Some help with simple event photography

[dysfunktional]

Hi all, in a bid to help my friend out as a favour and to expose myself more in terms of photography, i will like to know if it is enough to get decent photographs with the canon 400D kit lens (with IS) and a speedlight?

its for a movie screening and i just need to snap pics of the ppl attending. i was supposed to borrow the tamron 18 - 50mm f/2.8 but cant get it in time so im wondering if my gear is enough and if there's a good method to shoot this. oh yes, i have the 50mm f/1.8 as well, but not sure if its good for that.

p.s: is tripod needed? shld not be since i have a flash right?

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

what speedlight do you have?
I'd go with 50mm f/1.8 instead, especially for the type of pics you'll be taking.
Speedlight tilted up (for bounce), and a bounce card should do the trick!

Be careful of white balance, especially with mixed lighting.

 

[dysfunktional]

mmm this speedlight is borrowed from a friend. its my first time using a speedlight so i dont know much abt it. its EmoBlitz (Digital Autofocus). if tilted up, do i tilt it all the way straight? sorry im a newb at this.

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

I'm not too familiar about Emoblitz.
Flashes are now pretty advanced.

My experience with the Nikon D80 and Nikon Speedlight SB600 is that the flash power is controlled very well to get the exposure just right. The camera/flash combo works this out between themselves.

With a 3rd party flash, sometimes this 'communication' is not so good.
How much to tilt is dependant on the height of the ceiling, etc. Hard to teach like that. Best if you can go early to test-shoot during recce trip or something.

 

[Dream Merchant]

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=556174&highlight=event+photography+guide

 

[dysfunktional]

yup im going earlier to test shoot. i did try at home with my mom as subject. the WB is a little weird at times so i got to be careful on that. but wont the 50mm be a little too close up for such shots?

 

[dysfunktional]

does any one still have any inputs for me with regards to this? could use all the advice i get!

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

Hi all, in a bid to help my friend out as a favour and to expose myself more in terms of photography, i will like to know if it is enough to get decent photographs with the canon 400D kit lens (with IS) and a speedlight?

its for a movie screening and i just need to snap pics of the ppl attending. i was supposed to borrow the tamron 18 - 50mm f/2.8 but cant get it in time so im wondering if my gear is enough and if there's a good method to shoot this. oh yes, i have the 50mm f/1.8 as well, but not sure if its good for that.

p.s: is tripod needed? shld not be since i have a flash right?

yup im going earlier to test shoot. i did try at home with my mom as subject. the WB is a little weird at times so i got to be careful on that. but wont the 50mm be a little too close up for such shots?

I based my recommendation of 50mm based on your text which I have highlighted in bold.
I was helping out a friend at an event shoot over the weekend. Used my 50mm primarily to get candid or tight group shots. Standing across the table, I could get 3 people (half-body) in the frame. A nice intimate feel to the shot.
If you want to include more people, then yeah you'll probably need a slightly shorter focal length.
Is there a Canon equivalent of Nikon's new 35mm f/1.8 DX? I can think of Sigma 30mm f/1.4, but that's quite expensive.

 

[dysfunktional]

but given that i only have the 50mm and my kit lens, im guessing i will have to use kit lens. but if i do not use a wide aperture to blur the background, will it be acceptable? :/

 

[dysfunktional]

oh yes i think i will look odd using 50mm cos i think i will have to stand pretty far to get them all in.. hahahaha.

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

oh yes i think i will look odd using 50mm cos i think i will have to stand pretty far to get them all in.. hahahaha.

How many is 'them' ?? And from how far away can you reasonably take the photo? Do you want whole-body or just half-body?

 

[Adiemus]

location? cinema? outdoors? room?

 

[flipfreak]

get a bounce card if the ceiling of the place is too high. i am assuming the flash runs on ETTL with your camera. use your kit lens for the event. be prepare to use iso 400-800 to get a good exposure on the background as well and so the flash can refresh faster also. u can run NR on the pics later on and most of the time, the pics are viewed at web size anyway. u will probably be stopping down to f/4 or more so don't bother too much abt the aperture of the lens. make sure the exposure for subject and background is good and consistent.

 

[ijnek]

shoot in raw format and do some processing

 

[Fujiwara]

Hi all, in a bid to help my friend out as a favour and to expose myself more in terms of photography, i will like to know if it is enough to get decent photographs with the canon 400D kit lens (with IS) and a speedlight?

its for a movie screening and i just need to snap pics of the ppl attending. i was supposed to borrow the tamron 18 - 50mm f/2.8 but cant get it in time so im wondering if my gear is enough and if there's a good method to shoot this. oh yes, i have the 50mm f/1.8 as well, but not sure if its good for that.

p.s: is tripod needed? shld not be since i have a flash right?

Hi pal,

I guess you should be fine with you kit lens(18-200mm) ... but of coz, if given a choice, grab the 18-50mm f2.8 lens and pump up ur ISO to 800 for 400D and learn to control ur flash.

This will help you get better picture and will not make ur picture look flat. Noise may be an issue when u pump ur ISO up high.

Good luck dude!

Grab more info from Zerocool, he is good at this

Cheers
Fuji

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

hahahah tks bro!

to TS:
I'm not sure how high your 400D's ISO can comfortably go before you see obvious sensor noise.
Try to test-shoot and see the output on a PC if you can.
Gotta learn more about flash photography. The settings and the accessories (bounce card, etc) do make a fair bit of difference.

 

[Fujiwara]

hahahah tks bro!

to TS:
I'm not sure how high your 400D's ISO can comfortably go before you see obvious sensor noise.
Try to test-shoot and see the output on a PC if you can.
Gotta learn more about flash photography. The settings and the accessories (bounce card, etc) do make a fair bit of difference.

I have a 400D before. ISO800 is do-able

Good luck pal!

Cheers
Fuji

 

[ZerocoolAstra]

wah... 400D quite impressive eh?
My D80's ISO800 is... not tolerable in my opinion.

Ok for snapshots but nothing that I would consider a keeper.

 

[Reportage]

Hi all, in a bid to help my friend out as a favour and to expose myself more in terms of photography, i will like to know if it is enough to get decent photographs with the canon 400D kit lens (with IS) and a speedlight?

its for a movie screening and i just need to snap pics of the ppl attending. i was supposed to borrow the tamron 18 - 50mm f/2.8 but cant get it in time so im wondering if my gear is enough and if there's a good method to shoot this. oh yes, i have the 50mm f/1.8 as well, but not sure if its good for that.

p.s: is tripod needed? shld not be since i have a flash right?

been in your situation before and all i had was a 300D with an 18-55mm MK2 with cheap flash. They were pleased with the results and all i used was the Green or TAv mode almost 95% of the time. For portraits or groups i use AV.

The trick is to control your shots so that most of the pics contain the VIPs in flattering shots and then a few crowd shots.

Most of my shots were in the 30mm range. Photographer is usually allowed to get up close so dont need to use tele lens other then a cheap means to blur the background for portraits.

You be moving most of the time so what you need to carry other then camera is just memory card and batteries. If you are expected to do a super group shot, would be nice/easier if you have a fisheye.

Now that i have a K20D....things just got a lot more interesting.

If you need a second or a videographer, can drop me a PM.

 

[dysfunktional]

hi all, reporting back with my results! most of my photography is mainly for my enjoyment and this is one where i was helping a friend out FOC since she does not have the budget and I dont have the experience.

well i have yet to review all the pictures yet bt i do know that there were some pictures that looks very weird as we were in a room with lots of glass panel so it was a challenge for me to get it all right. the flash was also going a little haywire on me so some pics taken were without flash -_-

i guess i will be saving up to buy my own flash and subsequently the tammy 18 - 50mm f/2.8 and will be giving my 50mm lots of work to do in the mean time. thanks to all for their advice, i learned a lot and still have more to learn.