djmfaith

Hi all you photography experts.. I am new to this site, and have a question. My daughter and I are going to be doing candid pictures at my granddaughters father/daughter dance tomorrow night in the church recreation center, and need help with what settings we should use to get pictures that aren't too grainy or dark. I have the Nikon D90 and D7000, a 24-70 2.8mm lens, a 50 1.4, a 35 1.8, a 18-200..18-55, 18-105, and the Nikon SB-600 and SB 700 speed lights..Can anyone help us with settings, and which lenses would be the best , to get the results we are looking for. The room has tall ceilings and since its a special night for the girls, the lighting is dark... We usually do natural light pictures and this will be our first attempt at doing pictures in such a dark situation. Any help would be greatly appreciated... Thank you

Annie_Girl Loc: It's none of your business

In all honestly no one is going to be able to tell you what settings to use, it all depends on the lighting that is available. All I can give you is you most likely will have to use your speedlights, with tall ceilings it’s going to be difficult to bounce the light so you might want to pick up a diffuser as straight on flash will result in a sub-par result. Out of the lenses you have posted I would use the 24-70 as it should be a fast enough lens and still give you some zoom to work with.

I would start with an ISO of 400, SS at 1/200 (depending on your flash sync speed this might be as fast as you can go) and an aperture of f/5.6.

Good Luck.

djmfaith

Thank you :-)

clixpix Loc: Surprise, Arizona

Perhaps you could visit the church recreation center an hour or so before the dance and take some snaps to check out your exposure and ISO needs. This would be an almost sure way to get your settings with and without flash. Good Luck.

JR1 Loc: Tavistock, Devon, UK

NOT being rude but a lot of gear and little experience

My advice would be, after the event spend a lot of time using your gear so you learn how it all interacts.

My advice.......

D7000, either flash 50mm lens and leave it on auto

Centre focus point only or manual if dark

You also say tomorrow, have you thought of practice tonight even if only in a darkish garden.....

djmfaith

Thank you for any help.. I said earlier, I do natural lighting.. outdoors... I know I will need my flash, know I need to boost my ISO. I have seen photos taken other years, with some of the pictures being too dark and grainy and even blurry from the movement of the dancing. I know there are programs out there to help with the noise. I was hoping that asking people with more experience would help me have a starting range. My main lens I use most of the time is my 24-70.. but it can get heavy. I guess I should have asked if my 50 or 35 would work in the low light conditions, even though it won't give me the versatility .. (as for how much equipment I own, it is for 2 photographers)... Thank you for the responses. PS.. am definitely getting to the church early.. but also know from prior years that the lighting keeps changing.. Thank you again.

jrb1213 Loc: McDonough GEorgia

Annie girl and clixpix are right. The only thing I would add to their brilliance is I would use the 50mm 1.4 for some shots to get a fuzzy background (bokeh). I wouldn't want a bunch of others in focus making my photo too busy. To get the best bokeh use a wide open setting 1.4 to 2.8. I love taking pictures of my granddaughter with my 50mm 1.4. But then she is the smartest and most beautiful 16 week old in the history of the world. If you feel this way take lots of images and maybe a few will become her keepsakes.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Bokeh is NOT the same as shallow depth of field or selective focus!
It's about the quality of the out of focus areas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh

jrb1213 Loc: McDonough GEorgia

Correct, I oversimplied and made that mistake.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Selective focus IS a good idea though.

:thumbup:

Db7423 Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

I would use the two 50's for sure. Put the slower 35mm on your 7000 and the faster 1.4 on the D90. My reasoning is the D7000 will work better than the 90 at a higher ISO. Shoot in RAW to give you more flexibility in PP with your exposure. Use a reflector to soften your flash and dial it down as far as you can, be careful because after the first shot they will know you are there and candid may no longer be possible.

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

In manual mode, establish your ambient light exposure for the hall, making sure your shutter speed is within the synch range of your camera and using whatever f/stop and ISO needed to achieve this. Then turn your flash on in ETTL mode.

You can then adjust your ambient light exposure with the shutter speed and the flash by adjusting the flash exposure compensation.

The result is a photo in which the background is well exposed and the subject is properly lit by the flash.

If your ambient exposure requires you to use 1/30th of a second or longer, that is OK as the short flash duration will freeze the subject. (Note that at shutter durations of more than 1/30th you may get some ghosting if there is fast motion involved.) This technique is called "Dragging the Shutter" or "Slow Speed Synch".

You can even underexpose the ambient light by a full stop or even two. The idea is to have the background lit enough to give a sense of the environment rather than having it go black.

Getting the flash off the camera will be a help in getting more interesting lighting. You may need to gel the flash to balance it with the ambient light

Wedding photographers use this technique frequently when shooting receptions.

Practice this before the event so you are confident that it will work for you.

Good Luck!

djmfaith

Thank you everyone!!!! <3

NegativeBLUR Loc: Dallas, Tx

Excellent advice! The 50mm 1.4 will let in more light, but you will have to be a lot closer, so get out there and dance! Also, watch your shutter speed as there will obviously be movement at a dance. Your flash will help freeze it, but (depending how fast they are moving) even the 1/30 speed someone mentioned will be too slow. I do a lot of events, and was just post processing one yesterday where one of the photographers was shooting at that speed with flash and I had to delete all their photos from one section of the event. Too MUCH flash and it will make for an ugly photo as well....especially as close as you may be shooting with the 50 (keep in mind 50mm is basically what your eye sees, so close ups will be that close!)

Good luck and don't stress so much on the photos you don't have fun with your daughter!

PhotoGator Loc: Florida

Take some practice shots.
Use Aperture Priority.
35mm f/1.8 will allow for more light
But for Candid shots the 24-70mm f/2.8 give you distance from your subject.
Use your speedlites.