Best camera settings for a formal event?

[D40]

I will be shooting at a formal event in Nov. and want to know what kind of settings are the best to use? The ISO is a big one, I am a little confused about how you know what to set the ISO at for different events? I have the SB-600 but I figure the lights will not be super bright in the room.

 

[Garbz]

There is no answer for this. The ISO should be as low as possible. But "possible" is a design choice. Yes with an SB-600 you can light up people at a wedding, but what if you want the background lit too and you can't bounce, you need to increase the ISO.

You just need to decided what you want from the picture and pick the settings that allow you to take it (or in extreme cases like weddings in dark churches get close enough).

 

[rawatenator]

I agree with Garbz, there is no way for us to tell you exactly what you need to use for your ISO setting.

Something I like to do for formal events is show up early, really early. That way you can think about where you will need to stand and shoot and what have you. When the event starts, play with a few ISOs to see what looks best on your view finder. If you are afraid you won't have time, consider talking to the person who is managing lights. Often at big events, there is at least one, if not more, person assigned to control the lights through the event. If you are really afraid of missing the moment by using the wrong ISO, use the one you think will work best and BRACKET, at least then you will have a little room for error.

hope this helps a bit.

 

[D40]

Thanks I will deffinently be doing the "go early thing" and will see what things are like. I definently what to avoid the direct flash. The pics from the Photog that was there last year had some problems with the peoples faces being washed out and bright so I am assumeing that the problem was with the direct flash. I think I am going to try the betterbounce card since I can still bounce the light bu at the same time I get some light going forward as well.

 

[Mike_E]

Look up 'dragging the shutter'. When you are able to do this the other questions will fall into place. The short answer is to use an aperture that will give the depth of field needed and then balance ISO and shutter speed for exposure.

mike