Indoor photography suggestions

[Ashlee_Duh]

Shooting an awards ceremony/business convention for the next 3 days. I'm currently using a Nikon D5000. I have the standard kit lens 18-55mm, and also 2 other lenses (55-200mm, 70-300mm). I'm using a YN560 speedlight as well.

I haven't done a ton of indoor photography shoots. I mostly do outdoors and such and want to know what are the best settings for indoor. I don't want to risk getting really noisy photos because of my inexperience. What would be some of the things I should look out for? Best methods?


Thank you for your help! :mrgreen:

 

[Mach0]

With those lenses, you are going to need a lot of light. Use your flash and don't be afraid to raise the ISO.

 

[Ashlee_Duh]

With those lenses, you are going to need a lot of light. Use your flash and don't be afraid to raise the ISO.

Thank you for the suggestion. And no worries, I won't be afraid to raise the ISO up. I'm really hoping though that it won't have to go any higher than 400.

 

[o hey tyler]

Thank you for the suggestion. And no worries, I won't be afraid to raise the ISO up. I'm really hoping though that it won't have to go any higher than 400.

400-800 will pretty significantly augment how far your flash carries. And I'm fairly certain that properly exposed images at ISO800 on your camera are usable with some post processing.

 

[Mach0]

Thank you for the suggestion. And no worries, I won't be afraid to raise the ISO up. I'm really hoping though that it won't have to go any higher than 400.

Depends on the amount of light there. Unless you plan on nuking it with flash.

 

[Ashlee_Duh]

It's an awards ceremony so I'm just going to assume banquet style lighting. (Usually dim)

 

[Ashlee_Duh]

Thank you for the suggestion. And no worries, I won't be afraid to raise the ISO up. I'm really hoping though that it won't have to go any higher than 400.

400-800 will pretty significantly augment how far your flash carries. And I'm fairly certain that properly exposed images at ISO800 on your camera are usable with some post processing.

Hopefully they are usable at ISO800. I honestly have never had to really go up high on my ISO settings because I'm usually outdoors. Thank you for your help.

 

[Mach0]

Hopefully they are usable at ISO800. I honestly have never had to really go up high on my ISO settings because I'm usually outdoors. Thank you for your help.

Proper exposures are the most important.

 

[Tee]

It's an awards ceremony so I'm just going to assume banquet style lighting. (Usually dim)

If it's dim, you're going to be going to be pushing higher than ISO 400 especially since you don't have fast lenses. Use whatever ISO is needed to get the job done. There are plenty of noiseware programs to use. Don't forget to take into account ambient light as well and watch your shutter speed getting too low without a tripod.

 

[Ashlee_Duh]

It's an awards ceremony so I'm just going to assume banquet style lighting. (Usually dim)

If it's dim, you're going to be going to be pushing higher than ISO 400 especially since you don't have fast lenses. Use whatever ISO is needed to get the job done. There are plenty of noiseware programs to use. Don't forget to take into account ambient light as well and watch your shutter speed getting too low without a tripod.

Yeah, I'll obviously mess around with the ISO to fit the setting of the area. This is the only part of the 3 days I had concern over. Everything else is going to be during the day with natural lighting. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. It's honestly my first real paying freelance job. Everything else I did was either volunteer or free of charge.

 

[Ashlee_Duh]

Tested some indoor shots with the ISO to 1250, and bounced light off subjects. Seems to come out nice. No grain or anything. Subject is focused and not over or under exposed. Thanks for all the tips and suggestions everyone. I greatly appreciate that.

 

[brian_f2.8]

How close are you going to be? If you are on the far end of 200/300 you aperture will be f5.6 at best. If possible, go there in advance and take some test shots.

I have learned this the hard way but I got a lot of help from other members here on the forum. Great place to ask questions.

 

[KmH]

Film cameras have 'grain'. Digital cameras have 'image noise'. Digital Camera Image Noise: Concept and Types
Noise reduction diminishes sharpness - Tutorials ? Sharpness
Under exposure makes image noise more visible, but a noisey photo is preferable to blurry photo.
Increasing the ISO allows a faster shutter speed to prevent camera shake/motion blur.

Using a digital camera we need to expose for the highlights, and let the shadows take care of themselves. It's known as Expose-To-The-Right: ETTR
Optimizing Exposure

Exposure is evaluated by looking at the histogram that can be displayed on the camera's rear LCD.

• Understanding Histograms, Part 1: Tones & Contrast
• Understanding Histograms, Part 2: Luminosity & Color

 

[TonysTouch]

How high are the ceilings where you are shooting. I usually bounce my flash off the ceiling with the flash pointed slightly behind me. Try to shoot with your f-stop around f/8-11 to get decent DOF. Also, I would prefer shoot around 50mm to getter better DOF. As long as the ceilings aren't to high, you should be able to get properly exposed shots without having to crank up the ISO and be able to keep everyone on focus.

 

[Ashlee_Duh]

I'm going to go early to evaluate the setting and do a bunch of test shots. Won't actually know what settings I'll eventually be using until I get to the area.

Everyone is very helpful here and I honestly appreciate it. You guys have a nice forum.