Indoor Shot under Sodium Lights

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chilluk

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Chris
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At the weekend my son is being graded for his black belt in Karate - all being well and he passes I want to get a good clear shot of him receiving his belt from his sensei.

The dojo is actually the local community centre sports hall. The light in there is awful - mid green painted walls and I think sodium lighting - they give quite an orange cast, and aren't that bright.

My kit is 550d, kit lens, nifty fifty (I also have 55-250 but I can get close enough for shorter focal lengths) and also the 430EXII flash.

My question is what settings are best - I want it clear and well exposed, but I don't want to use the flash and just get the subject lit as it'll look like they were in the dark.

I'll shoot in raw so I can sort the WB issues from the lights, it's more getting a clear and fairly evenly exposed shot I am concerned with - I guess I haven't used the flash extensively enough to get a balanced shot with it.

Cheers!
 
Shoot in manual.
Sodium lights pulse like fluorescents so your SS needs to be at the frequency of the pulse,(which I think is 60Hz,but I might be wrong).
If that is not fast enough and it may not be, shoot in burst mode as the exposure will be all over the place as the lights pulse and at least some shots will be correctly exposed.
It makes life a bit easier to set white balance if you have a grey card or a whibal card and take a photo of that to start with
 
Thanks - should I just leave the flash on full auto TTL setting?
 
What colour is the ceiling and how high is it?

Thinking bounce flash here - will look much better if you can.

Even bouncing off the walls will make a difference...
 
Ceiling has got to be 30ft at least! It's a sports hall and it has beams etc. colour I think is dark as I guess it's a metal roof of some sort.
 
Another quick question - obviously the gi he wears is white - am I likely to blow that out totally or should I spot meter off it - I know other stuff will then underexpose a bit.
 
You're not likely to blow out the Gi - I've taken literally thousands of martial arts photos and never managed to do that. They aren't pure white.
 
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