 |
| Click to Enlarge |
One of my favourite photos from last Fridays shoot at my niece's cousin's 18th birthday party, captures the fun atmosphere perfectly! To take indoor party shots like this candidly, you need to know your flash's "distance range" (how far the flash is effective) for the strength of the flash you are using and make sure the camera's aperture matches up and is set accordingly for the exposure you want. In this case, the flash was good from 6 feet to about 25 feet and the aperture was set to between f5.6 and f8.0 depending how close the subject was to the camera. If the subject was less than 10 feet away I was at f8 and further away than 10 feet I opened the aperture to f5.6 to let in more light. Further away than 25 feet required me to increase the ISO by up to one stop. ISO was set to 100 most of the time.
 |
| Click to Enlarge |
The shutter speed is not really important because at close distance the
flash "freezes" the motion and the subject is sharp even with longer
shutter speeds. If you want a sharp background, stay within cameras flash "sync speed" (usually 1/200th second or slower - faster causes
shadows in the image) and if you want movement in the background with
warmer/softer/more saturated colours, set your shutter speed to between
1/25 to 1/2 second; the subject in the foreground will still be sharp
due to the fast flash burst.
Finally, know your camera and the settings you are going to use well, by testing them on different subjects in advance of the shoot, because in the moment people will be willing to stop what they are doing and pose for about 3 seconds before they stop smiling and want to continue what they we're doing! During that time you will need to raise your camera with the correct settings, compose your shot, focus and release the shutter. Most shots will not be candid if you need to recompose, adjust you settings and take another shot. This entire shoot was taken with an old school high voltage hot-shoe flash and adapter to make it safe for modern DSLR cameras, with a flash recycle time of about two seconds and with the following settings: 1/25 sec, ISO100 to 200, f5.6 to f8 on manual throughout with the AF set to either centre point or matrix focussing. Also note, the flash was only average strength and pointed directly at the subject. Using a modern, stronger flash, might require you to bounce the flash from the ceiling (if it is low enough) or to diffuse the light in some way, to give a softer light. Keep in mind though bouncing the flash will effectively double the distance from the flash to the subject and you will need to set your exposure accordingly. The flash strength is usually adjustable on modern on-camera flashes, although in this case it was not.
Just FYI I took about 150 photos of which about 120 were worth publishing. Not a bad hit rate! Click the images to enlarge...
Finally, know your camera and the settings you are going to use well, by testing them on different subjects in advance of the shoot, because in the moment people will be willing to stop what they are doing and pose for about 3 seconds before they stop smiling and want to continue what they we're doing! During that time you will need to raise your camera with the correct settings, compose your shot, focus and release the shutter. Most shots will not be candid if you need to recompose, adjust you settings and take another shot. This entire shoot was taken with an old school high voltage hot-shoe flash and adapter to make it safe for modern DSLR cameras, with a flash recycle time of about two seconds and with the following settings: 1/25 sec, ISO100 to 200, f5.6 to f8 on manual throughout with the AF set to either centre point or matrix focussing. Also note, the flash was only average strength and pointed directly at the subject. Using a modern, stronger flash, might require you to bounce the flash from the ceiling (if it is low enough) or to diffuse the light in some way, to give a softer light. Keep in mind though bouncing the flash will effectively double the distance from the flash to the subject and you will need to set your exposure accordingly. The flash strength is usually adjustable on modern on-camera flashes, although in this case it was not.
Just FYI I took about 150 photos of which about 120 were worth publishing. Not a bad hit rate! Click the images to enlarge...
You can see the entire shoot on my Inner Vision Photography Page |
https://www.facebook.com/innervisionproductions
Copyrights Matt Blythe, 2018.
