How to take good Chingay Parade photos

[blueblood]

I have a ticket to a Chingay Parade at a neighbourhood hardcourt on this weekend.

As the night is dark, with the colorful and bright dancers and trucks, what should be a good set up for a DSLR to take good photos. I can't use low speed, long exposure as the dancers are moving.

1. What lens to use ? Wide or tele ?
2. What mode of the settings ? M or P ?
3. ISO ?
4. Shutter ?
5. Exposure ?
6. Tripod ?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Shizuma]

I have a ticket to a Chingay Parade at a neighbourhood hardcourt on this weekend.

As the night is dark, with the colorful and bright dancers and trucks, what should be a good set up for a DSLR to take good photos. I can't use low speed, long exposure as the dancers are moving.

1. What lens to use ? Wide or tele ?
2. What mode of the settings ? M or P ?
3. ISO ?
4. Shutter ?
5. Exposure ?
6. Tripod ?

Thanks in advance.

Shoot Manual .
ISO high as you can take
Fast lens.
Tripod.

Please no atomic explosion flash to light up as far as MBS

 

[blueblood]

Shoot Manual .
ISO high as you can take
Fast lens.
Tripod.

Please no atomic explosion flash to light up as far as MBS

Thanks for your quick reply.
I've got some more questions.

ISO 6400? Is the noise acceptable?

What about shutter? 1/30 or even lower? 1 sec?
What about motion blur for the moving dancers or floats?

No flash to be used at all. Yes I think so too.

 

[tecnica]

there is no one-size-fits-all setting.

use your own eye to judge and of cause', get your fundamentals right first.

 

[Rashkae]

Thanks for your quick reply.
I've got some more questions.

ISO 6400? Is the noise acceptable?

What about shutter? 1/30 or even lower? 1 sec?
What about motion blur for the moving dancers or floats?

No flash to be used at all. Yes I think so too.

ISO? Up to you. What's acceptable to me may not be to you. Depends on the camera body too.

Shutter speed? Up to you if you want to freeze action or motion blur.

Honestly, these are basic things you could be out practicing right now. Get out of your house, practice on areas illuminated by street lamps.

 

[TWmilkteaTW]

I have a ticket to a Chingay Parade at a neighbourhood hardcourt on this weekend.

As the night is dark, with the colorful and bright dancers and trucks, what should be a good set up for a DSLR to take good photos. I can't use low speed, long exposure as the dancers are moving.

1. What lens to use ? Wide or tele ?
2. What mode of the settings ? M or P ?
3. ISO ?
4. Shutter ?
5. Exposure ?
6. Tripod ?

Thanks in advance.

1) It depends on what kind of shots u want. Just use what you have.
2) Use the mode you are most familiar with. If the picture dosent matter..you can try out M mode..and learn/practice
3) The lower the better. But be careful..because i dont think you want blur picture. No magic setting.
4) No magic setting as well
5) Same as point 4
6) Do you think there is enough spaces to plant a tripod? If can..it will be a plus to have.

There is no magic setting.. Its really trial and error kind of thing..or learn from somebody who is good or know how. Whatever, practice and practice and you will get better and better.

 

[blueblood]

Thanks for all your feedback.

Yes, I understand that there isn't one fix solution to take pictures. However I need some good pointers to start with, thereby adjusting based on actual situation.

Honestly, I did some shoots on the housing lamps, but with long exposing time, some are quite good. For this event I can't do the same as they are not still pictures. Of course, motion blur is not usually desired.

The reason why I seek for advices on SnapClub, for I do not know of anybody who is well verse in photography as you guys.

 

[tecnica]

Thanks for all your feedback.

Yes, I understand that there isn't one fix solution to take pictures. However I need some good pointers to start with, thereby adjusting based on actual situation.

Honestly, I did some shoots on the housing lamps, but with long exposing time, some are quite good. For this event I can't do the same as they are not still pictures. Of course, motion blur is not usually desired.

The reason why I seek for advices on SnapClub, for I do not know of anybody who is well verse in photography as you guys.

it is difficult to recommend a set of settings because ISO, aperture and shutter speed all correlate to each other.

you change one variable and the other one or two will get affected.

also, your intended effect matters as well.

the general guide is to shoot in P mode if you are unsure of what settings to use.

 

[Rashkae]

The reason why I seek for advices on SnapClub, for I do not know of anybody who is well verse in photography as you guys.

You mean ClubSnap? ;-)

And that's why we cannot recommend a setting. For me, I would shoot in A mode. Others in P. Others in M. Others just full auto.

The maximum "acceptable" ISO is up to you and what your camera can manage.

You need to practice to see what aperture and ISO combination results in what shutter speed. Also, the floats will each have different lighting. You will only know when you are there what combination works.

 

[Reportage]

I have a ticket to a Chingay Parade at a neighbourhood hardcourt on this weekend.

As the night is dark, with the colorful and bright dancers and trucks, what should be a good set up for a DSLR to take good photos. I can't use low speed, long exposure as the dancers are moving.

1. What lens to use ? Wide or tele ?
2. What mode of the settings ? M or P ?
3. ISO ?
4. Shutter ?
5. Exposure ?
6. Tripod ?

Thanks in advance.

See first what you want to capture. Some people purposely want the blur effect, some want as sharp as possible, some want nitty and gritty and so on.

Maybe post up some links to photos you hope to get?

 

[SkyStrike]

To add on to what others have mentioned above, I would suggest that you get familiarize with your camera and how to change settings quickly/smoothly or find the way that works best for you... by doing so, you can quickly review and see what is the next course of action to take (is the shot OK, underexposed, overexposed etc...)

Besides the technical aspect, you will also want to consider the composition of the photo. It doesn't matter much even if you nailed all the technical stuffs like ISO, shutter speed, aperture, but messed up the composition.

 

[Shizuma]

Test your own ISO tolerance by shooting lamp posts or cats ( ) at night.
Ramp up as high as you think you can take. if it is too noisy, maybe you should adjust and keep adjusting downwards until you find it acceptable.


After all you are shooting for your satisfaction...find the ISO at which you can be satisfied.

 

[blueblood]

Test your own ISO tolerance by shooting lamp posts or cats ( ) at night.
Ramp up as high as you think you can take. if it is too noisy, maybe you should adjust and keep adjusting downwards until you find it acceptable.


After all you are shooting for your satisfaction...find the ISO at which you can be satisfied.

Thanks for your kind guildance, at least it is a good head start for me with the meaning ful information.

What about shutter, should I start with 1/30 sec if I use ISO at 6400 ?
Of course if I reduce the ISO, then I will have to increae the shutter time.

 

[Rashkae]

Thanks for your kind guildance, at least it is a good head start for me with the meaning ful information.

What about shutter, should I start with 1/30 sec if I use ISO at 6400 ?
Of course if I reduce the ISO, then I will have to increae the shutter time.

That depends entirely on your aperture and what the resulting shutter speed is to give you the exposure you desire. Where you "start" is entirely up to you and what you are trying to achieve.

Stop looking for magic formulas.

 

[blueblood]

That depends entirely on your aperture and what the resulting shutter speed is to give you the exposure you desire. Where you "start" is entirely up to you and what you are trying to achieve.

Stop looking for magic formulas.

Hey relax lah bro.

If you dun feel comfortable to guild or teach, please skip my thread.
I understand all the inputs like depend...., depends.... like you provided.

And I never ask for secret formula. Is that how seniors treating newbies?

 

[Rashkae]

Hey relax lah bro.

If you dun feel comfortable to guild or teach, please skip my thread.
I understand all the inputs like depend...., depends.... like you provided.

And I never ask for secret formula. Is that how seniors treating newbies?

Oh, I'm totally relaxed, unlike you.

To quote you:

1. What lens to use ? Wide or tele ?
2. What mode of the settings ? M or P ?
3. ISO ?
4. Shutter ?
5. Exposure ?
6. Tripod ?

There you are asking for a magic formula.

"Is that how seniors treating newbies?" - giving you answers? guiding you? yup! That's exactly what I was doing - or are you not able to see that? And heck care about the "Senior member" tag, I would give you the same answer even if I only had 1 post.

If you "understand all the inputs like depend...., depends" like you stated, then why are you asking the same things all over again?

And if you think that was rude, then I can guarantee you that was not rude at all. That was straight and simple. Just because you are a newbie does not mean that you can ignore the answers that have been given to you repeatedly, nor does it mean that everyone needs to write everything "nice nice" just for you. The answers I provided were in a pure, matter-of-fact way. If you were offended and now want to start some ridiculous "newbies vs seniors" debate, then maybe you are far too emotionally sensitive / temperamental to be online?

 

[catchlights]

sorry to say if you want to get it right on the first try.........is not that simple and easy,
you need to understand the basic of photography, like how shutter speed works, how aperture works, and how ISO work and a lot of practise on these.

than when you at the situation, you will know what to do to solve the problems one after another.


to have better understanding on basic photography, you can read the books by Bryan Peterson, these books you can find them in our National Library.

Amazon.com: Bryan Peterson: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

 

[TWmilkteaTW]

And thats why... there is something call pro photography and people pay high/good money for (Nice/good) pictures .

Its not easy and it is definitely a skill. Every situation will call for different settings. Settings also change depending on what Camera body and lenses u use.

Yes. Go read up some books or sign up for courses to get better idea. Its so much harder and difficult for anyone to explain it in words for you (like now). Nonetheless, Its really practice and practice.

For the start..use Full auto or just go other mode. See what the camera set for you. Then learn and adjust from there. (Once u have shot enough. The next time you would know what settings for what kind of situation..in any case..most will still need to adjust +- also)

Help yourself. Thats the best.

 

[SkyStrike]

Thanks for your kind guildance, at least it is a good head start for me with the meaning ful information.

What about shutter, should I start with 1/30 sec if I use ISO at 6400 ?
Of course if I reduce the ISO, then I will have to increae the shutter time.

Lets' say if we say that 1/30 may be good enough. And you are trying to capture some very fast dance movements and your shot is filled with extreme movement blur and isn't what you want. In this scenario what will you do? *This is what you will be facing on the ground anyway, If you have issues imagining this, I will recommend that you do a bit of night action shooting before the performance day.*

That said, I haven't come across any dance that can be shot at 1/30.... Also, the shutter speed to use will also vary from the focal length you are using. the recommended lowest shutter speed is 1/(focal length * crop factor)s. So if you are using a 200mm on crop, the min shutter speed recommended will be 1/(200 * 1.6)s.

One last note, Personally, I don't give much thoughts about what ISO to use, most of the time, it's on AUTO ISO. Even when my shot is over exposed too much, I will just dial the EV instead of fiddling with the ISO. Unless you have good reasons to do so. I can dial the ev faster than I dial the ISO. The time savings may be able to grab you a shot you wanted.

 

[blueblood]

Thanks for all the information. With that I'll have a good start, and with trial and error, should be able to produce some pictures.

I have got no intention to make this post or me to be branded a "newbies vs seniors" forumer. I believe that most bros are kind to share. Some may lack of EQ, but they may not have ill intention or to deter us from asking.

I'll still continue to get advices from seniors, despite that I may not get the "secret formula", as I know they aren't any.

I shall rest my case.

Good luck, and I'll enjoy photography as much as you do.