Help with band and party.

[woody12]

Hi, this is last minute but I'm going to a fund raising event that's been organised at work for comic relief where there is comics obviously and later a live band, I was literally going as a guest for fun with work mates but you guessed it the photographer has gone sick and I've been asked to come in last minute to cover. You can't say no to the boss you just wants some record for the wall at work of the event for morale. Never really do people or events so any advice would help! Have a 35 1-8 and 55-300 for nikon 3100. Have no flash is this really a problem. Just want to impress the rest of my work mates who say you take lovely photos like they all do and think it's easy. Thanks in advance and tormorrow night is looming fast. Talk about being chucked in at the deep end. Do understand about the exposure triangle and know I need to crank up the ISO for faster shutter speeds, it's more what sort of things I need to look at with people in general. Thanks in advance and will post the results

 

[GeeJay57]

The 35mm f/1.8 will probably prove to be the most useful. Take the 55-300, it might come in useful but may not.

Do you know if the band are using a lighting rig? If so, that can look pretty good.

Probably best to shoot RAW (obviously the Nikon equivalent, is that NEF?), that way you can tweak the white balance in post. With the band and people dancing, you're bound to get some movement blur, but that adds to it.

Avoid using pop-up flash if you can, as the images will tend to be very flat. That said, if you're really struggling to get something using available light, then use the pop-up as that is better than nothing at all.

 

[woody12]

Cheer gee-jay57, never really like using pop up flash tbh. Love my 35mm and will use that for some candids. Not sure about the lighting rig, not even sure what type of band it's going to be. Just agreed to go with my mates to support the event, never crossed my mind to even think about photos as I'm manly landscape and outdoor photographer.

 

[landwomble]

Manual. Highest iso your camera tolerates, say 3200 at a pinch. Widest aperture. Shutter slowest speed that's safe - say 1/30 wide end, 1/120th for a mild tele. Fix underexposure in post.