Advice on taking friend's ROM photos

[Ericana]

Hi All,

I have volunteered myself to be the photographer for my friend's ROM.
I saw it as a chance to help my friend to cut costs and also gain experience.

The ROM will held in a restaurant at Curry Moon(previously known
as Admiralty Country Club where the golf driving range is)

I need some advice regarding the film, settings and equipments.

Film
Looks like NPH400 and Superia 400 is popular from previous threads

Settings
F5.6 or F6.7 ?
Do you guys fixed the apertures or put it Program mode ?
Sorry if I had offended the pros as they wouldn't think of the P dial on the camera.

Equipment
Currently I own a Canon 300 + 28-105 II USM + 75-300 II USM lens. No Ext Flash !
I have intentions of getting 420Ex flash which I hope should help.
(The maximum guide number of 42 at 105mm setting to a guide number of 23 at 24mm for this flash)
Is that flash good enough?

Advice
This is my virgin photo shoot as a ROM photographer.
Any advice on things to do or avoid will be great.

Thanx in advance

Cheers
Ericana

 

[mervlam]

buy / borrow an external flash!

 

[vince123123]

yup an external flash is mandatory for indoor events

 

[Kei]

Yup 420ex will be enough

 

[Zerstorer]

External flash with bounce card would be essential for softer flash.

Try NPS160(NPC if vivid colour and contrast desired) for outdoors and NPH400 when indoors.

Try to stick to Aperture priority as using P mode might utilize higher apertures than necessary.

If you do happen to have some external shots, be careful of overexposed backgrounds due to your X-sync limit, might have to use higher apertures to compensate in those cases.

 

[Ericana]

Thanx for all the advice.

Which would better choice for the flash, the omni bounce or bounce card ?

 

[e_liau]

Originally posted by Ericana
Film
Looks like NPH400 and Superia 400 is popular from previous threads
Settings
F5.6 or F6.7 ?
Do you guys fixed the apertures or put it Program mode ?
Is that flash good enough?
Ericana

I swear by NPH400 for indoor dinner shoots if the indoor lighting conditions is favourable. Usually I'll check the exposure level in the room and ask the staff to adjust the lighting condition. Else, if the room is dim, I'll use Fuji Press 800.

I'll try to reduce the use of flash indoor. Thus I've to ensure that the room is adaquately lighted.

Usually use aperture pirority <f5.6>.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[Darren]

Originally posted by Ericana
Which would better choice for the flash, the omni bounce or bounce card ?

At the risk of oversimplifying, omnibounce is good if the ceiling is low and light colored.

A large bounce card with the flash head set at 45deg would be more suitable.

 

[megaweb]

I took a couple Wedding dinner and ROM events using D60 before and I hope my tip is useful to you as follows :
1. I use omni-bounce due to able to take landscape and portrait shots with ceiling bounce (flash head tilted up).
2. I use P (indoor) and Av (outdoor) mode most of the time.
3. Try to keep same level to the object
4. use NPH400 and Superia 400 - indoor shots
NPS160 - outdoor shots

 

[e_liau]

Originally posted by Darren
At the risk of oversimplifying, omnibounce is good if the ceiling is low and light colored.
A large bounce card with the flash head set at 45deg would be more suitable.

Agreed with you. In additon, omnibounce tend to lose more light than using bounce card, for the same amount of flash output. Of course with TTL, it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[georgie]

my advice is that since is taht this is your first shoot.
keep it simple.
use P mode would be good enough.
420 is good enough.
bounce card is good also.
concentrateon getting the important shots correct like the group ones.
make sure that they are looking at your camera which is more important.
do not worry to much abou the film keep to one so that you do not have to worry when you are shooting.
know when youare coming to the end of the roll and be ready to change.
somethings there might be something importnat coming up to shoot, it would be advisble to scarfice the last few shot of your 36, and load a new one.
shoot alot and discard the lousy ones before presenting your work to your friends.
do not let them know how many rolls you are shooting incase they count.
even you make a loss in monetary terms it is ok as the experience is more importnat.then go back and evalute where you wen t wrong.
my 2 cents

 

[Ericana]

You guys are great ! :thumbsup::thumbsup:
Thanx a million .

 

[Darren]

For an example of how a bounce card should be used -->>
http://www.pbase.com/image/13981093 (image belongs to Sebastiansong).

err ... you may not need such a big one though ;p :bsmilie:

 

[tualan]

Get enough fresh batteries to power your flash. NIMH batteries are wonders, besides they are only slightly more expensive than alkalines. Omnibounce are natural disaster recipe. They cut down much needed flash power. Stick to direct flash if you are a newbie.

Murphy's law is always at work, make sure you have a spare camera and flash if you are the sole photographer.

Couples tend to rush. Slow them if neccessary. Put yourself in position to shoot exchanging rings, vows, kisses etc. Shoot live for the candid moment. Get them to pose again just to make sure you didn't miss the important shots. Tell couple to pay attention to your direction. Get hold of an assistant, its very hard to do it all alone.

Have a mental script. Take pictures that tell a story of their big day. Start from make-up to reception. You may need as much as 8 rolls of film. Buy fresh and refrigerated ones from Ruby Photo at Peninsula. Develop at the famous lab at Adelphi. Tell them its wedding photos for their more experienced staff to handle. Ask for a CD conversion service.

Videocameras with bright artificial lightings will ruin the natural white balance of the film.

Common mistakes in the heat of the moment.
1. Film did not load.
If possible, check the film is really being loaded by watching the rewinding knob.
2. Film did not wind. Forgot to press the rewind button. Check if there are freeplay on the rewind knob before opening the filmback.
3. Forgot to compose. Heads are all in the center of the picture. LOL.

 

[Java_Guru]

Originally posted by Darren
For an example of how a bounce card should be used -->>
http://www.pbase.com/image/13981093 (image belongs to Sebastiansong).

err ... you may not need such a big one though ;p :bsmilie:

That isn't a bounce card!!! It is more like a freaking portable ceiling!!!!!

 

[mpenza]

Originally posted by Java_Guru
That isn't a bounce card!!! It is more like a freaking portable ceiling!!!!!

Wow wow wow!!! Didn't know that someone brings an entire wall out for bouncing when shooting ;p You guys must check it out

 

[roygoh]

The straight bounce card that is quite popular amongst CS members is a good design for indoor usage.

However, because it is place in parallel with the main axis of the flash's line of fire, only less that 50% of the flash output will hit it and get bounced towards the subject. The rest of the output will travel it's original path and hit the ceiling or sky.

Indoors, the ceiling will act as the secondary bounce surface and create a more even lighting.

Outdoors, the light not hitting the bounce card will be wasted. This means that the flash will drain the batteries faster.

 

[nhyone]

Originally posted by Ericana
Currently I own a Canon 300 + 28-105 II USM + 75-300 II USM lens. No Ext Flash !

EOS 300.. I will watch out for the time needed to rewind and to get the next roll ready.

EOS 300 wants to advance the entire roll before it can shoot the first shot. Once I thought this is a neat feature, now I think it waste a lot of time.

Somehow, I always shoot until near the end of one roll at the ROM ceremony itself. AFAIR, I always needed to change film halfway through. Gotto break this habit!

 

[sebastiansong]

Originally posted by Darren
For an example of how a bounce card should be used -->>
http://www.pbase.com/image/13981093 (image belongs to Sebastiansong).

err ... you may not need such a big one though ;p :bsmilie:

don play play ok

1)bounce card good for macro,
2)can easily support TWO SB80,
3)act as reflector

bounce card was created by Malkw... patented by him and he is owning the only prototype right now

 

[Goldmember]

Originally posted by Darren
For an example of how a bounce card should be used -->>
http://www.pbase.com/image/13981093 (image belongs to Sebastiansong).

err ... you may not need such a big one though ;p :bsmilie:

buay ta han, can't stop laughing at it. looks like an idiot (oops)with a bounce board