Need some Technical Help

[julie32]

Hey guys......

Ok so picture this. Larry King's studio, its dark, very dark--except for the spot lights on Larry King and each of his guests' heads. I'm at an angle where I need to get Larry (foreground) and 2 guests (background) all in focus and I can't use a flash in there. I struggled with this. This event was a last minute thing and I was at the right place at the right time....

So I guess what I"m asking is....can you explain to me the best settings and why you think they'd work? I'm about a foot away from Larry and about 5 ft away from the guests....

I'm on a canon 5d...shooting in Av mode.
Any suggestions would be great so I can learn.
thank you!
julie

 

[Crosby]

I'm a newb here to so my suggestion may not be worth much.

I would go with the Av mode like you said and on my camera, get a an aperture size of 8 to 11 or so. That might make the shutter speed pretty long though but with the lights on them, it should be ok, but if not, open the aperture up a stop or two until you have a comfortable shutter speed.

 

[RyanLilly]

And spot meter, bump the ISO to obtain acceptable shutter speeds.

 

[The_Traveler]

lens is crucial here.
To get this much dof you need an ultra wide like 11 mm.

 

[Snyder]

Easy obtain a Nikon D3, haha.
Ok lets see a nice fast prime lense will work such as 1.4. Monopod, high ISO with decent shutter speed. Spot meter it also. Custom WB the lights. Your results should be decent.

 

[julie32]

thanks guys, great info. I was using my canon 24-70 2.8. The shots are okay but I know they could have been much better. ISO was up at 640...

 

[The_Traveler]

look at dofmaster.com and use the on-line DOF calculator to see how you get a sufficient DOF when you're so close.

Lew