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I've been chosen as the official photographer for my wife's family reunion, and decided to buy an sb 800 for the occasion. There is one evening in particular we're going to be eating by disney world and watching the fireworks. I've been going through my head some of the awesome pics I can get of this (two kids sitting there with their mouths full gazing up as the fireworks explode in front of them etc). I'm a little nervous as I haven't really given this thing much of a test run as of yet (shots around the house is about all) and I'm finding the whole thing as of yet just slightly intimidating. So far I'm thinking rear curtain and a tripod low to the ground, but I'm really worried about that thing (sb 800) overexposing their faces (their skin is so white as it is, you'd think their mom ate nothing but icing sugar when pregnant). Anyways, is there anyone out there that might have some great ideas for me to consider? I suppose I'll want to dial down the EV a stop or 1 1/3 or so. What do you think?

I should edit, only the natural born kids are pasty white, the others are of different ethnicities.

I can't help you with any flash settings as I found the flash just as intimidating (sp?) but I can display the best parts of your post

dooda wrote:

two kids sitting there with their mouths full gazing up as the fireworks explode in front of them

dooda wrote:
their skin is so white as it is, you'd think their mom ate nothing but icing sugar when pregnant

dooda wrote:
only the natural born kids are pasty white

I don't really understand that last part ??? Are we talking clonning

Ah yes,

I posted earlier about my wife's family. she's from a family of 14 kids, 6 natural and 8 adopted. Her family pictures are hilarious. 3 little blond Utah girls with huge fake curls in the bangs all under 5'2. a 6'1 native american. 4 Koreans, two little munchkin parents etc. The family has become enormous now.

I posted this once a while ago and then made the last comment thinking most people would remember, so there you go. They are a fascinating bunch, I promise to post some of the pics I take.

dooda wrote:Ah yes,

I posted earlier about my wife's family. she's from a family of 14 kids, 6 natural and 8 adopted. Her family pictures are hilarious. 3 little blond Utah girls with huge fake curls in the bangs all under 5'2. a 6'1 native american. 4 Koreans, two little munchkin parents etc. The family has become enormous now.

I posted this once a while ago and then made the last comment thinking most people would remember, so there you go. They are a fascinating bunch, I promise to post some of the pics I take.

Makes much more sense now. Woudl be intereste din seeing the family photos

Hi,

Best tip I can give when using the SB800 is to use the highlight function when reviewing the pics. I have found that the LCD shows me an image that is brighter than the end product- so when reviewing at a glance good images look a little blown out. But if hightlights are flashing anywhere on their face I can tell for sure I've hit them too hard. Adjust the flash accordingly so that it is nearly ... but not causing flashing highlights on their faces and you should be right. Or if it works better for the mood of the shot .... just underexpose them.

Uping the saturation and going for a slightly warmer whitebalance may also help give them colour.

I'm certainly no guru with the flash so others will probably have some other great suggestions for you.

Cheers,

good luck dooda, I was just wondering the other day when this was happening. It sounded like a hoot when you first described it all. I hope all goes well with the SB800 - maybe shoot a couple and spend a moment looking at the histogram, or bracket and hope for the best, or shoot in NEF and PP like a maniac. Or all of the above.

I really am looking forward to seeing the photos - it sounds like a great group.

Dooda, let me assure you, you'll do just fine. Remember the santa photos you did? You were freaked out cos you haven't done them before but they came out great. Don't underestimate your talents.

I'm so jealous of you/your wife with the big family. Makes me look lame having only 1 sibling!

If you use spot meter on the pasty white kids' faces, without exposure compensation you'll end up underexposed - as the camera assumes their pasty white skin is middle grey, and renders them as such. Dial up a little exposure compensation say +1EV, NB: EXPOSURE compensation, not FLASH compensation.

I did some portriats with slow sync when I was at Niagra Falls at night. I don't believe I've published them online, but basically I shooting aperture priority, and were getting around 4 sec shutters. The flash exposures came out beautifully (SB800 in TTL mode). Lack of tripod at the time however meant significant softness due to movement, but the faces were not burned at all.

Thankyou very much for the comments. I'm heading out tonight sometime, and will be back around Wed or so. I'll be checking here so if there is a nugget somewhere, please let me know.