How to photograph a torchlight procession

[Dippy]

Hi

I was wondering if anyone could offer me some advice. I have been asked to photograph (on a free basis) our scout groups annual torchlight procession. It will obviously take place after dark and living in a rural area will have limited street light. This is well beyond my normal comfort zone. Any ideas re settings and or approach. I have a Nikon D3S which has a high ISO would I better to use a flash (the procession will be moving at walking speed and loads of glow sticks being waved about etc). I know with a slow shutter speed and tripod I could get some creative shots of the lights but I don't think the scout leads will appreciate any more than about one or two of these. Lord knows what they think I am going to catch, I normally struggle to see my hand in front my own face :shrug:

Any help would be very much appreciate, thanks in advance x

 

[Jimmy_Lemon]

I would avoid flash as one it is really hard to get a nice looking level of brightness from it, and flames are naturally warmer in colour than the flash (unless you have a warming filter)) so tends to lose some of its atmosphere.

I have tried a few times at local events and it really is just a case of cranking up the ISO but trying to keep the shots quite dark so that the flames stand out.

If there torches are a decent size then they will hopefully through out a fair bit of light (actually more than I thought).

A few I have managed that came out ok (I don't have that many, it aint easy )

These were all taken on a 40D maxed out of usable ISO, but could have done with fast shutter speed on most.

My tip would be look out for some nice close ups of faces lit by the torches, they tend to look really nice, but obviously need a decent shutter speed if hand holding a long(ish) lens....which sadly I just cant get nicely out of the 40D

 

[Norseman]

Dippy, I think it all depends on the size of your torch! I took this one at 1/100th @ f/8 ISO 400, but they were freshly lit, the overall pink hue coming from the flares used to light them. This particular shot was posterised to make individuals less identifiable.

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This shot was taken at 1/80th @ f/7 ISO 400.

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As Jimmy has said, avoid flash, unless you particularly wish to highlight the foreground. It all depends on the precise circumstances though - experiment!

 

[sk66]

Funny, I haven't done this but I was thinking I would use flash w/ about 2 layers of CTO. I'd set the exposure for the flames and set the flash about 1 stop under (i.e. "fill"). IMO, if this is going to be a "procession" w/ candlelight you won't get anyone sharp w/o flash.

By setting the flash =/< candlelight exposure you should be using a pretty low power/short flash duration...but it's fill and not the primary light source so it will have less ability to freeze motion.

 

[McShug]

I have taking pics at quite a few torch-lit processions,
I have never used flash, I use a small aperture, highish iso and fastish shutter.
I used a fixed Olympus 45mm f1.8 (90 equivalent) on an Olympus OMD for the following images:


Red, Gold &amp; Blue

Eastbourne Bonfire Procession 2012.
Exposure 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture f/1.8
ISO Speed 4000


Just Another Saturday Night.

Barcombe Bonfire Procession 2012.
Exposure 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture f/2.0
ISO Speed 2000


She's a Steam Punk Rocker

Hastings Bonfire Procession 2012.
Exposure 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture f/1.8
ISO Speed 1600

More photos HERE

 

[Dippy]

Wow! Some cracking photos!! Thank you all so much! If any of my shots are any good ill post them, if they aren't any good..x I won't!! Thanks all for posting your photos and responses x really appreciated x

 

[Teflon-Mike]

Scuttlebrook Wake, about twenty years ago.
I hadn't got a clue.. but I DID have a new fish eye lens. (Fixed focus, f8, 11 or 16) I wanted to try out, and a roll of Fuji 1600 ASA print film.... seemed like a good idea at the time!

I did try a few shots with fill in flash... they weren't the most successful...

Flash & fish-eyes are not a good combination!

But, My advice? Crank up the ISO and play with it.

 

[itsdavedotnet]

You've got a d3s, you'll be fine sit at iso1600 or even 3200, shoot wide open with a prime or 2.8 zoom lens, no flash.

Focus on the eyes, don't go below 1/50th, and you'll be fine

 

[McShug]

We were out Saturday night, we hadn't been to this location before.
Mayfield is a lovely old village in Sussex that has very little street lights, it was also a very cloudy night and the smoke hung in the air and we had to really rely on the torch and ambient light.
I also found I had to under expose or the torch flames were really blowing out.



Mayfield Bonfire Boyes & Belles Procession 2012.
Exposure 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture f/2.0
ISO Speed 1250



Mayfield Bonfire Boyes & Belles Procession 2012.
Exposure 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture f/2.0
ISO Speed 640



Mayfield Bonfire Boyes & Belles Procession 2012.
Exposure 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture f/2.0
ISO Speed 3200