B'day party, need help.. thx

[kervin13]

Hi guys, currently i've d700 and 24-70f2.8, next month i'm going to do a photoshot for my sister b'day party.
The party will be held indoor, so i'd like u guys to recommend me, any special requirement beside my cam n lens for it? do i need external flash?? and how is the setting to take "acceptable" photos??
btw i also own a manfrotto 190 and 486rc2 ball head..
thx for ur guidances,, appreciate..

 

[night86mare]

yes, you might probably want an external flash, but it really depends on the setting there, if there is natural light due to the fact that the area has a lot of windows allowing light in.. then maybe just the pop-up flash to fill might be sufficient, but most of the time this is not the case.

unless you are happy with motion blur, tripod will not help, unless you wish to happily instruct people "dont move for 1 second ar.. remember, don't move ar"...

 

[Dream Merchant]

You don't mention what the lighting will be like at the venue as well as the venue description itself, and if your sister prefers more 'natural' looking shots or flash shots.

Perhaps consider having a flash and using it with various bounce/diffussion techniques in case you need it as a main light, or just as a blip of fill?

On your 700, don't be afraid to bump up the ISO as high as 6400 if need be.

Chances are, unless you're taking portable studio type shots, your tripod would be a hinderance rather than an advantage.

 

[kervin13]

the lighting at the party will be kinda like at a hotel lobby..
the party will be held at an evening in a restaurant inside a hotel..
my sister not really has a preference, but i think that natural light is better, isn't it??
i've just bought my cam for two months, and i've never done this type of photoshot, i usually take photos at the morning or afternoon when sun is shining bright, so kinda blank for the settings and equipments..
thx anyway for the replied guys..

 

[Yapster]

the lighting at the party will be kinda like at a hotel lobby..
the party will be held at an evening in a restaurant inside a hotel..
my sister not really has a preference, but i think that natural light is better, isn't it??
i've just bought my cam for two months, and i've never done this type of photoshot, i usually take photos at the morning or afternoon when sun is shining bright, so kinda blank for the settings and equipments..
thx anyway for the replied guys..

If you are at home now, turn on your lights, try shooting something at ISO 200, f2.8, aperture priority. (I am not suggesting you can only use aperture priority, i just wanna minimize the parameters to let you see the result)
Try and see if you are getting blur shots handheld.

Then slowly go for smaller aperture, like f5.6, f8 and see what happen.
Most likely you will have blur shots.

This is when your ISO is useful. Increase your ISO slowly to 400, 800 or as DM mentioned, it can go to ISO 6400 with pretty clean shots (except the dark areas where you will see some noise).

But then, as ISO increase, noise increase. So it depends on whether if you (or your sis if she has high expectation) are satisfied with the result.

You mentioned the shoot is in the evening in a hotel. So the light will be less as the event progress into the night right? This is when you will need more lights.

A flash will also help to freeze motion. You may not want all photos to have your subject posed (static) and blurred motion of other people moving around in the surrounding.

I suggest you get a flash. And more rechargeable batteries if you shoot a lot.

As for tripod, unless you want to be in the shot and don't want others (such as waiter or waitress) to help you take the photo, you can leave it at home.

 

[karnage]

Maybe just set auto-ISO up to 6400, stay on Aperture priority, use an external flash and bounce off the ceiling, if it's not too high. If it's possible, maybe go with your family to the place see see look look, take some test shots. =) I'm imagining hotel lighting, which is usually quite dim. In that case, I won't use too low ISO also, otherwise no ambient light.

 

[Dream Merchant]

Kervin,

Since you're fairly new to the D700 (not sure if you're new to photography on the whole, but it does appear so), what I would suggest is sticking to very basic and simple techniques.

You have a month to learn and practise, so that's a good thing. I assume a month because you were not specific. No worries, I find that most people here aren't very detailed or specific on the whole.

Learn about using your in-built flash. Learn how to use a diffuser on it. Or consider getting an SB flash and learn basic bounce/fill flash techniques. The technique in itself is not difficult, and if you grasp the concepts, you could easily learn it in one day.

I would suggest using settings that will give you overall good results with nothing too fancy (or difficult to use and control).

Learn how your Nikon flash system works (sorry, I can't help you here) and use a diffuser or bounce the flash with a small business card attached to the top of your flash. Use settings like ISO 400 - 800, f/5.6, shutter speed of 1/30 - 1/60 so that you have enough background or ambient light in the photos and the background won't end up looking like a dark cave. Let the automation of your system handle how much flash output is necessary, and from there. you could tweak it a bit for the best/most desirable results.

Again, do you foresee yourself using a flash moderately often? If yes, this might be a good time to get one.

Even if you were to shoot with very high ISO like 6400 and fast lenses, giving you possibly acceptable shutter speeds to capture gentle movement, you'll find that most hotel and restaurant lighting set-ups are top down heavy, causing lots of shadows under eyes, noses and chins. It also tends to be rather flat. Not very attractive. You need to find some way to fill in those shadows and the best way in your circumstance is using flash.

If you're a nice person, eager to learn and hard-working, I could meet up with you and show you how it's done. It's a lot easier to show and tell than to write out pages of text.

 

[kervin13]

thx u all guys, i'm extremely appreciate those inputs, u guys gave me..
yeah, i started photography about 6 months ago, use d60 for the first 4 months and now i've the d700, both of the cam was bought by my parents for me..
actually i'm an international student, n the party i've mentioned is a sweet 17 b'day party of my younger sister, which will be held in medan,Indonesia (my hometown)
Dream merchant : thx for ur offer, i would love to but i don't think i've the opportunity to meet u in these few months, coz currently i'm going to have my exam soon, and i'll be going back to medan, the nite of my last exam date so it will be likely that i have to learn and practice by my own.
anyway, u guys are extremely friendly and willing to teach newbie like me, and i'm very grateful joining this club and get the guidances from u guys..

 

[liarliar]

I guess you are there to capture some moments of the birthday party right? So its for memories' sake and not that only one moment in life to learn low light photography. SO just shoot. To keep you image for editing and further processing in future just set to raw+jpeg. Keep the raw/ NEF files and show the jpeg.

You will need an external flash speedlight, a tripod and your fast f2.8 lens (24-70 range in focal length is fine in a party where you know most of the people and can move among them easily). No harm asking your subjects to stay still and hold that smile for a second or two. Its a party not street candids. Of course you will want to include some candid moments but a little blurring at times will not harm. Its another kind of abstract i call 'blurred candid mooments'

Oh dears what am i bambling about now ...

 

[Dream Merchant]

A tripod - at a young person's sweet 17 party?

Shoot in RAW n JPEG and show the JPEG, and just store away athe RAW?

Serious?

 

[Reportage]

when in doubt on that day...insert a 16GB and shoot like no tmw on full automatic.

 

[KNIGHT ONG]

I am not sure do you have any cue as to other above mentioned.

In anyway ,,, get yourself an external flash, set to A mode and shoot .. and DM offer you a lesson in person is much much easier then reading all these texts ... :thumbsup: