Camera settings for reportage (animal shelter)

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russ8585

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Hi,

Im going to be shooting in an animal shelter for reportage work tomorrow.
Its something new for me. Im most at home in a studio so Im kinda worried about what settings to use.

Its mainly fluorescent lights with some natural from windows.
Its a concrete building, white walls in some rooms etc.
In the animal kennels its concrete blocks with very little light.

I have a flash gun (manual) but very new to using it on location.

Any tips would be welcome.
 
It is going to be pretty dark inside at this time of the year. I would try kept the shutter speed as high as possible to avoid blur image due to hand shake or subject moving so I guess S mode is the best one to use. You also needs to make sure the DOF is enough so the subject you attempts to capture is all in focus. A wider lens some thing like 24mm would help, don't use any thing to wide thought, it will have weird effect on people's face. Anther thing to watch out for is the iso been used. I suggest switch auto iso on and choose a maximum iso that is will not have too much noise. On my d90 I tend to kept is around 800 ish. I don't think using the flash is a good idea because you wants to capture the moment and some time using flash may spook the subject esp animals.

You will have some fun doing it. the most important thing is to capture the moment and not mess around with settings all the time, otherwise that moment will be gone. :)
 
I have a tripod, those not sure how practical it will be on the day.
 
I don't think it will be much use I am afraid. Unless you can get subject pose for you, but then it won't be reportage will it ? ;). But then again it all depends on your style of shooting I guess. :).
 
Turn the ISO up as high as you need, a noisy shot is better than a blurred shot because your shutter speed was too low. Wide angles give greater DoF for a given aperture than a telephoto so use that to your advantage. Take a grey card and take a reference shot so you can white balance out the flourescent lighting when you process the photos.
 
Ok so high ISO, fast shutter. Sadly i don't own a wide angel yet. Just a 18-55mm, 55-200mm and a 35mm prime
 
russ8585 said:
can get down to 1.8
Click to expand...

35 mm is more then good enough for what you going to do :). just watch out for the depth of field thought. esp if your subject is close. I think the kit is good enough as well if you stick to the short end. There are times where zoom with your feet is not fast enough :).
 
Reportage is about 'telling the story', so you want variation. Wide and tight shots, some to show the surroundings so's your audience get a sense of place. Get the staff if possible. Don't just shoot some nice, winsome doggies. Forget the tripod - it'll just slow you down. Shoot some with flash; you can try bouncing in the whitewashed bit, and you'll certainly need it in the dark bit. Don't worry too much about upsetting the animals. Most don't react to flash unless you're really close.

A zoom will most likely be best; the 18-55 sounds perfect (of course I have no idea what the conditions are).

Shoot lots. Keep shooting. Then shoot some more. Spare batteries & cards packed, are they? Shoot RAW and worry about wb when you get home. In the sort of light you describe you could find yourself spending more time fiddling with this than shooting.
 
I need a min of 8 photos. Is it ok to have some photos without people for Reportage? Im still not 100% sure how the staff will respond to being photographed.

Im thinking 2 shots with just buildings, maybe 2-3 with animals and the rest with animals with staff or just staff.
 
Depends on the remit. If this this is as for, say, a brochure showing what wonderful work they do, you'd probably want some poses. If it's a Gritty News Story, candids. If you can get both, do. I'd just snap away for a bit until they get used to your presence, then ask "look up, please?...could you look this way?...thanks, great!", syle o'fing. Faces are better than backs of heads. Chat to them. Ask about the work, the animals, and so on. Then if they seem amenable, ask for some poses at the end.

Every photo has to earn its place, and you want to avoid too many repeated subjects, so keep a mental note as you work. These are tricky conditions, so always shoot extras. You won't be able to go back for a re-shoot.
 
I'm going to disagree about using the 35mm, take your 18-55 lens - you may not be able to get close to some of the animals, and some you might want to zoom in on.

Agree about higher iso, and no flash.

I've recently done a shoot at two veterinary practices, and working within the constraints of the building was challenging! I used my 17-50 lens which proved adequate for all of the circumstances (pet/owner hugging shots in waiting room; vet consultation; confinement; operative procedures; general shots of waiting room)
watch your white balance - do you have some software to use to change it if you need to post production? if you do, make sure you shoot in RAW as this gives you more scope to make corrections. I was in a mixture of daylight and fluoro and it was a nightmare - thank goodness for RAW!

Make sure you take many many more than 8 shots!!! You'll be surprise at how quickly and animal can move, and their expressions change constantly - if you have it, put your shooting mode onto continuous.

hope this helps and looking forward to seeing your results :)
x
 
I have lightroom so i should be able to work with the WB. I normally shoot RAW + jpeg (since its nice to have a reference shot when not in lightroom).

I took some pics with sports mode earlier and was amazed at the results. Im thinking of taking test shots in this mode to give me reference info for shooting manually.

I think I favour using the 18-55mm and turning up the iso rather then the 35mm prime. I think the prime will cause me problems with composition and I wont have the time to change lens a lot.
 
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