Low Light Pictures: I was hired to take pictures at a birthday party coming up...it is at a skating rink. Its going to be really dark and kid will be moving fast on skates. I need to...

smoochie1978 Loc: Alabama

I was hired to take pictures at a birthday party coming up...it is at a skating rink. Its going to be really dark and kid will be moving fast on skates. I need to know what would be the best setting for such a low lite place.I am use to taking portraits and am venturing out into different avenues now. I am a bit nervous about such a dark location... any suggestions or advise for me would be greatly appreciate it. Thanks

chapjohn Loc: Tigard, Oregon

It could be helpful to know camera and lens/lenses you have or want to use.
Bump up ISO, flash could be disrupting, but take it with you. Knowing you need adjust apperture to get perspective and if using a zoom lens it will change. Any advice to keep the aperture wide open might be inappropriate.
You could always be just average and set the camera to "P", but that would not allow any creativeness.
Can you go to the location before the party and practice with different settings and lenses?

smoochie1978 Loc: Alabama

chapjohn wrote:

It could be helpful to know camera and lens/lenses... (show quote)

I have a Canon Rebel EOS T1i and I have the stock lense 58mm, I don't have any other lenses..I am just starting out and hope to get more when tax season comes around. :)

chapjohn Loc: Tigard, Oregon

I hope others will speak up to answer your question as I am not familiar with that camera of lens.
I would still recomend going to that location before the party with your camera and make test shots at different settings to see what produces the best images.

skidooman Loc: Minnesota

Gotta agree here. Test shots will tell you all you need to know. Experiment with your iso at 400 minimum, or a bit higher if you need to. You'll need a fair shutter speed if you're photographing any movement. Set your camera in TV mode and a shutter speed of about an 1/100th sec for starters. Then start experimenting with iso, SS, and aperture for a good exposure. I don't really know about the lens either, but I'm guessing you may have to go rather high on the iso for exposure (which in your cameras case may generate some noise in your images) and a fast enough SS to stop action. Go testing is your best bet if you can. Good luck.

chapjohn wrote:

I hope others will speak up to answer your question as I am not familiar with that camera of lens.
I would still recomend going to that location before the party with your camera and make test shots at different settings to see what produces the best images.

Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

I'm not sure I understand the lens. Can you zoom in and out?
Please advise. The lens number you gave doesn't sound right. I am not familiar with all the lens sizes.

I'm going to assume you have a wide lens for the following.

Assuming it will be dark/not well lit, use the flash. Probably plenty of flash going all the time with the many birthdays and other partys.

If you can tilt your flash up (45 degrees) and if the ceiling is white or close, bounce the flash off the ceiling.
Mix it up! Do both types of flash(straight on and bounce)!

Also, try holding your camera low and "guess" pointing up to skaters. Try holding over your head and pointing downward. It's ok to look at the area to photograph and hold camera up and look at it to point it in the right direction.

You should get all kinds of shots! You will be the "after the party" hit!!!

Please post the results!!!

Please check the lens.....

smoochie1978 Loc: Alabama

chapjohn wrote:

I hope others will speak up to answer your question as I am not familiar with that camera of lens.
I would still recomend going to that location before the party with your camera and make test shots at different settings to see what produces the best images.

Thank You for your help, I will go early and do some test shots, hopefully I will find a sweet spot :)

smoochie1978 Loc: Alabama

skidooman wrote:

Gotta agree here. Test shots will tell you all you... (show quote)

Thank You for your advice :)

smoochie1978 Loc: Alabama

Jay Pat wrote:

I'm not sure I understand the lens. Can you zoom i... (show quote)

I appreciate your help, It is a Canon EOS Rebel T1i 15.1 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3-Inch LCD and EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens and I do not have a directional flash :(. I will post some of my results, the party is on Sunday.

jkaye65 Loc: Chico, CA

Do you by any chance have a Canon Speedlite (flash)? Like the 430EX or the 580 EX.

If so, you can set these up to shoot with a faster shutter than the normal maximum of 1/250th second/sync. For normal uses the flash fires one time for the exposure. But for faster shutters (to stop motion), it flashes many micro bursts (that seem to be undetectable to the human eye).

English_Wolf Loc: Near Pensacola, FL

smoochie1978 wrote:

I was hired to take pictures at a birthday party coming up...it is at a skating rink. Its going to be really dark and kid will be moving fast on skates.

Use a grey card right off the bat That will allow you create a tone/white balance identical for all pictures.
Usually skate rings are well lit (you may have seen it w/o lights on)
Camera ISO about 200/400 800 max, setting auto on aperture (about 11) Do not make the mistake of getting on skate too.

smoochie1978 Loc: Alabama

jkaye65 wrote:

Do you by any chance have a Canon Speedlite (flash)? Like the 430EX or the 580 EX.

If so, you can set these up to shoot with a faster shutter than the normal maximum of 1/250th second/sync. For normal uses the flash fires one time for the exposure. But for faster shutters (to stop motion), it flashes many micro bursts (that seem to be undetectable to the human eye).

unfortunately, I don't have any flash except for the on alread built into my camera.

English_Wolf Loc: Near Pensacola, FL

Woah! 18~55mm??? You are in deep trouble here, your subjects are moving fast on a wide surface... Ouch! NOW you need to get on skate and risk your equipment.

smoochie1978 Loc: Alabama

English_Wolf wrote:

smoochie1978 wrote:

I was hired to take pictures at a birthday party coming up...it is at a skating rink. Its going to be really dark and kid will be moving fast on skates.

Use a grey card right off the bat That will allow you create a tone/white balance identical for all pictures.
Usually skate rings are well lit (you may have seen it w/o lights on)
Camera ISO about 200/400 800 max, setting auto on aperture (about 11) Do not make the mistake of getting on skate too.

I don't skate so no problem there... and the skating rink here is really dark and they have alot of "black out" moments.. where they turn off everything except for black lights and glow sticks on the rink. I will try the gray card, thats a great idea thanks :)

English_Wolf Loc: Near Pensacola, FL

smoochie1978 wrote:

If so, you can set these up to shoot with a faster shutter than the normal maximum of 1/250th second/sync.

No. This does not matter as the limitation in speed is due to the shutter. The flash triggers when the sensor is fully open and last much less than 1000th of a second and will freeze anything. The slowness of the camera shutter will create ghosting following the motion. Poorly lit, almost black? ghosting will be minimized.

Bouncing off the ceiling? Do you see how high that thing is? Good luck getting a bounce out of that.