Making the most of this job -> Ball

whom

whom

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Steve
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Hi guys,

I've been asked to go to a Cambridge Uni May Ball to take informal shots. As in, wander around and take pictures. There are a few conflicting interests so I thought I'd ask for some opinions.

These balls start at 9pm ish and go on until sunrise ish. There are thousands of people, lots of entertainment (bands, carnival rides, casino stuff etc etc). My job is to get photos that people will want to buy.. of course.

Firstly, gear. I'll be using my 5DII and 430EXII for sure. I suspect most of the night will be shot on my 24-105mm F/4 but I am wondering if I should take along my 50mm f/1.4. Shots will be almost exclusively group shots I imagine so I am a bit concerned about depth of field and field of view.

Secondly is technique. Using a flash is going to be fine, hopefully the weather will be nice and everyone will be outside not crammed into marquees. But I don't really want black backgrounds typical of flash usage... Should I crank the ISO right up, use my 50mm quite wide, or slow the shutter speed right down? How slow would you go when trying to snap half a dozen drunken students? My guess is that 1/50 would be pushing it....

Having not done much portrait stuff before, are there any easy rules in terms of standing distance etc. I seem to remember reading around 50mm for full body, 85 for upper and 135 for head.


Now for the conflicting interests....

Would you use it to experiment with artistic shots, candid shots, or just go for consistent plain old group portraits? With the entire night, I suppose there is plenty of time for everything.

With unlimited free food and drink how much... actually.... I'll play this one by ear... :thumbs:

Can anyone point me in the direction of examples of this kind of work, done exceptionally well? I think it's a little different to weddings, it isn't so much about capturing the day, but selling photos to students...


Of course my main aim is to enjoy myself, I think it would be hard not too!
 
you can use slow sync flash if you want to capture the atmosphere but still having your main subject well lit. It works very well for my nightclub photography :)

which ball is it? being a Cambridge graduate I advise you to make sure you enjoy it as well as it's a very nice experience :)

oh and the light is usually not that bad (at least at the Trinity and St Johns ones I went)
 
The photographer at our Cambridge college ball took group photos of people as they arrived and then found a good spot outside where people could go to him for individual portraits. He also took some candids but it was the group shots and individual portaits that sold. I seem to remember paying about 30 quid for my photo - I thought it was expensive at the time, but even as a poor student I valued the photograph! I wouldn't recommend putting them online - they will just end up as tiny watermarked pics on Facebook!
 
Do you use manual exposure or just set the custom function to the non fixed option?

It is Clare, should be good. I went to Downing a couple of years ago and my college hosts one every other year in the winter. I took the survivors photo last time! That was a tough job. Two 550EX's, hanging out of a third floor window half drunk.

What did you study here? I'm 16 days away from my graduation, it's a great feeling.
 
BooBear said:
The photographer at our Cambridge college ball took group photos of people as they arrived and then found a good spot outside where people could go to him for individual portraits. He also took some candids but it was the group shots and individual portaits that sold. I seem to remember paying about 30 quid for my photo - I thought it was expensive at the time, but even as a poor student I valued the photograph! I wouldn't recommend putting them online - they will just end up as tiny watermarked pics on Facebook!
Click to expand...

I'm not doing this one for myself, I'll just hand over the card at the end of the night. He does put them up online rightly or wrongly.
Thanks for the tips, I don't know but I suspect there will be another tog there doing the more formal stuff. I'll find out on Monday!

Now where did I put that dinner jacket...
 
whom said:
Do you use manual exposure or just set the custom function to the non fixed option?

It is Clare, should be good. I went to Downing a couple of years ago and my college hosts one every other year in the winter. I took the survivors photo last time! That was a tough job. Two 550EX's, hanging out of a third floor window half drunk.

What did you study here? I'm 16 days away from my graduation, it's a great feeling.
Click to expand...

Manual so that I can adjust exposure quickly if I don't like a photo.

I did computer science at Trinity. graduated in 2009.

What do you study? Good luck with the exam results ;)
 
iced_jacob said:
Manual so that I can adjust exposure quickly if I don't like a photo.

I did computer science at Trinity. graduated in 2009.

What do you study? Good luck with the exam results ;)
Click to expand...

Ouch, I had a mate doing Computer Science, he became nocturnal...

Engineering, not too worried about results, I got the "class" last year (3rd year), this year it's just pass/merit/distinction masters bit that doesn't mean too much. Thanks though.

EDIT- I've just remembered who that guy is.
 
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Re malaka, we have 12 mutual friends I believe....
 
Nai re, pola kala!

Yeah you guys are normally the loud ones in the lectures :p
 
If ever I am around London I sure will give you a shout.

The ball was great fun, I'm going to post up a few for critique.
 
what lens did you use the most in the end ?
 
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