Advice please...

SJD2011

SJD2011

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Sam
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My Dad is retiring in a couple of weeks time, and we are having a family meal in our favourite restaurant. My mum has asked if I will be the 'official photographer' :lol:! She doesnt want formal stuff, just better quality 'snaps' really, and there is no pressure at all - my family know how new I am to all this.

The restaurant is usually fairly dimly lit, and am concerned about the lighting. My dad will be given a present from his firm, and I want to take some nice candid shots of the whole event.

I have never done anything like this before, and I know no-one expects anything, but I want to take some good stuff.

Therefore, I was looking for some advice in regard to settings of the camera, and also how to take candid shots and be unobtrusive?

Any helpful tips would be most appreciated. My parents wont mind if the pics arent very good, but I will and want to do the best I can with my very limited skills.
 
what lenses do you have access to?


Les :shrug:
 
I only have the kit lens 18-55 & a tamron 70-300 (with 1:2 macro). I was thinking about hiring a lens for it though, depending on cost?
 
a 50mm f1.4 or f1.8 would help with the low lighting, or just use the kit lens and a flash- I have the 50mm f1.8 and its a cracking lens for low light

Les :D
 
I dont currently have a flash gun :-( - having only just got married I cant afford to buy a lot of equipment.

I have seen the 50mm 1.8 for hire at a very reasonable rate - (3 days/ 1 weekend for £10, a full week for £20), so I might do that. I can also hire a flash gun for 3 days @ £15 so thats also an option.
 
Do you know the resteraunt ? If it has a white ceiling that isn't too high then bouncing a flash might be best in my opinion as it will allow you a reasonable aperture so that you will get more faces in focus. A wide lens like the 50mm 1.8 may allow you to get pictures but with limited depth of field so not much will be in focus given low light levels.
 
I cant remember the ceiling - I think it is quite pale with a few wooden beams?

May have to invest in a flash gun before this as have just seen that although the prices to hire the equipment are reasonable, the deposits are hundreds! (I know you get this back, but I cant afford that huge outlay!). Was being very naive about that!!
 
Gosh, my spelling is awful - resteraunt indeed...!
A pale ceiling would be fine, though you may end up with a slight colour cast, but that may even add to the atmosphere in the pictures.
I know money is tight, but it will make such a difference if you can get a flashgun that has a tilting head - I can't suggest one as I don't know many models bar the Canon ones which are not cheap.
If it is not possible, then maybe just upping the ISO will do the job - you will get noisy images but full of atmosphere which will limit the amount they can be enlarged to but might just do the job.
If you can find a flash secondhand you may be able to sell it on after to recoup the cost, or you may be able to fit some sort of white card to your on-camera flash to direct it up to the ceiling giving you some sort of bounce flash..
 
I'm afraid that without a flash-gun your sunk, you might as well borrow someone's little compact thingy as they will have an inbuilt flash.

IF you get a flash-gun (beg, borrow etc) then experiment, set your ISO to 200 and take a few test images at home, then increase the ISO until you are happy with the result, there is always a balance between noise and quality.

You can bounce off walls and ceiling but if you know what you are doing in post editing, then you can remove the colour cast but it's simplier to have a diffuser on the front of the gun and have slightly harsher lighting; nobody's going to hang you for images that are slightly brutal with the lighting.

If in doubt, dont do it.
 
If your looking to be `unobtusive` then a flash isnt the way to go. I would hire the 50mm 1.8 and up the iso until you can shoot at least 1-125 stutter speed. At f1.8 dont get to close because the DOF will be very shallow. You will have some noise but better to get the shot than not and probably only other photogs will notice.

http://fauxtow.wordpress.com
 
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