Help with Indoor Birthday Photos and Horrible Lighting

[LittleLovesPhotos]

I'm not sure if I should have posted this in newbie or not but hoping someone can help. The other weekend I took pictures at a friend's birthday party and I am not happy with the results. A huge part has to do with my lack of experience and preference for natural light. I am taking photos again at the same site (don't worry-not paid) so I would appreciate any tips on how to produce better photographs. These were taken on a Nikon D3000 with 18-55 kit lens. I will be using a Nikon d5300 with 50mm 18.g or Sigma 17-50 2.8 this time.

 

[Robin Usagani]

My advice is to just crank up your ISO to 1600 with lens wide open or almost wide open. Dont pixel peep too much. Yes, there will be noise, but seriously though.. if you just look at it on a screen (zoomed out) or printed on 4x6, it will be good. There will be an area in the playground that is too dark, you need to either shoot it with slower shutter or bump up the ISO even higher. 50mm with a crop sensor may be a bit too tight but this lens will probably give you the best result.

 

[IgsEMT]

I'm not sure if I should have posted this in newbie or not but hoping someone can help. The other weekend I took pictures at a friend's birthday party and I am not happy with the results. A huge part has to do with my lack of experience and preference for natural light. I am taking photos again at the same site (don't worry-not paid) so I would appreciate any tips on how to produce better photographs. These were taken on a Nikon D3000 with 18-55 kit lens. I will be using a Nikon d5300 with 50mm 18.g or Sigma 17-50 2.8 this time.
<img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=68461"/><img src="http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=68462"/>

I often photograph at party places. The biggest issue is the color - WHITE BALANCE.
Set the iso 800, camera into program mode and see what the exposure is. Then I switch to M and adjust as such that my shutter speed is at least 1/100sec and set aperture accordingly. I add flash with color gel in TTL -1ev and stop down about 1-2 stops. Then I do a custom white balance and go work.
Works well
Good luck

 

[LittleLovesPhotos]

Thanks lgsEMT! What type of flash do you suggest using? I'm still a a beginner but I think an external flash may need to be my next purchase.

 

[tirediron]

The SB 700 will be an excellent companion for your D3K.

 

[IgsEMT]

That depends on how far you want to take your photography.... If there is no chance that you'll be doing this professionally (making $) then you can save some $,,and get sb700. If there is a chance you'll be taking your photog to the next level then sb910. Alternatively there are number of 3rd party lenses that ate good like Metz, yungue (or however you spell it), vivitar. When choosing a speedlight you need to know what you want to get out of it. For example my speedlights are TTL based and capable to act as both master and slave modes. I also need them to have PC plugs. Thus I can work in combination of manual, TTL, multiple flashes, moonlights, etc

 

[cynicaster]

Aside from the opportunity to candidly capture kids being kids, you don't have a whole hell of a lot working in your favor for a shoot like this. Crappy lighting, rather cramped quarters, cluttered/distracting backgrounds, etc.

The only suggestion I can offer is to do a quick scouting of the room to find the best vantage points (i.e., best lighting, fewest obstructions, cleanest backgrounds) and take several shots from those spots. That will optimize your chances of getting a few keepers, I think.