Cherokee PowWow

[DannyLewis]

I am shooting the Cherokee PowWow this friday and saturday for some friend's that put the whole thing together. I am totally new I will be using a T3i with a 100-400mm canon and the 55-250 and the stock len's. For the dancer's it will be indoor under florescent lighting I try to stick with the M mode at all times as I feel it is a better learning place. But it is a one time deal and I am still pretty new to this so if you were shooting here what setting's would you use to get the b est photograph's considering the dancer's will be dressed in very bright and colorful regalia and alot of beadwork.Thank you all for your time. If it turn's out nicely I will post some pictures. I am doing the children's dances in H.D.M.I. Video so a few tip's in that area would be nice also. thnx again Danny lewis

 

[CanonJim]

The indoor fluorescent lights may present a bit of a problem-you'll want a fairly fast (e.g. wide open) aperture to get enough light into the lens. If you can, I'd get there ahead of time and take some sample shots, using ISO changes to test for a wide aperture/fast shutter combination that works. Depending on where you can stand vis-a-vis the action, you may want something wider than 55mm - I'm assuming the kit lens is the 18-55? Open that bugger all the way and see what you get.

If there's enough light outside you should be fine with either of the other two- they're not noted as 'low light' lenses, but even so, a careful use of higher ISO settings to allow fast enough shutter speeds should be sufficient.

Today's modern DSLRs have pretty good noise handling capabilities - don't be afraid to bump up the ISO when appropriate.

 

[tirediron]

Can't help with the video, sorry. As for the stills, this is going to be VERY challenging with the gear you have. First: Can you use flash? If so make sure you have one. If you don't own one and can't borrow one, RENT one. Next, take five minutes and figure out what your camera's highest usable ISO is (again, can't offer a lot of help; I'm a Nikon shooter and only speak pidgin-canon); I'm pretty sure you'll need to go as high as possible with the ISO. It may look bright to your eye. It won't to the camera.

I would NOT shoot this in manual. I would shoot this in shutter-priority (Tv), setting your shutter-speed to the lowest possible speed which will freeze most movement (a little motion blur in dance pictures is not necessarily a bad thing); probably 1/100, although if you can get up to 1/160, or 1/200, that will be better. Shutter in Tv will allow you to ensure that your camera doesn't decide to drop down to unusable shutter-speeds without you noticing, and will, in these conditions, almost certainly keep your lens wide-open.

Lastly, use single-point focusing and keep the focusing point on the subject's face. For groups, try and pick a point which is the middle of the average depth of their faces (That is, if they're in three rows, focus on the middle row, ensuring your aperture will allow sufficient DoF to get everyone, failing that, focus on the front row and allow the others to "fade out").

 

[DannyLewis]

THank's CanonJim the lighting is my biggest worry. During the day there will be alot of natural light from the window's in the top of the building (not skylight) My highest ISO is H which is 12800. Should be able to get enough light at that rate. tirediron I will start out in TV mode and see how it work's. I am not big on any motion blur in dance photgraphy, I will take some of both. I do have a flash but some of the dancer's prefer no flash at all. Heck some Indian's prefer no pictures at all, but I am one so I can do it. I was thinmking use the all 9 point AF instead of just one central point. I have done football games here locally and used the one point and if used in a mid section of a player the face is slightly out of focus. I will get there early enough and get a few of the kid dancer's out on the floor and let them model for me so I can get the feel of the TV mode and lighting with and with out flash. I just hope the no-flash dances are early enough for me to utilize the natural lighting with the hanging light's. I printed these two post and will carry them with me friday and saturday. Thank's Gent's....have a great weekend....Hopefully I will have something to post this weekend DannyLewis

 

[DannyLewis]

And with the 9 point AF alot of the dances will not be just one person. It is not like line dances it will be in some what of a circular fashion. So I thought all point's would be the ticket? RIght or wrong? help is really needed....

 

[DannyLewis]

late night thought, the light motion blur is a nice thought I guess the dancer would be better blended into the photograph instead of looking like a cut out doll glued on a white wall...thnx again