First thing is to consider why you want a zoom lens. In other words, what sort of subjects to you want to shoot. When you know that, you'll be in a position to start thinking about what sort of features the lens should have.
Gave it a miss in the end, think the mate of a mate is a bit dodgy so too much of a risk it'd break two mins after getting it home!!
So we're still on the lookout for a good camera at a good price (so likely second hand) for doing our own photos of Neil jnr when he/she arrives. Any advice more than welcome!!
As I said before the 350D is a good started camera. Nikon's are good as well but I dont know much about them.
As for zoom lenses, I hardly ever use them. My main 2 lens are the 85mm 1.4 and the 35mm 1.2 which are both prime lenses (that means they dont zoom at all, but are fixed)
If not the canon 350D then any number upwards from there. You can't really go wrong with a DSLR from Canon or Nikon.
Ok, cheers guys, will be keeping an eye out on ebay. Have looked a lot of example pictures on the lens you pointed out before, blackheathaddick, ans the pictures are exactly what I think we're after, so cheers for that tip too!
I think Blackheath is right about Canon or Nikon, I believe you can add the other name brands to that like Pentax and Sony, though I can't speak from personal experience on those.
If you're expecting a kid, there might be some non-photographic considerations that you'd like to make. Mainly, how much stuff do you want to carry about with you? There are a lot essential accessories that go with babies and you might decide that you don't want to have to hump around too much photographic stuff. This might be one of the few instances when a compact is a better bet than a DSLR. If so, I can thoroughly recommend Panasonic's Lumix LX-7, though I believe that the Canon G12 and Nikon J series are also very good. Ultimately it depends on what is important to you though.
Very true, though I've got a small (pretty average) digital camera for 'every day' use, I'm looking for a good camera as maybe an alternative to professional photos, and for good photos on special occasions etc.
In that case I love my Canon 7D and can thoroughly recommend that, though it does weigh a ton. I used to have a 400D - also very good.
The one Canon camera that I'd advise you steer clear of is the 50D. This was meant to be a step up from the 40D but wasn't as good. Mine went straight back to the shop and I know of others that had a similar problem with a lack of sharpness. I believe that they tried to cram too many pixels onto a small cropped sensor. The later 60D supposedly corrected the problem, but I've not used it so I can't comment first hand.
Actually there's a good bit of general advice. Don't get suckered in with talk of how many pixels a camera has. Unless you're buying a medium/large format camera, they've got to the point now where keeping adding pixels is of no benefit and can (as in the case of the D50) be a bad thing; it's a marketing trick - keep adding bigger numbers and the public will think they're getting better quality images. What's far more important is to spend your money on a decent lens. If you're a very rich man go for the Canon L Series. If not, you generally get what you pay for. Though the 50mm prime mentioned above does give exceptional vfm.
Cheers, will look into prices etc! That's been a bit of advice from a mate as well, half decent camera but good lens is so much better than the other way around.
Got a very young family and outgrown our Canon Ixus. Was thinking of a Sony NEX 5 or some other mirrorless wonder.
Thing is, I used to have an interest in photography.. a couple of SLRs, darkroom, o level etc. so think I need a proper dSLR otherwise I might feel shortchanged.
Therefore, thinking of Canon 650d or Nikon d3200. Any one had any experience?
Also Canon a bringing out some new model next week apparently so may see what that is.
I believe you can add the other name brands to that like Pentax and Sony, though I can't speak from personal experience on those.
I've got a Sony A35. It's my first DSLR, so I can't really compare, but I have found it to be absolutely fantastic. The only downside is that camera shops are so geared up to Canon and Nikon that it's not as easy to get lenses and accessories.
Can anyone recommend a half decent camera for £80-100? It doesn't have to be anything special, would just use it for city breaks, days out, etc. Thanks.
Can anyone recommend a half decent camera for £80-100? It doesn't have to be anything special, would just use it for city breaks, days out, etc. Thanks.
You'd have to go a long way to beat the pocket sized Panasonic Lumix IMO. Just buy the best you can afford in the range. Avoid second hand as the downside is that people don't always protect them and dust can get inside. We carry ours around in a i-pod type sock.
As there is a camera thread on the go I thought I’d resurrect this old thread as I need a bit of advice.
Later this year I’ll probably have to take photos at my Daughter’s year 6 leaving party. Unfortunately, Mrs ET has put my name forward after I took photos are my Son’s two years ago to save money on a photographer.
Those didn’t turn out too bad, but some of the internal shot exposures were a bit blurry as some used flash and some not. There was also quite a lot of movement, so quite a bit of blur.
I have a Nikon D5500, 35mm, 50mm and 28-105 Nikon Lenses and a Neewer TTL Flash.
Unfortunately, not a full frame and apart from the fixed lenses, not that fast.
Can another give me some recommendations about settings of portraits/small groups and also large group shots. The last venue was pretty dark.
I’m guessing high ISO, 1/60 using the TTL Flash but don’t really know.
Personally, if you're shooting indoors and dark, forget the 28-105. Go with the 35mm. The D5500 has a crop sensor factor of x1.5, so that makes the 35 around 52mm.
Now lighting 101. In flash photography, its not the shutter speed that freezes action, its the light from the speedlight.
So, set your shutter speed to the flash sync speed, likely to be 1/200sec and then open up the aperture as wide as it will go, maybe f1.8 as its a 35mm prime.
Thats going to bring as much ambient light in as possible and then the TTL will add a bit of fill to where it think it needs to be.
If you want more flash and less ambient, just close the aperture. So move from f1.8 towards the bigger numbers, f2.8, f4, f5.6, f8, f11, f16. As you close down, you'll reach the point where you eliminate all ambient (somewhere around f8-f11 most likely). You can check by turning the flash off and take a test shot and it'll show as a totally black frame and a vertical bar on the left side of the histogram.
In a party/night event/wedding reception, you want to try and capture the ambient so find a balance you're happy with (between f1.8 and f8 max).
Re: group shots. Poses are key. Try and get everyone's face on the same plane of focus and you've got some wriggle room in terms of what aperture to shoot (because while aperture sets the ambient, it also controls your depth of field at the same time!).
If you can, shoot the groups outside. If not, you're likely going to need more than a speedlight to shoot a group of more than 3 people in even light.
If you can, position yourself with your group in front of you and a big white wall behind you. Bounce your flash off that wall and it wil turn into a giant softbox and even that light out if you dont have a flash modifer on your speedlight (see inverse square law for the physics behind it!)
[EDIT - on the train and just reread through] as you're using the 35 lens (52 equiv), you'll need to zoom with your feet. Don't ever be tempted to shoot a group with a wide angle - if you do, leave plenty of room each side as the people standing on the end of each group will get distorted by the lens convergence which you'll need to correct in lightroom and it'll make it look awful (thus leave space at the sides!)
Hope that helps, its a lot to take in. Happy to break it down further for you in chunks so its more understandable!
[EDIT 2 - this you tube video by Neil van Niekerk, a portrait lighting legend, will show you the inverse square law and how it worke with bounce flash and what I said about using a white wall https://youtu.be/1mF9UHK8LwU, and this is how I shoot my weddings!]
That’s brilliant @JohnBoyUK thanks for taking the time, so informative.
I will test at home over the forthcoming months, and may add some, what I guess, were typical shots last time (with faces blurred out obviously) to see if what you suggest would be applicable to those.
I guess the trouble opening the aperture too much is the shallow depth of field, that’s obviously nice for portraits but lacks in other shots.
I will read the inverse law, but just reading on the train, does this mean having the flash pointing backwards if you have a white wall?
Also, what’s a flash modifier?
I have Lightroom (Cloud), so hopefully be able to fix distortion. Although, the priority is just to get some non blurry shots with a reasonable exposure.
What's the best setting for taking photos and video in a theatre on a mobile phone? My Huawei P20 pro is a great camera for outdoors photos but terrible at indoor/dark-lit photos so I presume it's because I'm not selecting the most appropriate setting.
That’s brilliant @JohnBoyUK thanks for taking the time, so informative.
I will test at home over the forthcoming months, and may add some, what I guess, were typical shots last time (with faces blurred out obviously) to see if what you suggest would be applicable to those.
I guess the trouble opening the aperture too much is the shallow depth of field, that’s obviously nice for portraits but lacks in other shots.
I will read the inverse law, but just reading on the train, does this mean having the flash pointing backwards if you have a white wall?
Also, what’s a flash modifier?
I have Lightroom (Cloud), so hopefully be able to fix distortion. Although, the priority is just to get some non blurry shots with a reasonable exposure.
If you're starting at 1/200, f1.8 ISO 100... I haven't mentioned ISO yet. Its the sensitivity of the sensor. If you camera is set up with its default settings, every 'click' on the shutter/aperture/iso wheel is 1/3rd of a stop of light, so 3 clicks is 1 stop.
So...if you want to make your aperture smaller by 1 stop, you move aperture 3 clicks of f2.8...another 3 clicks to f4... another 3 clicks f5.6, another 3 clicks f8... by doing that you're reducing the ambient light coming into the camera. Now, you can compensate that by increasing your ISO by the same amount. (hold in the iso button and I think its the back wheel on Nikon) so if you move aperture 3 clicks. Move the ISO by 3 clicks. So if you're starting at ISO100, you move 3 clicks to ISO200. Another 3 clicks to ISO 400. Another 3 to ISO 800.
so... 1/200sec, f1.8, ISO 100 is same ambient exposure as 1/200sec, f2.8, ISO 200 1/200sec, f4, ISO 400 1/200sec, f5.6, ISO 800...
Makes sense?
So...(there's a lot of so's here!)... if you're got a nice amount of ambient at f1.8, you can dial that in using f5.6 and ISO 800 too. It will increase the depth of field substantially but the one trade off is digital noise. Thats the speckled appearance in photos. I can realistically shoot up to ISO 5000 on both my Nikon Z6ii and Z7ii without increasing noise as they are full frame. I dont know how the D5500 would cope, you need to have a play a find out.
The added advantage of increasing the ISO is letting the sensor do the work by not needing as much flash power, which will save your batteries and the recycling time you get between shots.
Yes, if you're facing your subject, aiming your camera at them, your flash head needs to be pointing in the opposite direction, ideally towards a big white wall. I tend to aim it up in the corner where the wall meets the ceiling. But whatever you do, dont aim it at a coloured wall, as it will cause a colour cast over your image.
I shot a wedding in the summer and I was really limited to what I could do in terms of setting up some portrait shots with a decent background, so I picked a little alleyway with a big gate across it and posed the bride and groom against it, knowing the light fall of would make everything behind them black. There's was a big white wall behind and to the left so I used that to bounce my light but above that wall was a big red painted area and some of the light bounced off that. Didn't realise it at the time, and wasn't noticable on the rear screen or in my viewfinder but absolutely bricked my pants when I got them on the monitor at home and realised I'd turned the bride's dress pink. Easily corrected in photoshop but something to bare in mind.
A flash modifier is something you stick on the end of the flash to help shape/diffuse the light, ie. make the light source softer. Smaller the light source, harder the light. Larger the light source, softer the light. Thus why in studios they whack a massive big umbrella or softbox on a strobe etc.
I use Magmod with my wedding kit but you can get cheaper Selens versions, knock off chinese imports on amazon like this... shorturl.at/eGLM0.
You only really need to use them if you are pointing your flash directly at the subject.
---
Its an awful lot to take in, I know, but once you nail the theory it falls into place. Watch that video by Neil linked above and his tangents training website it an absolute game changer. I have learnt more from him that anyone else.
Cheers for that explanation of what a stop is JohnBoy...
Since getting into Photography its perhaps the biggest thing I've struggled to wrap my head around
Well glad you found it useful. Its makes sense when you start thinking about ND filters and the like when you're doing your landscape stuff.
So a 10 stop ND filter is blocking (10 x 3 = 30 shutter shutter speed clicks) of light on your sensor. A 6 stop ND is blocking (6 x 3 = 18 shutter speed clicks) and so on.
What's the best setting for taking photos and video in a theatre on a mobile phone? My Huawei P20 pro is a great camera for outdoors photos but terrible at indoor/dark-lit photos so I presume it's because I'm not selecting the most appropriate setting.
Hmm, if its got a low light setting, try that! But mobiles are notorious for poor performance in low light.
The problem with theatres/gigs and that sort of thing, you'll find there is a huge difference in stops between the dark shadows and the bright lights (6-7 stops + difference) Your mobile will generally try to take an average between the two. Pro's will will use high iso and wide open apertures to use as much ambient as possible.
Those that are better use a form of HDR (high dynamic range) photography where the sensor will measure the scene and form that image at what it deems the correct average exposure...then it will add another which is 2-3 stops under exposed, and then add another which is 2-3 stops over exposes, so it is able to record data in the shadows and the highlights and then it will try and blend the 3 together.
Apologies for the delay….I have tried, but failed, to avoid photographing my Daughter’s ‘Prom’ and even with earlier good intentions, have obviously only just started looking at my kit and re-reading your January posts.
Looking at the photos I took at my Son’s Prom years ago, most of the photos are taken below 35mm (using the 18-105) at 1/60, ISO 1600 or 3200, f8 or 10….. so may struggle with the 35mm prime for crops. Also the Neewer 750’s sync speed does indeed seem to be 1/200th (Amazon says this but cannot find it anywhere in the instructions).
So for set up, does the below sound like I am heading in the right direction?
Camera-
Manual Program
Shutter Speed 1/200th
ISO 1600 (I really don’t mind a bit of noise, have Topaz for work, and these aren’t professional anyway, just documenting the day to cut down costs)
Aperture - Fully Open, depending on lens, to f8 (adjusting aperture to control desired ambient light?) I guess you’d advise to shoot RAW also, although again, I intend to not to do too much post production on these, just get some reasonably lit photos out to the parents via a Lightroom share ASAP.
Flash-
TTL Mode
Bounch backwards against white wall for group shots
Use diffuser for portraits? (I have two pictured……
Hello, yeah, literally exactly as you've described there. Have a practice indoors or even outside around 9pm just before sunset.
This is a very simplistic method...because no venue, no light condition is ever the same...
1. Meter for the ambient. ie Point at your subject, leave shutter speed alone 1/200, set desired aperture (say f5.6) and then move your ISO to where it needs to be so the meter reads 0. (on the -2..-1..0..1..2 meter!) So thats the point where you camera is telling you the ideal exposure is for that subject (not always, rough guide - thats a different topic for another day). If you click the shutter then, the picture will look almost normal, but pretty noisy of course.
2. Then reduce your ISO by say 2 stops (6 clicks) to underexposure that ambient. (You're reducing ISO because your aperture and shutter speed are fixed above!)
3. As soon as you turn on your flash in TTL mode, its giving you that extra 2 stops of light to bring it back up to 0.
Now you can reduce that ambient by 3 or 4 stops if you want, depending on the look you want. Of course, that works fine as long as you stand on the spot all night, you'll have to adjust as you go along.
Something to bear in mind. The less flash power you are using, the less you are burning your batteries, whether you've got a flash powered by AAs or Lithium ION like my new Godox V1s. The higher the ISO (and noise), the more life you'll get. Also. the less flash power you are using, the quicker the recycling time is.
Try and bounce the flash as much as you can as the bigger the source, the softer the light. If its pitch black and you have nothing to bounce at, whack on the biggest modifier you have if you are pointing the flash directly at your subject. I tend to shoot mine straight up with a Magmod Magsphere on. It provides light from front and they get the catchlight in their eye. It'll do the same job as your second Neewer modifier.
Always shoot RAW. Even if you dont want to edit, just use it as back up in case you muck up a critical shot and you've got some redundancy to try and rescue it. It doesnt take long to convert all to jpeg in lightroom afterwards.
Yes, 1 & 2 set your ambient without turning your flash on. 3 turn your flash on
Re: Maddison - I'll be honest, I'm surprised no one else has gone in for him. On paper, he looks ideal for us and is a bargain at current prices, when you see how much Rice is going for.
I tested it out tonight @JohnBoyUK and kind of understand.
At dusk inside I used the 35mm 1/200, f1.8, ISO 3200 and took a shot of my Son, exposure was acceptable. Six clicks back at ISO 800 and using the TTL it made this a nice shot. Warmer than the non flash shot obviously and a touch brighter.
Unfortunately the 18-105 didn’t fare so well. From recollection to get the meter correct, I had to use the lowest aperture at 1/200 and had to set the ISO at 25600!
ISO 25600 with the flash?!?! Blimey. Did you leave the lens cap on? . Blimey again, surprised as that!
Bring your ISO down 3 clicks at a time and see what it looks like. Bring your ISO down to where you feel its acceptable and the flash isnt doing ALL the work. Otherwise you'll burn all your batteries and your flash will overheat.
And if you really have to, dont bounce the light, aim it straight at the subject.
Comments
You can tell I'm a complete beginner, didn't know anything about lenses etc!!
So we're still on the lookout for a good camera at a good price (so likely second hand) for doing our own photos of Neil jnr when he/she arrives. Any advice more than welcome!!
As for zoom lenses, I hardly ever use them. My main 2 lens are the 85mm 1.4 and the 35mm 1.2 which are both prime lenses (that means they dont zoom at all, but are fixed)
If not the canon 350D then any number upwards from there. You can't really go wrong with a DSLR from Canon or Nikon.
If you're expecting a kid, there might be some non-photographic considerations that you'd like to make. Mainly, how much stuff do you want to carry about with you? There are a lot essential accessories that go with babies and you might decide that you don't want to have to hump around too much photographic stuff. This might be one of the few instances when a compact is a better bet than a DSLR. If so, I can thoroughly recommend Panasonic's Lumix LX-7, though I believe that the Canon G12 and Nikon J series are also very good. Ultimately it depends on what is important to you though.
The one Canon camera that I'd advise you steer clear of is the 50D. This was meant to be a step up from the 40D but wasn't as good. Mine went straight back to the shop and I know of others that had a similar problem with a lack of sharpness. I believe that they tried to cram too many pixels onto a small cropped sensor. The later 60D supposedly corrected the problem, but I've not used it so I can't comment first hand.
Actually there's a good bit of general advice. Don't get suckered in with talk of how many pixels a camera has. Unless you're buying a medium/large format camera, they've got to the point now where keeping adding pixels is of no benefit and can (as in the case of the D50) be a bad thing; it's a marketing trick - keep adding bigger numbers and the public will think they're getting better quality images. What's far more important is to spend your money on a decent lens. If you're a very rich man go for the Canon L Series. If not, you generally get what you pay for. Though the 50mm prime mentioned above does give exceptional vfm.
Thing is, I used to have an interest in photography.. a couple of SLRs, darkroom, o level etc. so think I need a proper dSLR otherwise I might feel shortchanged.
Therefore, thinking of Canon 650d or Nikon d3200. Any one had any experience?
Also Canon a bringing out some new model next week apparently so may see what that is.
Still prefered my days with film though!
Later this year I’ll probably have to take photos at my Daughter’s year 6 leaving party. Unfortunately, Mrs ET has put my name forward after I took photos are my Son’s two years ago to save money on a photographer.
Those didn’t turn out too bad, but some of the internal shot exposures were a bit blurry as some used flash and some not. There was also quite a lot of movement, so quite a bit of
blur.
I have a Nikon D5500, 35mm, 50mm and 28-105 Nikon Lenses and a Neewer TTL Flash.
Unfortunately, not a full frame and apart from the fixed lenses, not that fast.
Can another give me some recommendations about settings of portraits/small groups and also large group shots. The last venue was pretty dark.
I’m guessing high ISO, 1/60 using the TTL
Flash but don’t really know.
Cheers
Now lighting 101.
In flash photography, its not the shutter speed that freezes action, its the light from the speedlight.
So, set your shutter speed to the flash sync speed, likely to be 1/200sec and then open up the aperture as wide as it will go, maybe f1.8 as its a 35mm prime.
Thats going to bring as much ambient light in as possible and then the TTL will add a bit of fill to where it think it needs to be.
If you want more flash and less ambient, just close the aperture. So move from f1.8 towards the bigger numbers, f2.8, f4, f5.6, f8, f11, f16. As you close down, you'll reach the point where you eliminate all ambient (somewhere around f8-f11 most likely). You can check by turning the flash off and take a test shot and it'll show as a totally black frame and a vertical bar on the left side of the histogram.
In a party/night event/wedding reception, you want to try and capture the ambient so find a balance you're happy with (between f1.8 and f8 max).
Re: group shots. Poses are key. Try and get everyone's face on the same plane of focus and you've got some wriggle room in terms of what aperture to shoot (because while aperture sets the ambient, it also controls your depth of field at the same time!).
If you can, shoot the groups outside. If not, you're likely going to need more than a speedlight to shoot a group of more than 3 people in even light.
If you can, position yourself with your group in front of you and a big white wall behind you. Bounce your flash off that wall and it wil turn into a giant softbox and even that light out if you dont have a flash modifer on your speedlight (see inverse square law for the physics behind it!)
[EDIT - on the train and just reread through] as you're using the 35 lens (52 equiv), you'll need to zoom with your feet. Don't ever be tempted to shoot a group with a wide angle - if you do, leave plenty of room each side as the people standing on the end of each group will get distorted by the lens convergence which you'll need to correct in lightroom and it'll make it look awful (thus leave space at the sides!)
Hope that helps, its a lot to take in.
Happy to break it down further for you in chunks so its more understandable!
[EDIT 2 - this you tube video by Neil van Niekerk, a portrait lighting legend, will show you the inverse square law and how it worke with bounce flash and what I said about using a white wall https://youtu.be/1mF9UHK8LwU, and this is how I shoot my weddings!]
I will test at home over the forthcoming months, and may add some, what I guess, were typical shots last time (with faces blurred out obviously) to see if what you suggest would be applicable to those.
I guess the trouble opening the aperture too much is the shallow depth of field, that’s obviously nice for portraits but lacks in other shots.
I will read the inverse law, but just reading on the train, does this mean having the flash pointing backwards if you have a white wall?
Also, what’s a flash modifier?
I have Lightroom (Cloud), so hopefully be able to fix distortion. Although, the priority is just to get some non blurry shots with a reasonable exposure.
If you're starting at 1/200, f1.8 ISO 100...
I haven't mentioned ISO yet. Its the sensitivity of the sensor. If you camera is set up with its default settings, every 'click' on the shutter/aperture/iso wheel is 1/3rd of a stop of light, so 3 clicks is 1 stop.
So...if you want to make your aperture smaller by 1 stop, you move aperture 3 clicks of f2.8...another 3 clicks to f4... another 3 clicks f5.6, another 3 clicks f8...
by doing that you're reducing the ambient light coming into the camera.
Now, you can compensate that by increasing your ISO by the same amount. (hold in the iso button and I think its the back wheel on Nikon)
so if you move aperture 3 clicks. Move the ISO by 3 clicks. So if you're starting at ISO100, you move 3 clicks to ISO200. Another 3 clicks to ISO 400. Another 3 to ISO 800.
so...
1/200sec, f1.8, ISO 100 is same ambient exposure as
1/200sec, f2.8, ISO 200
1/200sec, f4, ISO 400
1/200sec, f5.6, ISO 800...
Makes sense?
So...(there's a lot of so's here!)... if you're got a nice amount of ambient at f1.8, you can dial that in using f5.6 and ISO 800 too. It will increase the depth of field substantially but the one trade off is digital noise. Thats the speckled appearance in photos. I can realistically shoot up to ISO 5000 on both my Nikon Z6ii and Z7ii without increasing noise as they are full frame. I dont know how the D5500 would cope, you need to have a play a find out.
The added advantage of increasing the ISO is letting the sensor do the work by not needing as much flash power, which will save your batteries and the recycling time you get between shots.
Yes, if you're facing your subject, aiming your camera at them, your flash head needs to be pointing in the opposite direction, ideally towards a big white wall. I tend to aim it up in the corner where the wall meets the ceiling. But whatever you do, dont aim it at a coloured wall, as it will cause a colour cast over your image.
I shot a wedding in the summer and I was really limited to what I could do in terms of setting up some portrait shots with a decent background, so I picked a little alleyway with a big gate across it and posed the bride and groom against it, knowing the light fall of would make everything behind them black. There's was a big white wall behind and to the left so I used that to bounce my light but above that wall was a big red painted area and some of the light bounced off that. Didn't realise it at the time, and wasn't noticable on the rear screen or in my viewfinder but absolutely bricked my pants when I got them on the monitor at home and realised I'd turned the bride's dress pink. Easily corrected in photoshop but something to bare in mind.
A flash modifier is something you stick on the end of the flash to help shape/diffuse the light, ie. make the light source softer. Smaller the light source, harder the light. Larger the light source, softer the light. Thus why in studios they whack a massive big umbrella or softbox on a strobe etc.
I use Magmod with my wedding kit but you can get cheaper Selens versions, knock off chinese imports on amazon like this... shorturl.at/eGLM0.
You only really need to use them if you are pointing your flash directly at the subject.
---
Its an awful lot to take in, I know, but once you nail the theory it falls into place.
Watch that video by Neil linked above and his tangents training website it an absolute game changer. I have learnt more from him that anyone else.
Since getting into Photography its perhaps the biggest thing I've struggled to wrap my head around
Its makes sense when you start thinking about ND filters and the like when you're doing your landscape stuff.
So a 10 stop ND filter is blocking (10 x 3 = 30 shutter shutter speed clicks) of light on your sensor.
A 6 stop ND is blocking (6 x 3 = 18 shutter speed clicks) and so on.
The problem with theatres/gigs and that sort of thing, you'll find there is a huge difference in stops between the dark shadows and the bright lights (6-7 stops + difference) Your mobile will generally try to take an average between the two. Pro's will will use high iso and wide open apertures to use as much ambient as possible.
Those that are better use a form of HDR (high dynamic range) photography where the sensor will measure the scene and form that image at what it deems the correct average exposure...then it will add another which is 2-3 stops under exposed, and then add another which is 2-3 stops over exposes, so it is able to record data in the shadows and the highlights and then it will try and blend the 3 together.
Apologies for the delay….I have tried, but failed, to avoid photographing my Daughter’s ‘Prom’ and even with earlier good intentions, have obviously only just started looking at my kit and re-reading your January posts.
I guess you’d advise to shoot RAW also, although again, I intend to not to do too much post production on these, just get some reasonably lit photos out to the parents via a Lightroom share ASAP.
but should I use something like this…. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01LZRBOME/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A10MEUKO2KS0EE&psc=1). Either way, should I position the flash vertically using any of these?
Have a practice indoors or even outside around 9pm just before sunset.
This is a very simplistic method...because no venue, no light condition is ever the same...
1. Meter for the ambient. ie Point at your subject, leave shutter speed alone 1/200, set desired aperture (say f5.6) and then move your ISO to where it needs to be so the meter reads 0. (on the -2..-1..0..1..2 meter!)
So thats the point where you camera is telling you the ideal exposure is for that subject (not always, rough guide - thats a different topic for another day). If you click the shutter then, the picture will look almost normal, but pretty noisy of course.
2. Then reduce your ISO by say 2 stops (6 clicks) to underexposure that ambient. (You're reducing ISO because your aperture and shutter speed are fixed above!)
3. As soon as you turn on your flash in TTL mode, its giving you that extra 2 stops of light to bring it back up to 0.
Now you can reduce that ambient by 3 or 4 stops if you want, depending on the look you want.
Of course, that works fine as long as you stand on the spot all night, you'll have to adjust as you go along.
Something to bear in mind. The less flash power you are using, the less you are burning your batteries, whether you've got a flash powered by AAs or Lithium ION like my new Godox V1s. The higher the ISO (and noise), the more life you'll get. Also. the less flash power you are using, the quicker the recycling time is.
Try and bounce the flash as much as you can as the bigger the source, the softer the light.
If its pitch black and you have nothing to bounce at, whack on the biggest modifier you have if you are pointing the flash directly at your subject. I tend to shoot mine straight up with a Magmod Magsphere on. It provides light from front and they get the catchlight in their eye. It'll do the same job as your second Neewer modifier.
Always shoot RAW. Even if you dont want to edit, just use it as back up in case you muck up a critical shot and you've got some redundancy to try and rescue it. It doesnt take long to convert all to jpeg in lightroom afterwards.
Hope that helps.
Are 1 and 2 with the flash turned off? Then turn on it for 3?
Also, if I can bounce backwards do I still use the diffuser or would that reduce it’s intensity?
Need to get my creative head on also for composition!
Hopefully Maddison will be a good signing for you.
Re: Maddison - I'll be honest, I'm surprised no one else has gone in for him. On paper, he looks ideal for us and is a bargain at current prices, when you see how much Rice is going for.
At dusk inside I used the 35mm 1/200, f1.8, ISO 3200 and took a shot of my Son, exposure was acceptable. Six clicks back at ISO 800 and using the TTL it made this a nice shot. Warmer than the non flash shot obviously and a touch brighter.
Unfortunately the 18-105 didn’t fare so well. From recollection to get the meter correct, I had to use the lowest aperture at 1/200 and had to set the ISO at 25600!
Bring your ISO down 3 clicks at a time and see what it looks like. Bring your ISO down to where you feel its acceptable and the flash isnt doing ALL the work. Otherwise you'll burn all your batteries and your flash will overheat.
And if you really have to, dont bounce the light, aim it straight at the subject.