First shoot?
 

Hello all, Although I am into photography as a hobby I have been asked to take some "shots" at a northern soul night in a couple of weeks. It is purely for fun and no pressure really as I am not getting paid. However I would like to do a decent job as they are going to use the shots hopefully on their website, (they being the two dj's I know). I have a Nikon D90 with a 35mm dx af lens and a 55-200mm zoom dx af. the flash is a nikon sb400. The venue where the gig is at is a local civic hall with tall ceilings, I imagine the light will be the usual for a disco setting, quite dark. I was going to go and just use trial and error but if you guys can offer me any pointers as a start that would be great. Many many thanks.

Brian:eek::eek:

Hi Brian,

Low light, indoor events like this, boil down to 3 things essentially. Wide aperture lenses, high ISO and flash. You have a fast lens in the 35mm f/1.8 DX and would be my choice of the two. Combining this with a high ISO will hopefully enable you to get a fast enough shutter speed to avoid blur, without too much noise and maintaining the ambience.

The 55-200mm will probably be useless without the SB400. While it might be nice to use the flash for some shots, I'd personally aim to use higher ISO's and wide apertures. If it is too dark using ambient light alone or the ISO levels are just far too noisey, then you'll have little option but to go with the flash, either bouncing it off the ceiling or wall or with a diffuser like the Lastolite Speedlite Ezybox, which will soften the flash and help remove hard shadows from behind people.

It might be nice to experiment with some rear curtain flash for some shots too, to create nice effects. The benefit of using the SB400 will be in the autofocus. Where the D90 would in all probability, hunt in vain the low light, the red focus beam on the flashgun will greatly improve focus accuracy.

The only other thing I would suggest you do is shoot in RAW format if you don't do so already. The RAW data will allow you to recover significantly more detail in the image, than a Jpeg will.

I worry that because you say you are not into photography as a hobby, that you may be taking on too much??
Thing is we don't really know what you actually know about photography and hence, what amk1977 has advised may sound like complete rocket science to a novice??
Can you elaborate more on what experience you have? as you seem to have a decent camera setup it seems unlikely you woudn't know how to use it, but you never know.
If your experience is very little, I would advise sticking the camera on auto and hope for the best.

Jonny I think you may have misread my post? I am into photography but only as a hobby not professionally.
I do agree that it would be a bit much for someone with little knowledge. Whilst no expert I can find my way around the camera and understand how it all works, well nearly! Therefore I look forward to any comments you have.
Many thanks to you both for taking the time to reply and to AMK1977 great advise and suggestions, really glad I posted now!

Brian.
;);)

Ha Ha! I must apologise. Yes I totally misread your post! I somehow read that you're 'not' into photography as a hobby! (and I have been to specsavers very recently! Maybe I should go back!)
Well amk1977's advise is sound and I totally agree! If you are nominated photographer then you will be close enough that the 35mm lens will be the choice, but you could still bring the zoom lens. Bump up the ISO and with a tripod you could still get some great shots from the back of the hall. Especially if it's a high ceiling, bouncing flash may be ineffective.

I'm sure that with a perseverance and following hundreds of shots I'm sure we will get some good ones. However I would like to deliver the mood of the night and exceed their expectations which would be nice.
I think I might just take my laptop along and after taking some sample shots have a look at them and see what happens. My big hope was being able to take some candid shots from a distance so what would you recommend for that?

regards

Brian.

You're welcome Brian.

As for candid shots from a relatively long distance in that scenario...... a 70-200mm F/2.8 VR or VRII. Even then, if the light is insufficient, you'll struggle to get the shutter speed up to avoid subject motion blur. The flash might also be ineffective at longer distances too, depending on your vantage point and in all probability you'll end up with hard shadows behind your subjects.

Low light documentary photography without a flash gun means, pro glass and a camera body that can handle the noise at higher ISO's. All of which comes with a heft price tag. I'm looking to upgrade from the D90 to the D7000 at some point, because of its low light capabilities. I would like to eventually go full frame with either a D700 or D3X (or their replacements) but, until those lotto numbers come up, I'll just have to keep dreaming and saving lol.

You may also want to have a look at this:

[url]http://www.photoradar.com/news/story/5-classic-mistakes-to-avoid-when-photographing-live-music[/url]

Regards,
Denise

[QUOTE=amk1977;37309]You're welcome Brian.

As for candid shots from a relatively long distance in that scenario...... a 70-200mm F/2.8 VR or VRII. Even then, if the light is insufficient, you'll struggle to get the shutter speed up to avoid subject motion blur. The flash might also be ineffective at longer distances too, depending on your vantage point and in all probability you'll end up with hard shadows behind your subjects.

[/QUOTE]

I used a SB600 flash with my 400mm F2.8 on the Swallows nesting with great success. Also, used it with the 70-200mm F2.8 VR plus 1.4 converter handheld. :D

Thanks for all your help guys, Just thought I would give you some feedback. It was a difficult night but with some success. I definitely had a feeling of being out of my depth at times when the camera refused to shoot and I wasn't sure why. First things first I think I need to do some study on flash photography and more importantly read up on what the sb400 can and cannot do. I think the autofocus was a problem in the low light and also the speed settings with the movement of people dancing. I think it would be great to have a "stock" setting up your sleeve for emergencies such as this. Any offerings gladly received. I think the highest ISO setting I used was 600. Should I have gone higher? I think I know the answer but I was afraid of noise.
I did shoot in RAW so I was able to rescue some of the "bad" shots. I have submitted the edited photos here
[url]http://www.flickr.com/photos/beepo/sets/72157626090657890/[/url] I would really appreciate any feedback from you all. Once again many thanks for all your contributions.
Brian;)