Photographing a big event

DoctorJ

DoctorJ

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I am photographing a big outdoor event (c.900 women) on Friday night for my charity, I have a D300S, an SB700 and 35 and 50mm 1.8G lenses, (plus a not very fast 18-105). I was thinking of:

Using the 35mm
ISO - 640
Aperture Priority and sticking at f3.5
Setting the flash to TTL and using it at 45 degrees with the reflector.

Any better ideas? I don't use flash very often and am often a bit underwhelmed with the results to be honest, I seem to end up with panda eyes and other unflattering facial shadows, don't really want to end up with 900 unhappy women on my hands, one at home is frankly enough!
 
My better idea would be don't do it !
But seriously, 900 people to photograph is quite a task. You don't say what sort of pics you are going for.
Headshots, small groups, large groups etc etc.
If you're underwhelmed with the results you are getting with flash, and given that you say you don't use flash very often, I would normally say practice with it until you are happy with your results.
That seems a bit difficult, seeing as it on Friday!
Having said that, my advice would be to get the flash off camera, even by using a flash bracket, and get it diffused . If you are outside, bouncing it will be impossible, although you can use a piece of white card or similar taped to the flash head. If by outside you mean a inside a marquee or something, then bouncing it is best.
Avoid direct flash, it is way too harsh.


But I still prefer my original idea !!
 
Fair enough going for settings as a starting point, but don't expect to be nailed to them all night.

At the very least you're going to want to diffuse/bounce the light somehow. I've used a Rouge Flashbender on several occasions and it's much better than direct flash.

Every event I've ever done has been somewhere in the 500-1000 people range, but I find that better because you blend in more and people are less conscious having their photo taken.
 
DoctorJ said:
I am photographing a big outdoor event (c.900 women) on Friday night for my charity, I have a D300S, an SB700 and 35 and 50mm 1.8G lenses, (plus a not very fast 18-105). I was thinking of:

Using the 35mm
ISO - 640
Aperture Priority and sticking at f3.5
Setting the flash to TTL and using it at 45 degrees with the reflector.

Any better ideas? I don't use flash very often and am often a bit underwhelmed with the results to be honest, I seem to end up with panda eyes and other unflattering facial shadows, don't really want to end up with 900 unhappy women on my hands, one at home is frankly enough!
Click to expand...
Well, it depends what you're shooting (what event is it and what are your subjects?), and how much light there is which will vary from minute to minute even on the best of days. You can't just set it up and leave it, its dynamic and you'll need to adjust the whole time.
 
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Jayst84 said:
Give us an idea of what you're actually shooting, and the type of images you and the client want from it, then people may be able to offer advice.

You can't pick settings now, unless you know exactly what the lighting and other situations are going to be during the event.
Click to expand...

Good point - apologies! I am really a passionate landscape photographer so this is a bit of a departure for me.

It is a midnight walk for charity, I will be at the start / finishing point so as well as photographing some on-stage entertainment, I will be photographing the ladies as they set off and come back, normally they are in groups of up to 20. It starts at a hospital so there will be some outdoor lighting but as they set off they will be wearing flashing bunny ears and carrying glow sticks. Also they start arriving about two hours before it starts so there is a lot of milling around, chatting (doing what ladies do).

With regard to the flash, it will all be outdoors so nothing to bounce off but my flash does have a built in bounce-card

The outcome will be some largish posters made up of images from the night to promote next year's event plus putting them on Facebook etc. Also some of the participants get in touch for any images with them and their teams in. As this is a Charity event for the charity I help to run, I am in effect my own client.

I take on board the comments about the light changing, I will just crack on with it, be flexible and see how it goes.
 
I've shot some night race events for a friend of mine up a mountain in Wales so not ideal conditions! I ended up mounting two flashguns either end of a bridge that every runner had to cross and triggered them remotely. I then pre-focussed on the middle of the bridge manually and shot the photos as the runners crossed the path of the lights. Having a rear hair light and front fill at slightly different power gave some more shape to the runners and was considerably easier than trying to AF in pitch black. Maybe you could do something similar at the start/finish?
 
Tricky.. flash will swamp the flashing bunny ears & glow sticks unless very carefully positioned & judged. Or you could start getting a little exotic with long exposures combined with flash like nightclub photographers.

The simplest way to get pleasing results would be to get a Flashbender and shoot on TTL. Set FEC so that the subject is lit but without making the background completely dark and don't worry about capturing the twinkly lights.
 
Thanks for that Simon, I would if I knew what FEC is :), so far I can just come up with Federal Election Commission..
 
Its flash exposure compensation it can be set to give a little more or a little less light. I would get a friend and try a few shots under the same conditions also get a diffuser on the flash other wise it will give some harsh results. good luck
 
DoctorJ said:
Thanks for that Simon, I would if I knew what FEC is :), so far I can just come up with Federal Election Commission..
Click to expand...
Flash Exposure Compensation

If by diffuser you mean one of these:
flash-diffusers.jpg

then don't bother. All they do outside is reduce the power of your flash. They work by spreading the light out so some of it can bounce off walls and ceiling.
 
I think your estimated camera settings are way too dependent on flash unless the area is pretty well lit already.
IMO, your best bet is to get as close to a proper exposure as you can w/o flash, and then add flash for fill. And if the area is well lit, then you are going to have an issue of mismatched lighting temperatures, you might want to gel the flash to match.
 
:rolleyes: that's exactly what I have.

wave01 said:
Its flash exposure compensation it can be set to give a little more or a little less light. I would get a friend and try a few shots under the same conditions also get a diffuser on the flash other wise it will give some harsh results. good luck
Click to expand...
I think I will get someone to experiment on over the next couple of nights and work out the best combination of flash / bounce card / on / off camera and see what works best
 
DoctorJ said:
I think I will get someone to experiment on over the next couple of nights and work out the best combination of flash / bounce card / on / off camera and see what works best
Click to expand...
Definitely a good idea.
You are going to be trying to light a rather large area with a rather large number of people in a dark environment using a single speedlight. That means the flash is going to need to be a good ways away in order to minimize falloff. And all of that means the flash is going to be working hard... anything you do to make it work even harder is going to be "a negative" IMO. I.e. starting with a darker ambient exposure, wasting power on undirected/uncontrolled bounce, etc.

Probably the only way you are going to avoid the "deer in headlights" type look is to use less flash. I would plan on using much higher ISO, perhaps "uncomfortably high." Yes, there will be ISO noise... it will be much less noticeable at smaller sizes and when printed (web use/distribution and composite posters), and you can remove some of it in post (but probably not all).
 
I would probably use the 35mm most (though would prefer wider, I'd be using 35mm on full frame if I was doing it myself).

Whack the ISO up, probably around 3200, maybe 6400 for some. Shutter wherever it needed to be, around 1/60th or so I'd guess, and wide open or close to it most of the time.

Little bit of flash, direct from on top of the camera probably. Should be pretty easy to let some of the light bleed in from whatever costumes people are wearing, whilst still lighting up their faces. At wide apertures and high ISOs your flash won't have to work hard at all, it's got next to no ambient to compete with so you can get bursts easily to catch expressions, etc.

Most shots I'd guess would be fairly close in, small groups of people so you can see their expressions and show their personalities, and the fact that they're having a good time.

Some wider shots to show the size of the crowd if they're all together at the start or finish - likely no flash on those, it'll either not do much, or look crap. Throw in some environmental shots along the way when people walk past any local landmarks, job done.

Stuff on stage will presumably have some light, use that and turn your flash off.

You can try some fun things along the way as well, long exposures to show trailing glowsticks from a distance. Longer exposures plus flash close in, in 'nightclub mode' as mentioned above, etc.

ETA. Not sure how Nikons work, but on Canon I would make sure I was set to single shot AF, as this will make your flash's AF assist beam fire - which may well be something you need.
 
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