot is unfocused or badly composition. I have a d40x with 18-200VR and a sb600. I know my camera AF quite slow. It`s like this: after i use the shutter to focus until it actually locks the focus and I can take the shot it take more then a fraction and the composition is ruined. Or viceversa, if I don`t mind the focus, I look only for composition and I get lots of unfocused images.<br>

<br>

I must shoot open appertures to get natural lighting and colors and not to have that flashy look, so shallow DOF.<br>

<br>

I can compose more wide and then crop in PS, but this is not the issue. I would like to have on camera good pictures. <br>

<br>

What would be the corect technique here? <br>

<br>

And about the party: especially if the dance place is narrow, how could I shoot without interphere? I mean I am very close, my flash fires and everyone is disturbed. How to handle this situation? equipement techniques and especially behaviour techniques.<br>

<br>

Thank you!</p>

</p>

[picturesque]

<p>I don't shoot dance shots with wide aperture. I like both people dancing to be in focus. This also helps when you are very close (one factor affecting DOF is subject distance) and/or need to semi-zone focus. I am usually f4-f5, particularly if I am close. I lock focus on a point that I know is about 1/3 of the way into the depth I want in the image. I have my camera set to lock focus separately from the shutter button. Then I shoot when the action is right.</p>

<p>Also, be sure you have focus assist from your flash. With Canon cameras, there is no focus assist if you choose AI Servo focus. And that if you use a bracket, it isn't causing the focus assist to be misplaced.</p>

<p>As for the flash disturbing people, most of the time I am bouncing it so it doesn't go straight into people's eyes, and most of the time, there are lights flashing anyway (DJ's lights). Even if I don't bounce, I am bouncing into a white card, so the flash is muffled.</p>

<p>As for wide apertures giving natural lighting and colors and not the flashy look, that can be controlled to some extent by shutter drag. What kind of ISOs are you using? With your lens aren't you limited to f3.5-5.6?</p>

[dave_wilson1]

<p>Erdos, I'm thinking perhaps you need to add a faster lens that you can more easily or manual focus. Maybe just a 28 or 35mm even a 50 1.8 but I prefer them a little shorter on the crop format. Do you have just one camera? Maybe upgrade as possible and use D40 as a spare. Sounds like if you're doing professional work you need to get into some better equipment.</p>

[buffdr_rasouliyan]

<p>I'm not too familiar to Nikon equipment but I'm sure you can set it to One shot focus. You might have it on AI servo and your camera keeps hunting for the focus point. This makes it even tougher in low light situations like the first dance. I use 2 off camera speedlights and control them with my PW attached to my 580 ex ll. Normally they dance in the middle of the floor so I set my lights for the middle (Strength). I simply walk in the middle and pop my flashes with my meter for F4-F6. I then use my on camera flash to fill and focus assist. With my flash's on, I don't go above ISO 400ish. Good luck v/r Buffdr </p>

[epes]

<p>well, I just shot my 3rd wedding and clients are just coming. while in my area (in Romania) I can`t earn so much money from weddings (my profit from a wedding is around 150$), I can`t really delve into buying expensive equipment (though I plan to upgrade to a D300).</p>

<p>I used iso800, f5, 1/60, at 18mm (narrow space), I was at 4-5 meters from them. Those kind of shots I get them mostly ok. as soom as I tried to get some portraits, there was my problem. Same settings, but at 30 - 50 mm I just missed lots of shots.</p>

<p>Nadine, as always, your advices are great. I`ll use my AE/AF lock button to lock the focus and just wait for the best moment. Great!!! Tomorrow I`ll go to shot some kids playing!</p>

<p>About disturbing the people and flash, of course I bounce and I use a card. In our region, the DJ don`t usually use disco lights. So I`m pretty alone there with my flash ;)</p>

<p>I wonder how do those photojurnalists like wedding photographers get their party images? just with great cameras (like D3)capable of really high iso`s and with fast lenses, so no flash? anyway, they have to get close to the party, so they are intruding. At least, at this last wedding I did, I saw no other way to capture the party except intruding. I felt like sometimes, I was standing in front of their mood. Maybe I`m overcarefull and this is just in my imagination, I just wanted oppinions from other photographers.</p>

[john_deerfield]

<blockquote>

<p>I wonder how do those photojurnalists like wedding photographers get their party images? just with great cameras (like D3)capable of really high iso`s and with fast lenses, so no flash?</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>In a word, yes. As pointed out, you are using consumer gear expecting professional results. The D40 AF system is the least expensive Nikon has. The 18-200 is a great jack of all trades lens but very ill suited for wedding work and next to horrible for reception work. On the other hand, a D300 uses Nikon's best AF system (although maybe the D3s is better). Even the D90 uses a better AF system. And the D40 uses a CCD sensor which, comparatively, gives terrible high ISO performance. And nothing beats good glass. The lens is more important than the camera! You really need some form of the 17-50 f/2.8 to pull off a wedding. You simply have the wrong tools for the job- or at least for the job you want to do.</p>

[picturesque]

<p>While there is probably a definite difference in the AF response of the best Nikon bodies and lenses as compared to the lower end bodies and lenses, it shouldn't prevent you from getting the shots you need. It would just help you get them faster and easier. To overcome the situation, you have to be smarter than the auto systems.</p>

<p>I am slightly confused. It seems you are saying you generally get the farther away dancing/action shots OK, but not the portraits. So you are saying the focus misses on basically still subjects? Do you mean the kind of portraits where you are just walking around during the reception and you just photograph a couple standing or talking?</p>

<p>Can we eliminate use of a flash bracket? Can we confirm you <strong>have</strong> a focus assist light working? If so, look at your images. Is the focus completely missed or is there a plane of focus on one face, but not the other? If the latter, this is a DOF issue. Close to your subjects, and with medium to longer focal lengths, DOF is not all that deep. Also depends whether your subjects' faces were on the same plane.</p>

<p>As for intruding, if you mean papparazzi type photographers, they definitely intrude. The stars know they are there. If you mean wedding photographers who use a PJ style--yes, they do use no flash and fast lenses. They don't always use auto focus though. If they want to be completely stealthy, they can use manual focus, so there is no focus assist beam pattern.</p>

<p>There is also a skill that top PJ wedding photographs have. They can be close to their subjects but not attract attention. It is a matter of blending in and waiting. You may want to look up the two interviews here on photo.net with Jeff Ascough. I believe he has talked about this in the past. This is no flash, of course.</p>

[picturesque]

<p>It occurred to me that 30-50mm is 12-20 inches. If using focus assist, you could just have parallax error. At that kind of distances from people, you can't help but be obvious. I'd just go with it and <strong>be</strong> obtrusive.</p>

<p>If you could have more space, you can still shoot flash portraits by using a longer focal length, bouncing off a wall, and keeping the focus on the shutter button, so that the focus assist pattern grabs and you shoot before the person has time to react.</p>

[wpahnelas]

<p>your best option, i believe, would be to invest in the 50/1.4 AF-S lens for your D40x. i see little chance for you to surmount the challenges you face with the gear you have. the 50/1.4 will AF on your camera, and the wide max aperture will aid immensely in focusing on your subjects. i realize it will cost a lot -- as much as the D40x -- but when i called it an investment, that's what it is. even a D300 can be hobbled by slow glass, so as you upgrade your gear, do it with a strategy that helps you now and later. as for being obtrusive in getting shots b/c of your speedlight, you and your clients have to accept a certain amount of inconvenience. as long as you don't blast away excessively, and bounce rather than fire straight ahead, i think you will find people rather tolerant.</p>

[epes]

<p>well, people on the nikon thread forum are telling me I would rather buy some tamron, sigma fast lenses. dodn`t know...</p>

<p>Nadine, I wasn`t talking about steady people portraits, but about dancing people close up shots. and it`s about one beeing focused and the other not OR about the background beeing in focus and the subjects not OR the subjects beeing cut or outside the frame.</p>

<p>Is a 50mm 1.4 lens a better option than the 1.8 one? except the AF, since I will upgrade to a new camera, at least a D90.</p>

[dave_wilson1]

<p>Erdos, understanding your situation better, just adding a simple 50 1.4 or 1.8 will get you way more light into the camera, but the focal legnth on the crop format is a little tight. So even a plain old 28 2.8 AF-D will be not that expensive and give a decent working angle of view. Those 2.8 zooms are expensive, so if you're trying to be money wise just add a plain old fixed lens that you like. Sigma and Tamron are certainly very good. I prefer Nikon mostly. Also as a side note, I was to Romania in the 1980s, very cool place!</p>

[picturesque]

<p>If you are talking about being 12 to 20 inches away from people when dancing, the parallax issue could be very real. Otherwise, I would use my semi-zone focus technique or real zone focus with a not-wide-open aperture. I had a situation where I was on a boat shooting a wedding reception, and with dancing, I was very close to people, as you were, and the focus assist beam misses.</p>

<p>Thing is--I would find out the real reasons for a problem before I start buying new things. Could be your problem can be solved without buying new things, but you won't know until you find out.</p>

<p>As for the 50mm 1.4--don't know if with nIkon the 1.4 verison is better. With Canon, it is.</p>

[owen_s]

<p>shooting wide open will only give you a few inches in focus, and the more you zoom in the less that will be in focus from the even narrower depth of field..<br>

 <br>

so try f5.6 at a minimum when shooting people; and velco a small led flashlight to the bottom of the camera to light the sceen as the camera focuses.. also zoom in to focus, it helps get it spot on.</p>