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Hi Guys

Been asked by a friend who works for a large chain to be one of the Media photographers for a club opening. Apparently there will be some B Grade celebs like Big Brother, Home & Away and so on. Red carpet event and ive been asked to shoot between 7 to 10pm.

They asked a friend I know who has no real photography experience who then recommened me!

To be honest im pretty nervous but have the gear/time and I think a tad bit of skill to take some decent indoors party pictures...

What do you guys think? !!! never done this before...

Thanks
Kris

You've got the gear and the skills, so take the opportunity and run with it It's human to be nervous, just try to relax, act professional (cofident) and enjoy the experience.

Take it easy, be calm, you can't do anything if you're nervous.

Oh yeah, retain your common sense and you'll be fine throughout the shoot.

Thanks guys!

I should tell you its a paid shoot for 3 hrs with other media photographers apparently from Vogue!?!@ Im going as backup but she said ill have the same rights as any of the others.

Ill charge per hour and provide full res shots for use on their website. Apparently ill be able to post a link to my site/email/contact

I think ill do it

Sure you should do it, of course!

And yes, remember fundamental things like lighting, shutter speed, aperture and exposure during the shoot and you won't go wrong. Might be a simple and stupid thing to say but I guess it does matter.

Im going to arive a tad before to fire off some tests and get exposure right, theres no changing strobes or anything I believe so it shoudl be a case of set my stuff and away I go...

Manual, 580EX, Flash card out, bounce from ceiling F4 to f5.6, 1/100 sec @ ISO 400 should sort it out

All the best Kris! A few nerves are a good thing. You'll be fine!

Thanks Geoff! Should be fun and exciting - I have 2 of my good friends coming and my girlfriend so it shouldn't be too daunting!

If you havent got one, grab an omni bounce. will work better than the built in diffuser card


Take a backup body with you too


Good luck

Use the bounce card OR direct flash and turn down flash compensation to suit. Go higher ISO on the 5D if you need to (ie. about ISO 800 to capture ambient lights).

Be a fly on the wall and observe conversations and capture emotions using available light as well if you can. Have a look at my previous post to see what I mean.

Use the flash for the important stuff like speeches or celebs. You have the 50 1.4 as well to help capture stuff in available lighting.

Good luck.

PiroStitch wrote:Use the bounce card OR direct flash and turn down flash compensation to suit. Go higher ISO on the 5D if you need to (ie. about ISO 800 to capture ambient lights).

Be a fly on the wall and observe conversations and capture emotions using available light as well if you can. Have a look at my previous post to see what I mean.

Use the flash for the important stuff like speeches or celebs. You have the 50 1.4 as well to help capture stuff in available lighting.

Good luck.

No backup body, sorry Kyle Don't have one...Will take my stofen omni bounce.

Yep, should have no quams about ISO 800 Pirostitch, ill give that a go if I need to get a bit more ambient in. I think it may be a bit too dark for ambient with the 50, I've only got the 1.8 version but that extra stop would be nice! (Times like these you wish you had the 50L 1.2)

Will look at your shots Pirostitch..

Thanks for the tips guys

Well, it went good! Coulda been better but i learnt alot for a first attempt. My issues were

black roof
very dark
various rooms meant light changing constantly

I was shooting most shots at 1/25sec, ISO 1000 and about F5.6.

Second time around, I should have done 1/8sec, ISO 1000, F4 to let in a stack more ambient light. Alot of my shots have it, alot don't so thats definately what I'd do next time

90% of my shots were at 35mm which is really nice on full frame. I've been considering selling my 24-70 and thats exactly what I'm going to do. Buy the Canon 35mm f1.4L - 2 extra stops of light will make a MASSIVE difference.

Because of the dark roof bounce was a waste of time, it was high and dead black. I ended up shooting direct, dialing back 1 stop of flash and adding on the difuser which worked well.

Ambient, ambient was the thing that I felt most I needed to improve. Composure, creativity and so on were ok, but can be worked on.

For my first attempt, i think I did well and Ill post a few photos soon. Everyone was really receptive, fun and gorgeous and loved being infront of the camera!

I had about 5 young guys go 'WOAA Is that a EOS 1D, Yeah I've got one of those!!'

I relled off 250 shots bang on with about 50 to spare on my 4GB card! All in RAW so lots of work to do but thats ok for my first time - bit more room for margin.

Thanks for your tips guys!

Hopefully at 1/25 the people weren't moving too much

Second time around, I would have increase the shutter speed a tad. Sorry for the confusion, when I mentioned capture the ambient environment, I didn't mean everything. Surely there would be some pools of light here and there and that should at least create some sort of an idea of the environment.

If I was to do anything different, I'd probably increase the ISO to 1250 or even 1600. Leave the aperture at f5.6 as you will need the DOF to capture entire groups. Shutter speed faster than 1/25 or 1/10.

Keep the 24-70. How many future events are you going to cover running around with just the 35 f1.4? The 24-70 sits at a very nice range to cover group shots to individual shots at socials like these. Unless you really don't want the 24-70 anymore for other reasons, then keep it.

PiroStitch wrote:Hopefully at 1/25 the people weren't moving too much

Second time around, I would have increase the shutter speed a tad. Sorry for the confusion, when I mentioned capture the ambient environment, I didn't mean everything. Surely there would be some pools of light here and there and that should at least create some sort of an idea of the environment.

If I was to do anything different, I'd probably increase the ISO to 1250 or even 1600. Leave the aperture at f5.6 as you will need the DOF to capture entire groups. Shutter speed faster than 1/25 or 1/10.

Keep the 24-70. How many future events are you going to cover running around with just the 35 f1.4? The 24-70 sits at a very nice range to cover group shots to individual shots at socials like these. Unless you really don't want the 24-70 anymore for other reasons, then keep it.

They werent, most shots were static group shots with hardly any movement. It was VERY dark, no real pools of light! very gloomy..

I was using 1250 quite alot , but really wanted more ambient. Didnt take many dancer style shots that required the faster shutter but would have bumped that up to 1/100 fi i needed to.

Well with a 16-35 coming, nice 50 and 70-200 the 24-70 doesnt really give me that much. I never use 50 to 70 range and on the wide side the 16-35 covers it... a 35 f1.4 would really come in handy , also saves on weight, faster too

Kris wrote:I was shooting most shots at 1/25sec, ISO 1000 and about F5.6.

Second time around, I should have done 1/8sec, ISO 1000, F4 to let in a stack more ambient light. Alot of my shots have it, alot don't so thats definately what I'd do next time

1/25 is really slow for people shots, 1/8 would be impossible to hold steady and probable that the people in the shot would cause motion blur.

I would have bumped it to ISO1600, put the 5D in manual mode, set the shutter to 1/60th, aperture to whatever Dof you're looking for and let the flash automatically push and pull power as it see's fit. If you need more ambient, increase the ISO. My partner does this at weddings all the time with great success with his 5Ds.

With the 35mm f1.4 you'll have to be aware that you'll get vignetting at the wide end of the lens. But then again it can be the difference between getting the shot and not.

padey wrote:

Kris wrote:I was shooting most shots at 1/25sec, ISO 1000 and about F5.6.

Second time around, I should have done 1/8sec, ISO 1000, F4 to let in a stack more ambient light. Alot of my shots have it, alot don't so thats definately what I'd do next time

1/25 is really slow for people shots, 1/8 would be impossible to hold steady and probable that the people in the shot would cause motion blur.

I would have bumped it to ISO1600, put the 5D in manual mode, set the shutter to 1/60th, aperture to whatever Dof you're looking for and let the flash automatically push and pull power as it see's fit. If you need more ambient, increase the ISO. My partner does this at weddings all the time with great success with his 5Ds.

With the 35mm f1.4 you'll have to be aware that you'll get vignetting at the wide end of the lens. But then again it can be the difference between getting the shot and not.

I actually wanted to avoid the 1/60-1/100 sec after a while of total movement freeze, with dark background and so on. Looking at the RAW's I got some good results with that shutter speed and the flash power was enough to freeze it with that speed. When i first walked in I was at 1/125, F5.6 and ISO 400 and it just didnt look right...

I was using manual all night. It was definitely a learning experience, next time I'm going to do something different and play around a bit more.

35 f1.4 looks nice, vignette I could use the slider setting in PS2 or crop..

Kris wrote:I had about 5 young guys go 'WOAA Is that a EOS 1D, Yeah I've got one of those!!'

Well I think 1/25s is too slow too, and you shouldn't be afraid to turn up the ISO on the 5D.

But yes, a faster lens would make a HUGE difference, if only you can mount the Noctilux on Nikons or Canons and get autofocus.

I think ill play more next time. I think those faster shutters ok with more ambient light around, this club was DARK DARK! It wasn't so much of a bar, more club so the only light was coming from small dim lights above the tables and out of the dance floor...

Nice high, dark ceiling too! Wasn't too easy for my first run

Kris wrote:I think ill play more next time. I think those faster shutters ok with more ambient light around, this club was DARK DARK! It wasn't so much of a bar, more club so the only light was coming from small dim lights above the tables and out of the dance floor...

Nice high, dark ceiling too! Wasn't too easy for my first run

I guess you can only do so much till the environment and gear limits you then.

The 580 IR AF assist should have helped you out there if it was extremely dark. How dark are we talking? Pitch black?

dead black with dark green small tiles on all walls.. some walls had mirrored sections too..

If it was dead black, how could you spot the people Anyway, if it was deadblack, I wouldn't have bothered attempting ambient lighting then. But learning experience, you'll get used to it.

PiroStitch wrote:If it was dead black, how could you spot the people Anyway, if it was deadblack, I wouldn't have bothered attempting ambient lighting then. But learning experience, you'll get used to it.

We talking the room or the roof? Ceiling, dead black. Dark floor, dark small green tiles..

Trying to get access to the PC at home to try and process a few to show you... not working

Sorry I was referring to the room...

ah let me get a few pictures up... I just imported 3.8GB into Lightroom

Shot 1

Lots to go! Ill work on them over the next few days! Can anyone suggest some good Noise Ninja parameters? I find that ANY amount of sharpening shows up stacks of noise...

looks fine to me.

1/25sec does ok for sharpeness. No sharpening here

Last time in a wedding reception which had very bad and dim lighting, basically candle-lights, I shot at ISO800 and 1/15th with the SB800 and 35mm f/2, results came out nice and sharp with ambient exposed as well. I think its okay to hold a wider lens at this slow speed and let the flash freeze the action in the darkness, anything over 50mm has to be shot over 1/60 from what I've experimented.

Yi-P wrote:Last time in a wedding reception which had very bad and dim lighting, basically candle-lights, I shot at ISO800 and 1/15th with the SB800 and 35mm f/2, results came out nice and sharp with ambient exposed as well. I think its okay to hold a wider lens at this slow speed and let the flash freeze the action in the darkness, anything over 50mm has to be shot over 1/60 from what I've experimented.

agree 100% , 1/20sec is fine

1/20 sec is fien if your using a focal length of around 20mm any more and you will get a slightly blurred image

its also good if the subject syats still but if their moving you will get blur
its also good for capturing the ambient light in the background

or you could try it with rear sync flash if subject is not lit and get really nice results the 1/20th captures the ambienbt light in the background and the fill flash nicely lights the subject

if you want to do this professionally you need to do full lengths and no sitting down shots
social pages mostly have full length images the public want to see what the alisters and socialites are wearing if you see a half length shot in the social pages its most likely been cropped from a full length shot

i know social photography at sydney events is my bread and butter work

wendellt wrote:1/20 sec is fien if your using a focal length of around 20mm any more and you will get a slightly blurred image

its also good if the subject syats still but if their moving you will get blur
its also good for capturing the ambient light in the background

or you could try it with rear sync flash if subject is not lit and get really nice results the 1/20th captures the ambienbt light in the background and the fill flash nicely lights the subject

if you want to do this professionally you need to do full lengths and no sitting down shots
social pages mostly have full length images the public want to see what the alisters and socialites are wearing if you see a half length shot in the social pages its most likely been cropped from a full length shot

i know social photography at sydney events is my bread and butter work

Thanks for the tip - yep full length! I see the clubs have a mix of both, some full length some sitting down - i think for dance clubs thats generally kind of acceptable but definately not for fashion or celebs !

Ill take all that on board, thanks

Tomorrow ill start processing the images... what a tastk!

Good thread guys. Interesting to read all about the various shutter speeds people use when shooting events.

Cheers
Steve