Large group of kids! 'O'

[table1349]

Potty break, potty break, potty break before you set up for the picture.

 

[sarah_19_nz]

Just been re-reading these comments as tomorrow is the big day! Weather is looking DULL, cloudy, possibility of a sprinkle of drizzle... a question then... IF I decide NOT to use my lights... how high do you think I should go with ISO before flagging the natural dull day and plugging in the lights? I have a D7000 which supposedly has very good ISO performance but I've never tested the waters above 1000!... Will having an ISO that high compromise the sharpness/clarity of the individual faces? GULP... going to loose sleep over this...

 

[TCampbell]

Just been re-reading these comments as tomorrow is the big day! Weather is looking DULL, cloudy, possibility of a sprinkle of drizzle... a question then... IF I decide NOT to use my lights... how high do you think I should go with ISO before flagging the natural dull day and plugging in the lights? I have a D7000 which supposedly has very good ISO performance but I've never tested the waters above 1000!... Will having an ISO that high compromise the sharpness/clarity of the individual faces? GULP... going to loose sleep over this...

You are probably still fine even with overcast.

A "light" overcast is a situation in which there are clouds -- but they are thin clouds and you can still see your shadow on the ground. That kills about 1 stop (you'd go from ISO 100 to ISO 200)
A "medium" overcast is a situation in which you are losing your shadow (or at least having a very time seeing a shadow) but it does not look like you'll need to put on rain gear. That kills about 2 stops. You'd got to ISO 400.
A "heavy" overcast is a situation in which it looks like you might need to seek protection from the rain -- you'll probably lose 3 stops and that means you'd need ISO 800.

But all of this is still comfortably below ISO 1000.

The cloudy weather will have the desirable effect of removing harsh shadows and the undesirable effect of "cooling" the color temperature of the images. In post processing you may want to nudge up the warmth just a tiny amount.

 

[sarah_19_nz]

Thank you so much Tim.