Shooting Events

areuwhatudream · Feb 17, 2005

Hey guys,
I just got this job ( :cheer: ) taking pictures for a website that kind of tracks a school's party scene :mrgreen: . So the site is specialized for my school and the things that happen there. I take pictures at events of people, and we direct them to the website to check out their picture. Last night I took pictures at a concert (Afroman) uptown. Because of these circumstances, it's generally a really crowded environment, and the just pictures end up being snapshots of people enjoying themselves. Last night was last minute, I ended up going with my D70, used a wide angle lens (19-35) most of the time because I was so close to people. I also just used the flash that is on the body of the camera and ISO400. Most of the time the pictures turned out fine, but for some reason a lot of them turned out kind of grainy. I know it's low light but is there a way to avoid that? And also, because I was so close to my subjects, the flash washed them out in a few of them. Do you guys have suggestions on how to get the maximum quality of pictures? I want to make sure I have better pictures next time. Thanks for your help in advance!

Alison · Feb 17, 2005

If you have the means to get an external flash for your camera that would help a lot. Indirect lighting (by bouncing the flash) usually leads to a much more appealing image light wise than using the on camera flash.

Rogue Monk · Feb 17, 2005

In a pinch, you could use a "poor man's diffuser". Take an empty film cannister (the translucent ones, not the black ones) and jam it over your onboard flash (you might have to cut the cannister slightly to get it to fit right).

Not professional looking, but that would help even out the light and make it not so direct.

You should take your flash with you next time. If the ceiling is high, take a couple business cards and attach them to your flash with an elastic. It makes a bounce reflector.

SLOShooter · Feb 17, 2005

The steps mentioned above will deffinatly help with the flash problem. As for the noise that is going to happen in dimly lit situations with the ISO turned up. There are some programs out there that you can run your images though to help with that though. I think a quick search on google or this forum would produce quite a number of good leads.