I just got hired to photograph a 30th Anniversary of an organization I've been heavily involved with for at least half that time. I don't do many dinner parties and I'm wondering what lens would be the best to use for this event? I plan to use my Canon 5DSR and a newer flash I got. My choices are the Canon 24-105mm L,Canon 100mm L, Canon 70-200mmL. I have some wide angle lenses but I hear that you would not use them for portrait photography. I will set up a tripod for when people enter,and then walk around the tables throughout the night. When people give speeches, I'll use the tripod again.
I also have a Westcott FJ80SEM 80W Speedlight and Transceiver flash I bought about a year ago. I haven't given it a lot of use on people and I'm wondering what's the best way to use this flash? I noticed it's a bit bright so I faced it about 45 degrees from the subject. Will this work or should I get an oval mirror to bounce the flash off of?
Thanks
Bill
If I understand the assignment correctly, I would think the 24-105 (f4 or f.2.8?....either will work - just curious) would be the best choice for 90% of what you will be covering. I think a small softbox/diffuser for the on camera use of the flash (covering all the tables etc.) would be a good idea. I used to use a Stroboframe to mount the flash on to raise the flash above the lens a little farther to reduce red eye. It also allows for a nice angle of the light.
For a "static" setup to photograph couples at the entrance where you might have the flash on a stand, an umbrella might be a good choice. It would provide nice diffused light. Another option, if you have the equipment, might be one flash for the "static" setup and one flash with small softbox/diffuser for the on camera setup. That way you wouldn't have to spend the time transferring diffusers/umbrellas on the flash unit.
I would highly recommend putting all this together in advance and practice practice practice.
Good luck!
I would use my 24-70 lens, or in your case the 24-105. Definitely go with a soft box or white umbrella to light the entrance shots. A speedlite, or in my case an AD200 round head and umbrella would be my choice to light these.
If you use a speedlite for the table shots, a bracket that gets it off the camera by about a foot or so would help considerably to avoid red eye and deer in the headlights looks. Those little bonnet diffusers or mini soft boxes that are designed to fit on speedlites do improve the closer table shots. A shoot like this is about the only time that I find these worth adding. If the ceiling is white, just aiming the speedlite at the ceiling without these, aimed to hit the ceiling roughly 1/2 way between camera and subject can work well. Bouncing a hard light off a wall or ceiling makes it's light softer without the need for modifiers.
If you haven't done this type of shoot before, practice before this shoot, in a place of similar size and white ceiling height or the place where the shoot will actually take place. A little experimenting with the lights will make a huge difference in your final shoot results.
Another recommendation for not just practicing, but scout / practice the actual venue in advance.
And, off-axis flash is helpful. With regard to on-camera strobe ... I'd use a globe / half-dome style diffuser. They disperse the light, which does reduce power on subject a bit, but the quality gains (anti-harsh specular) are a fair trade-off for power reduction. Bouncing light in a large venue ... eats a lot of light (ISL) to cover the distance to ceiling to subject ... AND, you take on the color cast of the ceiling / walls in reflecting your light off them. Direct through a diffuser retains your color balance consistency.
It's a paying gig, so do the right thing and practice in advance. Gigs are not a place to try new things.
billsamuels wrote:
I don't do many dinner parties and I'm wondering what lens would be the best to use for this event?
It's an event, so your the 24-105 will be your bread and butter, with bounced flash. For the 'speeches' (podium shots), your 70-200mm, ideally with flash but you can get away with f/2.8.
billsamuels wrote:
I also have a Westcott FJ80SEM 80W Speedlight and Transceiver flash I bought about a year ago. I haven't given it a lot of use on people and I'm wondering what's the best way to use this flash?
Bounce, depending on the ceiling. That speedlight should be able to bounce off a pretty high ceiling at 1/2- 1/4 power, so the limitation will be colour. In other words, if the ceiling is dark blue you won't be able to colour correct. If it's black, almost nothing will bounce back. But a typical whitish ceiling will be fine.
If that doesn't work, just point it forward and make sure the background doesn't go too dark - typical would be no more than 1 stop below measured.
General event advice:
An event is a story told with people, place, and things. So you get shots of all of those, in that order of importance.
- Be constantly aware of emotion. When you hear someone behind you loudly say ""uncle bob, it's been too long"", turn and get the shot. Good shots are ones that show happy people doing happy things.
- Go to the location in advance and practice. Don't do anything at the actual event that you haven't practiced regularly. Fumbling with gear will lose you both spontaneous (the moment passes) and posed (everyone gets frustrated and moves on) captures. Get the shot.
- If it's going to be dark, and if it's going to be bright sun, you'll want flash (in the first case for light, in the second for at least fill flash). If you don't have or don't know how to use flash, you might have enough time for a crash course: https://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html and https://neilvn.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/ You can make up for no flash with a fast lens (f/2.8 and below once it gets a bit dark as long as there is artificial lighting).
- The standard ""event lens"" is a 24-70mm f/2.8. You should hang out at about f/4 (for depth of field), going to f/5.6 for more than two people, and f/8 for larger groups. Roughly. And you may need a telephoto for podium shots.
- Google ""event photography tips"" and see what comes up.
