Venue Photo added for fun: Event Shooting, tips?

[JustJazzie]

Somehow I have found myself being asked to shoot events lately. I did a "Soul arrival Ceremony" last minuet a week or two ago, and I only got 28 pictures in an hour that I felt comfortable delivering. Though as it was literally a last min "would you please bring your camera!" I am not beating myself up for having a mediocre final set.

Now I have been asked to shoot an event at our local parkour gym this Saturday, (As well as their Christmas Party in December). Its fairly low light, (Inside of an old church) so I am planning to bring my TTL speed light with soft box, and my 70-300 3.5-5.6. I don't have any wide telephoto's so I will just have to do the best with what I have! I could bring my 50mm and or my 24-105, but I don't want to carry too much equipment as the gym is quite chaotic and I wont be able to keep an eye on my gear. (I can always leave backup gear in my car, just in case) I have a 2 hour shooting window. Should I plan on having 2 cameras ON ME during the event? I will need to get action shots, and group shots. But its a big gym, so I think I can cover group shots with my 70mm.

Lighting is fairly consistent throughout the main gym, so my plan is to get an ambient reading on the average light, adjust my settings to that and then use the flash for fill light. (I have very little practical use with on camera speed lighting, just random tests here and there- I really try to avoid it)

Its not TOO serious, more like "We know you're good with a camera and we need some good images for social media, can you cover us?" I've asked for a shot list, but the only specifics she said is Some action and some group shots!

Anyways, any tips or suggested modifications to my plan would be appreciated!

Thank you for your time.

 

[ronlane]

Jazzie,

I would be more inclined to use the 24-105mm with a speedlight on camera for most of the event. Just aim the flash up at a 45 degree angle and shoot ttl, if possible.

Use the off camera set-up for portraits if you can have a station there. Honestly, it's hard to do both at an event when you are the only person shooting.

Sure the images are going to look flashed because they are flashed but that is acceptable.

Have fun with it and I know they will get good shots. I've been doing a lot of this type of work for some friends the last year. I typically use a 24-70mm and if needed I get out my 70-200mm.

It's nice to have two bodies if you have them but not necessary, if you don't want to carry around gear.

 

[JustJazzie]

Thanks @ronlane! I don't think I am going to set up a portrait station for this one, but I will consider it for the Christmas party! Thanks for reminding me to put my flash at 45, I forgot about that tip! Ive been shooting it straight ahead and am obviously underwhelmed with the results. Would you still leave the soft box on the flash? Or you would do 45 with the bounce card? Ill play with both- but wanted to be clear on your suggestion!

Maybe the 28-105 would be the better option. I am not sure. The 70-300 is faster, and they're is a lot of height, but perhaps my flash wont work that far? I don't really WANT to bring both camera bodies in with me, but perhaps I will for this one- one with each lens and see which ones gets used the most.

 

[Derrel]

I agree with Ron. I would use the 28 to 105 mm zoom lens with a speedlight on camera for the bulk of the indoor shots. If you decide to do some posed photographs, then it would be quite okay to use the softbox. I do not envision a scenario in which using the 70 to 300 as a primary lens would be a great idea.

If you wish to make your photos look better when using an on-camera speedlight you could make yourself a type of homemade Flashbender accessory with white craft store foam. There are quite a few do-it-yourself tutorials and videos to be found on the web. The factory product called the Flashbender is actually quite good, but you can achieve excellent results using a 5 x 7 inch or so piece of white craft foam or even a piece of white cardboard which you tape to the flash.

If you compute the square inches, 5 by 7 inches is 35 square inches, but with a flash head the Fresnel lens is roughly 1.5 by less than 3 inches in width, so you are making the size of the light source much, much larger by using something as simple as a 5 by 7 inch piece of craft store foam.

 

[JustJazzie]

Thanks so much @Derrel! The softbox I have for the speed light is about 5x7, would that behave differently than a homemade flash-bender or the 5x7 bounce card?

I would WAY rather carry around the 28-105 any day- So I am glad to hear this is the better choice!

 

[Derrel]

I think the softbox might be about 1/2 stop to one stop less efficient than a bounce card. it depends upon the interior of the soft box and also upon the front diffusion panel.

When you said softbox I immediately thought of a 36 by 48 inch Chimera medium,or a 24 by 24 in Chinese softbox and not a portable one.

If you are still using the Nikon Df you have a camera that does pretty well at 1600 ISO, and with flash to help boost the Shadows, I think you would be fine using ISO 800 or 1000 or even 1250 or 1600 if you need the added reach. You'll do fine! Shoot in raw and you can recover all sorts of oopsies!

 

[JustJazzie]

Ill be taking the d750 for this one, since it focuses better in low light.

TBH, I am comfortable pushing my ISO into the 8,000+ range if I need to. I don't LOVE noise, but it doesn't bother me if it helps me create the lighting pattern I like. and yes, RAW has saved my butt SOOO many times.

Thanks again @Derrel!

 

[tirediron]

Use a TTL sync cable and bare-tube it. Speedlight in one hand, camera in the other.

 

[Derrel]

You should be perfectly fine. You are a much more skilled shooter than you typically give yourself credit for, at least here on the photo forum. Over the past few years I have seen your first efforts in a number of different areas, and each time you have done amazingly well. I can tell you are a conscientious worker , and you hold yourself to a high standard. Just keep telling yourself , "I got this, I got this."

You got this.

 

[Derrel]

Use a TTL sync cable and bare-tube it. Speedlight in one hand, camera in the other.

That sounds decidedly 1980s. LOL. You forgot to add use a Quantum Turbo battery strapped to your belt. LOL. With today's newer wireless TTL flash units, one no longer needs the cable to connect the flash to the camera. However I still maintain two, one a Ronald Reagan-era Nikon SC-17 and a new Barack Obama era Nikon SC-28. Despite the old SC-17 cable being 30-some years old it is still in good condition, however the much newer Nikon SC-28 is already losing its coating on the pigtail portion of the cable.

 

[tirediron]

That sounds decidedly 1980s. LOL. You forgot to add use a Quantum Turbo battery strapped to your belt. LOL. .

It is, but so am I!

If you can go wireless, great; same basic idea though; get the light off the camera and off-axis. I shoot dozens of events this way.

 

[Derrel]

Shooting this way has never been easier, now that we have autofocusing lenses when shooting this way back in the 80s you had to hold the Flash in your left hand and use your left hand to focus, unless you shot everything at a pre-focused distance, such as five feet,or seven feet ,or 10 feet or whatever distance you had in mind for the group and for the focal length. By holding the flash up at arm's length you really do get the Shadows down and to the right.

One thing to keep in mind if the light really is poor that if you set the camera to AF Single, and do not have the focus assist system disabled in the menu oh, you will get a nice Focus assist beam from either the flash itself or from the camera body depending on the camera. It has been my experience that this is a really good way to shoot very dim light flash pictures allowing the focus assist system to send out that momentary red light or white light, depending of course upon the camera and Flash in use.

 

[JustJazzie]

@tirediron Thank you! OMG, why did I not think of this? Seriously. So simple. I was like- "I COULD make my kid follow me around with a light stand, but this really isn't THAT serious" I have my flash triggers ready to go with new batteries. I guess I forgot that even just a little bit off center (cue flash bracket commercials) would improve the lighting quite a bit. I will definitely try and shoot two handed.

@Derrel - thank you for your kind words and pep talk! I do tend to be a bit of a perfectionist- which is why I think I took such a long break from constant shooting- besides life excuses, It felt like my own standards were simply unattainable, so I just let go, and settled for cell phone shots when I wanted one. (My iPhone really does do a decent job for casual shots)

Anyways, to get my flash off camera and try and shoot 2 handed, I need to play with my camera settings and take off my sub-button focus, so I will check my autofocus assist while I am menu-diving! Great tip, thank you!

 

[ronlane]

Sorry Jazzie. I have been out shooting half the night after I answered this. You can do either with the 5x7 soft box. I have done it both ways. As Derrel said, the soft box will chew up a little light but not too much. It gives you a little bigger light source but either way you go, still point the flash up at 45, that will help.

Hope it goes well.

 

[JustJazzie]

No worries @ronlane! You responded in plenty of time, thank you for remembering me. I feel pretty confidant about going in with all these refreshers. Well about the shooting part! I need to work on the walking up to strangers and asking them to group pose for me! LOL. Hopefully its mostly kids!