No Speedlight. Indoor family event

[max_rossi3]

<p>Hello fellas,</p>

<p>This weekend I will be shooting a family event for a friend and I have encountered a big problem and would like some tips.<br>

I will not have access to a fast lens or a speed light. I will be using a Nikon kit lens 18-55VR 3.5-5.6. In the past I was able to do this type of shooting with a 35mm 1.8 and it wasnt so bad. This time when at 35mm the aperture will be 5 at the widest on the kit lens.<br>

Would it be a good idea to use the on camera flash at the lowest compansation setting of -3 to make up for the aperture value or just crank up the ISO to get good results?<br>

Also would you do the mentioned above or use the lens at the 18mm setting to get the 3.5 aperture and crop later?<br>

I hate using on camera flash because of the hard shadow behind subject so that is out of the question but maybe if stepped down, the shadows will not be so bad. Please help</p>

<p>Most of the event will be at night time, probably inside house lit up by regular light bulbs<br>

Nikon D5100</p>

[William Michael]

<p>You do not mention your camera. I will assume it can make good pictures at ISO1600.<br>

On that assumption I would shoot wide FL (at 18 to 22) and shoot wide views (i.e. with the idea NOT to crop ALL THAT MUCH) so that means groups of people or longer shots of couples rather than a tight head shot, for example.<br>

I would use F/3.5 and get as fast a shutter speed as possible to arrest Subject Motion.<br>

A very important point is to understand that the impact of noise in your final result will be worse if you underexpose.<br>

So if it comes to the crunch between trading a fast shutter speed and maybe not arresting the movement with using higher ISO with and having a bit more ‘grain’ – I would take an higher ISO to make the safer shutter speed.<br>

Your Kit Lens should stay at F/3.5 to about FL =22mm – you should test that. </p>

<p>Typically indoor ‘Living room’ lighting you’ll be around: F/3.5 @ 1/15 ~ 1/60s @ ISO1600 – so you’ll probably have your work cut out for you and really means you need ISO3200 – turn on the lights as you walk around the house – wait to pull the shot when people are still.</p>

<p>WW </p>

[keith reeder]

<p>Nikon D5100, William - last line of Max's post.</p>

<p>Max, from what I've read about it, the D5100 will be happy enough at 3200 ISO - shoot Raw, convert in (say) Lightroom 4 (which has excellent noise handling charcteristics) and you should be fine.</p>

[simon_hickie1]

<p>Average indoor lighting = about EV5 = ISO 100, 1/2 second f4. The D5100 will be OK at ISO 3200 if you do not under expose (I have one). ISO 3200 means you should manage 1/60th at f4 (maybe 1/50th at f3.5). Converting in DxO will deal with the noise nicely (download demo version when ready).</p>

[max_rossi3]

Thanks for the responses, this reassures me that it could be done. Also what would be best, matrix or spot metering?

[ariel_s1]

<p>I say pop up the flash. Nikon's system is so good, that if you compose correctly, it's hard to even realize that there is a flash! Plus, even in the photos that it's obvious, your photos with flash will be sharper than your photos without. Photography is greek for "writing with light," so increasing the amount of light is like increasing the amount of ink! But the beauty of digital photography is that it is trivial to test it for yourself. Even now, a few days before, just approximate the brightness of the room. Shoot in aperture priority, without flash, at ISO 1600 for a few minutes, using a friend or family member as a model. Shooting in A at your largest aperture will ensure that the camera chooses the fastest shutter speed you have available. As for metering, just use your usual. Then, choose ISO 3200. Now, drop the ISO to 400 or 800, and use flash to help brighten the image. Choose whichever settings produce the best results for you.</p>

[simon_hickie1]

<p>Ariel's suggestion is worth exploring. Suppose ambient only metering gave ISO 3200 @f4 & 1/60th. You could try ISO 1600, f4 & 1/60th but with the built in flash in addition. I would set the camera in manual in this situation (but the flash will work itself out automatically). Setting rear curtain flash might also be worth doing if there's going to be some movement.</p>

[ann_overland]

<p>I would not hesitate a minute to use the built-in-flash. In a family event the most important thing would be to not miss shots because of unwanted movement, and to not have faces in the shadows. Not being able to see the faces is worse than shadows from the flash on a wall.</p>

<p>If you know how to use the flash, it is like Ariel says, you can hardly notice the flash light in the pictures. Some people use the built-in-flash as fill flash whenever they are shooting, both indors and outdoors. Use the 3D matrix meetering, turn up the ISO to get the ambient light to look like it does with your own eyes (perhaps somewhere between ISO 500 and ISO 1200). I would go with the aperture priority at the widest option, or next step down if the lens is soft at it's widest aperatures. Then you just fire away! Keep checking the exposure and turn up the ISO if needed.</p>

<p>And unless you go too close to people's faces, I don't think you need to dial down the flash exposure at all. Maybe not even then. On the contrary. The CLS system will adjust that just fine most of the time. It is important not to underexpose the pictures. Rather a bit too bright than a bit to dark.</p>

<p>Regarding white balanse, check out which would give the best colored ambient light: Auto, incandescent, flash or cloudy would be one of the options I would use on my D300. But if you shoot RAW, the WB could easily be corrected in the postprocessing. Unless a too warm color temperature blew the highlights from light spots. The CLS system will read the color temperature when flash exposure is calculated, to get the right color temperature with the camera's auto white balanse option. Maybe you would play it safest with the white balance set to 'auto whitebalanse'.</p>

<p>Another thing, maybe the flash light will not cover the entire frame if you go too wide with the lens. You have to check that out before you start shooting.<br>

<br /> Finally, if you know you have enough storage space on your SD cards, you should definately shoot RAW and JPEG files in the best quality. </p>

[William Michael]

<p>D5100 - Thanks</p>

[jcuknz]

<p>My experience with my camera is that one stop under for the flash gives me good results and avoids the usual problem of washing out faces which was all I read before about on-board flash before I started to use it. Our cameras are roughly comparable I think. Cameras are marvellous if set properly these days and much cleverer than us humans, well this one anyway :-)<br>

The proviso to that statement is that I am happy to make adjustments in editing and don't judge images as out of the camera.</p>

[William Michael]

<blockquote>

<p>“<em><strong>I hate using on camera flash because of the hard shadow behind subject</strong></em> so that is out of the question but maybe if stepped down, the shadows will not be so bad.”</p>

</blockquote>

<p>There is an art to finessing the Pop Up Flash whilst using it in <em>LOW LEVEL Ambient Lighting</em> and striving to achieve ‘good’ results with NO or MOSLTY unnoticeable ‘<em><strong>hard shadow’.</strong></em></p>

<p>On the other hand, I have found that most of those learning the Craft find it is easier to match a balance of Flash Light and Ambient Light using the Pop up Flash for <em>Flash as Fill in Daylight</em>, because for this purpose the Pop up Flash can be used as DIRECT Flash and very good results can be attained.</p>

<p>***</p>

<p>However, if you want to have a go at using the Pop up Flash in Low Indoor Lighting AND you <em><strong>have the time to practice, </strong></em>in a similar lighting condition to which you will be shooting, then some points to keep in mind include but are not limited to these listed below:<br>

</p>

<ul>

<li>- Appreciate that the technique being described here is termed ‘<em>dragging the shutter</em>’ and it might be a good idea to think of this as TWO exposures: the first is the AMBIENT exposure and for the room ambient to be a secure and definite factor in the image, then the SHUTTER SPEED must be slow enough to allow the Ambient Room Light to be recorded at the chosen aperture and ISO; the other exposure is the FLASH exposure and in general terms, for this shooting scenario, we are seeking the Flash Exposure to be the KEY LIGHT for the FOREGROUND Subject(s) – i.e. ‘The People’.</li>

</ul>

 

<ul>

<li>- I’d suggest starting off with the Flash Exposure Compensation at about: -½Stop for general shots from Half Body to Full Body shots and the idea is to test the Camera's Auto Flash System to ensure you are getting adequate (Flash) exposure on the Foreground Subject(s).</li>

</ul>

 

<ul>

<li>- This technique is possible to achieve with the camera in Aperture Priority Mode and also Manual Mode: I would choose to use Manual Mode.</li>

</ul>

 

<ul>

<li>- In really simple (and general) terms the technique (for the described shooting scenario in LOW LEVEL Ambient Light) is that we take a meter reading of the scene and set the Exposure Parameters for that scene <em>especially noting the Shutter Speed</em>; we then adjust the SHUTTER SPEED to FASTER <strong><em>about</em></strong> ONE STOP – this adjustment is not set in stone, we have to work it out for the scene; then we shoot with the Flash, but the LONG Shutter speed captures the Ambient Room Light.</li>

</ul>

 

<ul>

<li>- The amount we adjust the SHUTTER SPEED from what we metered as the ‘correct’ ambient exposure is the key factor in BALANCING the Ambient and the Flash; another main factor of this 'balance', is the Flash Exposure Compensation (FEC).</li>

</ul>

 

<ul>

<li>- Today’s Automatic Flash Systems are very refined, but it still is a good idea NOT to get too close to the FOREGROUND SUBJECTS, especially if the FOREGROUND Subject is substantially ALL BLACK or ALL WHITE.</li>

</ul>

 

<ul>

<li>- Flash has a ‘fall off’ in relation to DISTANCE – so when making a Photograph of a group of people therefore having DEPTH in a group of people, is not a good idea.</li>

</ul>

 

<ul>

<li>- If you have time, the Pop up Flash can be modified with a little REFLECTOR - I use a white card – which I CURVE and then which I GAF tape on the camera – I use a little mirror underneath the Flash to bounce it up to the card – the white card is about 6” x 4” – like a ‘file index card’: I do find using a reflector achieves much better results than using DIRECT Flash in Low Room Light – IF I were using DIRECT FLASH in Low Room Light, I would likely be using FEC at about -1 to -1½ Stops – but this is most dependent upon the Camera and the general shooting situation.</li>

</ul>

 

<ul>

<li>- Every Camera is subtly different to other cameras and so are their Flash Technologies and whilst general guidelines can be provided, such are not a replacement for testing and practicing beforehand in a similar lighting scenario to the gig one is going to shoot and reviewing the shots and adapting, on site.</li>

</ul>

<p>WW</p>

 

[absent]

<blockquote>

<p>This weekend I will be shooting a family event for a friend...Most of the event will be at night time, probably inside house lit up by regular light bulbs<br />Nikon D5100<br>

　</p>

</blockquote>

<p>　<br>

You didn't mention what the people would be doing at the event. Are you mostly taking stills, or stopping action?<br>

For taking stills, I'd suggest the following: Use the camera's Auto ISO feature. Set base ISO to 100, max ISO 1600, and minimum shutter speed to the slowest you think you can safely handhold with the VR lens (1/30 or 1/20). Use P (Program) mode. This will probably be sufficient for a well lit room.<br>

　<br>

For darker areas, or to stop action, pop up the flash and select S (Shutter priority) mode. If stopping action you can run the shutter speed all the way to 1/200 (max sync speed). If you want to lighten the background (dragging the shutter) select a slower speed as WW suggested. Make sure the camera's flash mode is set to TTL so it will use the flash meter to set exposure.<br>

　<br>

This camera has both an exposure compensation and a flash compensation adjustment. Exposure comp makes the whole picture brighter or darker; flash comp varies the power of the flash. You can use these to govern foreground vs background brightness as well.<br>

　<br>

Above all else, take some test shots before the ones that count. If the people are willing, experiment with different techniques and go with what works best for you.</p>

[max_rossi3]

<p>Thanks a lot guys.<br>

I did do some practicing last night and after several shots and lots of reviewing I think i will be using the flash and practice more that "Dragging" technique. I was able to get some nice shots that way.</p>

<p>Without flash, I noticed I could make the pictures look good but you could tell that they were shot at night. With flash will be a better option for now. Thanks for the advise</p>

<p>By the way, the event is a Grandma's birthday. I know she is over 80 yrs old and most of her kids and grandkids have flown into town. The family is Hispanic so there will be a lot of dancing around.</p>

[absent]

<blockquote>

<p>...there will be a lot of dancing around.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>If you are going to be "dragging the shutter" during the dancing shots I suggest setting the flash sync to "REAR". You can do this on the "info" display by clicking on the flash mode icon (lower left corner I believe) and selecting "REAR" or "SLOW REAR". This way the flash will fire as the shutter closes, and you will get the effect of a sharp image trailing a "ghost". Try it and see how it works for you.</p>