Hello fellow FMers!! I'm headed out to a Halloween party tonight and I'm going dressed as a 1950's-ish press photographer. Naturally I'll be sporting a camera (either a T2i or 1DsIII - haven't decided yet), the 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens, and a 580EX flash sporting a Gary Fong LightSphere and ChromeDome with flash extension cord. Accessories include a spiffy sport jacket, trousers, tacky shirt, suspenders, fodora and bow tie (all acquired at the local Goodwill store), and press credential cards.
Question for you is, what's the best camera settings for such an event, and which camera would you recommend (T2i or 1DsIII)? The venue will be a local bar/restaurant that's been rented out for the evening. It will be dark inside.
I'm thinking either keep the camera on P (for Professional) mode and use ETTL flash, or, M mode with aperture at f/2.8 and shutter speed at 1/200, ISO 400 and let ETTL do the exposure. Most photos will be tighter shots with the subjects within 10 feet. It needs to be simple since I will be imbibing in the flowing liquids.
Thanks for your advice. I'm not experienced in flash event photography, so your help is appreciated.
The simplest technique is to put the flash on an off-camera flash extension cord, set it for one angle wider than your lens, take off the fong stuff. Set the camera on Manual, the flash on Manual at about 1/4 (one quarter) power, and set the ISO relatively low (like 100 or 200). Set the lens on Manual focus, to about 7 feet for the 40 mm on full-frame, 8 to 10 feet on crop factor. Prefocus the lens to your chosen distance. Hold the flash above left and off to the side, pointing at the subjects. Preset the shutter speed to 1/160. Preset the aperture to a reasonable value in the range f/5.6 to f/11, favouring f/8. Shoot. Adjust the flash power according to a careful reading of the HistoBlinkyMeter. Then tape down all settings and shoot at that distance and only that distance all night.
"Halloween technique"? No such thing.
At events, I usually use the technique in the first paragraph and include some shots where I dial up the ISO and/or aperture for bounce light shots off the ceiling if low enough and light enough.
Depends on the look you're going for and the venue. If the ambient light is low enough I would drag the shutter and choose an apeture/ISO of your liking in manual depending on the feel you're going for. If it's not dark enough then you'd probably need a faster shutter speed, which you can adjust when you get there. As for the flash ETTL or manual your choice. If there's ceilings/walls to bounce I would just leave the flast on camera. If not then hand held off camera will work. 1st or 2nd curtain sync is your choice.
Here's an example of a venue that was fairly dark so I dragged the shutter on 1st curtain sync and some ambient light painting with ETTL on camera bounce flash aimed at the ceiling more behind me.
Richard Nye wrote:
...Question for you is, what's the best camera settings for such an event, and which camera would you recommend (T2i or 1DsIII)? The venue will be a local bar/restaurant that's been rented out for the evening. It will be dark inside. ...It needs to be simple since I will be imbibing in the flowing liquids.
The 1Ds Mark III will look more "retro" in that it's larger, but neither looks much like a '50s-era press camera. The T2i would be my suggestion since you'll be partying, and it's less of a loss if it gets lost/broken.
If you put the Light Sphere on the flash, keeping the head tilted down will make it look more like an old flash gun with round reflector; tilting it up for 360-degree bounce will look odd, but will give you more bounce fill from nearby walls. Take your pick.
I'd set either camera for Manual exposure (1/125 and f/5.6 - f/8) and ETTL flash. (Putting the flash on ETTL will allow it to adjust instantly for varying distances between you and your subject. Trying to calculate Guide Numbers on the fly in order to use Manual flash takes a lot of practice.)
The reason I suggest apertures smaller than the f/2.8 you mentioned is that wide open the depth of field with the 40mm lens at 10 feet or less will be very shallow, and you'd risk too many out of focus shots of your friends.
