Ewurama Hayford |
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im desperate!!..lowlight - please help!!pim
hello good people,
I have a rebel xt 350d, with the kit lens - no tother accesories. I plan on getting a flash and a 70 -300 as soon as I gte the chance. I have been asked to take some pictures for a students talent show at the locall university in my town - I wont be paid, its to get me some experience.i plan on doing some candids of the back stage prep, as well as the performances and some nice portraits of all the performers. my probvlems - the lighting in the ball room isnt the best, flourescent lighting, like the kind you see in hotel conference rooms at little motels.. what can I do to get the best quality pictures the prgram, sinc ei wont have the advatage of ambient light - its an evening program. will a flash with a diffuse and card t bounce off of help??? any suggestions on rquipment? I do have a tripod and im not getting paid, so I wont guarantee them any thing, but I wnat to go armed so I can do the best job with the little I have learned,. will bumping my iso help - wide open aperture.......... how about shooting raw. im hoping that if I do a decent job, people will ask me to "volunteer shoot more, thus give me opportunities to practice.
thank you all in advance
March 10, 2006
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Stephen J. Innes |
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Stay still!
Canon 20D at 3200 ISO, 24-85 @85mm, f4.5, shutter speed at about 1/30 of a second and a whole lot of luck.
Stephen J. Innes |
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Hi, Ewurama! You can at least set the Canon's white balance to tone down the greenish cast that would show up in the final image if you cranked up the ISO and shot without flash. I believe the XT or 350D goes to ISO 1600 maximum and with the kit lens, presumably the 18-55, that doesn't give much room for manoeuvre given its modest aperture - and it's slower at the 55mm end than at 18mm. One trick I used to use when there was no option but to use flash was to tape a piece of thin, white tissue to the flash lens to soften the shadows etc. although it did reduce the shooting distance. I hope the lighting in your ballroom might be spiced up with some directional spotlight-type light if it's a talent show you're working at but if all you've got to work with is ceiling-mounted fluorescent lighting (horrors!) you'll probably need to use flash after all. The tripod I find gets in the way as you need to work quickly for the candids especially. Maybe if you can stretch to it, the Canon ef 50mm f1.8 is only a tad shorter than the kit lens at 55mm but is a whole lot faster! If you plan to do a lot more of this kind of photography the extra speed of this lens will give more flexibility than the 70-300 which might not be such a good choice for indoor photography. The 50 is a lot less expensive too! And for the money (despite its much-discussed plastic mount and general plasticky-feeling build quality) it would suit your purposes better. Says me - I photographed a gig (short notice) and had only the 24-85mm in really awful lighting.. even with ISO 3200 on the 20D I had about 1/30 at 85mm on f4.5 but got lucky. Here's a small example if it's of any help. Good luck! Let us know how it goes! S
March 10, 2006
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