I'm attending d&d for next week, I'm consider a newbie in photography, I'm using d90 with a 50mm prime n 105mm kit lens n I would like to seek advice from Professionals out there.
1. Shutterspeed should be low like 30" would it be enough or should I go into bulb mode?
2. Is there a need to switch around the 2 lens as mention above or just stick to which lens that suits more of the events?
3. If I'm not wrong, the atmosphere is lit with orange lighting thus is iso800 sufficent?
4. Should I go on shutter priorty instead of manual?
5. Is aperture or white balance important??
Thanks in advance
Hi VainKid
1. Shutter - Usually for event photography because its fast pace, you might want to try to stick to around 1/60 for starters so that you can freeze the action. If the subject is walking you probably need 1/80 or even faster. If the subject is just standing, you might sometimes get away with 1/50. It depends, but i always start with 1/60 and work from there.
Aperture - I usually stick between f4-5.6. f4 for 1 or 2 pax and maybe 5.6 for 7-10 pax. It depends on how they are standing also.
Focal length - I like to keep it between 17-24mm, so that i have more depth of field. Its also cos at 17mm you're less likely to have Cam shake. You know the 1/focal length rule to reduce cam shake right.
Another advantage of using the shorter focal length is that you are forced to move closer to the subject so you wont have to blast your flash all the time and thus you can reduce the recycle time.
When i started out, i didnt have an external flash, so i used the build-in-flash to cover small events and this is how i maximized the equip i had. Oh i shot in Raw too, so i was able to lighten up the darker shots later during post processing.
Also since you're using the 18-105 kit lens, you're better off at 18mm or the shorter end so you have the max aperture of 3.5 available.
2. I suggest you just stick to ur 18-105. Your D90 is a crop cam, so at 50mm i personally find it abit too far. Also if you shoot at 50mm it'll take away all the advantages of shooting at 18mm.
3. For orange lighting, either shoot at Auto White Bal, or just change it to Tungsten. For indoors i usually shoot between iso 800 to 1600. You can start at iso 800 and work from there.
4. i'm using canon but if i'm not wrong for Nikon at Aperture priority you can set the min shutter speed at 1/60 when you use the flash. If not then just start with 1/60 f4.5 in manual mode.
5. both are impt. but if you shoot in Raw, you can always change the white bal later on ur computer.
Ok that shld be enough for you to get started! And my last piece of advice is to practice practice practice. Shoot your family during dinner or when they're watching tv or something. You need to experiment with your flash and understand it. Becos indoors at night, without a flash, you can basically close shop cos ur shutter speed will be too slow, you wont able to freeze motion. Cheers & gd luck.