Beginner has to take pictures at my daughters school.. HELP

[Faythsmommy]

I have a Pentax K-X
I got roped into taking pictures of kids before a kindergarten play. I bought a pretty in expensive flash and was told to keep it on automatic. I am using the manual to shoot the still pictures but I will be in the cafeteria and am really worried that I won't have the settings right. Any tips anyone can give me would be much appreciated. The kids will be standing still I am just afraid the group shots won't be clear enough. Thanks, Nina

 

[Vinny]

Do you know if the flash will "talk" to your camera? If not, you may get over or under exposed photos. I would say to just use available lighting, use a higher ISO (1600 or more) and do your best.

Since it's in the cafeteria I will assume it'll be pretty bright. I don't have a Pentax but have used my camera at an ISO of 6400 and used the available light on the stage to capture my son in a school concert. The only problem with that is your photos may come out noisy (grainy). Other than using available light I would say take photos using the flash you bought to learn how to use it. One of the problems with flash is that they tend to illuminate (over illuminate) people close by if they are in the flash's path and not people further back. On Auto, the flash will be seeing that the "correct" level was reached and stop the light output.

 

[vtf]

See if you can go in sometime before the event and practice with your settings.

 

[kundalini]

Since it's in the cafeteria I will assume it'll be pretty bright.

eeeeehhhhhhh. To the human eye, possibly, but to the camera, whole different ballgame.

More than likely the cafeteria is lighted by fluorescent fixtures. Fluorescent lighting is notorious for its cycling of the color band width. Since fluorescent lights are constantly changing colors in degrees Kelvin, you'll want to expose long enough to try and catch the light 'near the middle' of the sine wave. You can increase your chances by not increasing your shutter speed to more than 1/120s. I'd turn the WB to fluorescent and if you can pick up a 'window green' gel, that will color balance the flash to fluorescent. Having one of those gels along with a CTO (orange) for incandescent lights will help a lot with color balancing your flash to existing conditions.

Here is an article from Strobist 102 about gelling.
Strobist: Lighting 102: 6.1 - Gelling for Fluorescent

 

[Forkie]

Why were you told to keep it on Auto? If that were me, I'd politely ask not to be told how I can and can't use my own motherf*****g camera!

 

[Faythsmommy]

Since I am not super good with the manual and have mostly used the automatic on the camera I did not want to have to deal with setting the flash also that is why I was told to use the auto for this situation. I am mostly worried about having the manual settings right. Thanks for the info. N

 

[Village Idiot]

Since it's in the cafeteria I will assume it'll be pretty bright.

eeeeehhhhhhh. To the human eye, possibly, but to the camera, whole different ballgame.

More than likely the cafeteria is lighted by fluorescent fixtures. Fluorescent lighting is notorious for its cycling of the color band width. Since fluorescent lights are constantly changing colors in degrees Kelvin, you'll want to expose long enough to try and catch the light 'near the middle' of the sine wave. You can increase your chances by not increasing your shutter speed to more than 1/120s. I'd turn the WB to fluorescent and if you can pick up a 'window green' gel, that will color balance the flash to fluorescent. Having one of those gels along with a CTO (orange) for incandescent lights will help a lot with color balancing your flash to existing conditions.

Here is an article from Strobist 102 about gelling.
Strobist: Lighting 102: 6.1 - Gelling for Fluorescent

If it's a TTL flash, which is sounds like it is, shoot at 1/250 or the x-sync and ISO 100 to kill the ambient and bounce the flash off the ceiling. Easy enough and no gels should be needed.

 

[vtf]

You'll want a small aperture such as f11 to get a group of kids in one shot. So shutter at 250, iso at 100 (as per VI above) and your aperature at f11.

 

[KmH]

How long before the assignment do you have to learn how to do flash photography?

No one here can tell you what settings to use, because it depends how much, and what kind of light there is.

Manual mode settings used without flash, are different than using manual mode with flash.
In manual mode without flash you can use the in-camera light meter to ajust the settings for a proper exposure.
In manual mode with flash the in-camera light meter is essentially useless and ignored. Flash duartion controls the stopping of motion, shutter speed controls the ambient light exposure, and lens f-stop controls the strobed light exposure.

Hopefully, the inexpensive flash unit you bought can TTL with your camera. Being inexperienced, to have much of a chance of getting decent photos put the camera in Auto mode and try to visit the venue in advance to make some test shots.

 

[Faythsmommy]

My pictures turned out great thanks for the feedback.