Advice on shooting a 21st party in a marquee

[Jim B]

Never shot anything like this before, photography of people has never really interested me, but I've been strong armed into doing this for one of my sister's best friends!

Got a fair idea of how to go about it as a family friend who shoots a number of weddings and such events shot my sister's 21st recently with my camera. Saw what he did and also got all the RAWs so can get an idea of settings.

Been to a few 21sts and the general pattern for shooting tends to be; arrival shots and candids, group shots of the birthday person and their groups of friends (hopefully all outside if the weather allows), shots of people entering the marquee & looking at the seating list, table shots of every table and then just general candids and dance floor shots for the rest of the night.

So, I was wondering if anyone has any advice or tips for how to go about this please?

What works best for you; camera in aperture priority or manual? manual flash or TTL? bouncing the flash off the marquee liner, or direct flash with or without a diffuser?

Any advice gratefully received.

Cheers,

 

[awp]

Pretty straightforward job really - I'd use aperture priority - TTL flash - bounce inside if possible - a little fill for the outside shots. People management is more of an issue than photography here - let the camera do the work - up the ISO if you have to the D300 is pretyy good to 3,200.

 

[Jim B]

Thanks for that Andrew. I wouldn't want to go higher than ISO 1000 unless I really had to with the D300 though!

Anyone else please?

 

[Jim B]

BTT. Any advice much appreciated!

 

[lawrie29]

Don't forget to shoot the cake?

 

[shabba]

I always found manual best, with bounce diffused flash. I set the fame to 1/120 to 1/180 and then the AV from 3.5-6.7 depending on the depth I need/want. Let the flash to the rest on TTL thingy.

Im NO expert though and I prefer my shots to look more natural than the standard club type, example below of my own preference. *I appreciate its total amature work, and some will moan the DOF is wrong but I prefer it shallow myself with the 2nd girl blurred a bit.

 

[shabba]

oh and I found ISO 500 was fine.

 

[u8myufo]

Hi Jamie, not sure if your event has come and gone yet :shrug: but I have just been experimenting with camera on manual and reducing power settings on the flash. Ok it may not be to everyones taste but I quite like it. I just have the one 580ex flash unit which at the moment resides on top the camera. Here are a couple of recent ones I took at a friends 50th.

 

[Jim B]

Cheers for the advice everyone.

Just off to the party now, hope it goes alright!