Poorly lit couples

[nick heppinstall]

I've been volunteered next month to take pictures of couples arriving at a function.

I'm guessing their will be a slight pause while they meet the host and I take a pic.

It will be nighttime and I'm guessing the lighting will be poor.

I only have the cameras internal flash.

Do I ....

Hand held and flash

Tripod and flash

Don't bother with flash and bump the ISO

Again with or without tripod....

Lens in use will be 17-50 F2.8

[Simpo Two]

d) Buy a flashgun and practice with it before the night.
e) Take them to somewhere better lit for the shot.

[Rogue86]

^Agreed. Get a cheap Yongnuo flashgun and practice.

Bumping up the ISO will give you horrible skin tones and using a tripod is pointless as your subjects will be moving.

[Beggarall]

You don't say what sort of function. I have seen small stages with a studio-style light set up to take photos of the 'stars" as they arrive but if it is a small gathering in a church hall you will either have to invent some sort of lighting booth with or without strobes or take your chance with a decent on-camera flash gun. You will need to suss out the venue beforehand to see if ether are any opportunities to bounce flash off walls or ceilings or maybe even rig up a white sheet somewhere ... just thoughts. Are you doing this for love or money?

[Tony1963]

At the very least I'd be buying a cheapy flash, and fitting a diffuser over it.

But please, find out exactly what the situation will be, otherwise it will probably go very badly.

People asking friends with a camera to photograph this sort of thing just don't understand. They think you can just up, turn your camera on, and produce results they see in local business mags. It's all about being prepared, and preparing for the worst. Believe me, things let you down at these events. I refuse to do weddings, too much stress, and only one camera body.

[Digitalize]

1 - Buy a Yongnuo YN-560 (doesn't hugely matter which one but the IV is the latest).

2 - Set camera to manual mode, 1/200th shutter speed max, decent-ish ISO and aperture, work it out/go before.

3 - Aim flash head directly up/slightly forwards, pull out included flash card/use a plastic diffuser.

4 - Balance flash to give a nice lift light, not too overpowering.

5 - Get people to stand in roughly the same place.

6 - Hope for the best.

[Simpo Two]

7 - Check result for exposure/even lighting and adjust as required whilst making it look you know what you're doing

[Willy Nilly]

Smart phone it

[mike80]

Buy / borrow / rent / steal a half decent flash.

[nick heppinstall]

:-) ok I'll go for the flash... I did a Wedding with a mate about 18 months ago ( with no flash ). Did post on here and it went very, very well....

Couple were delighted with the pics.... This should, in theory, be a piece of cake ... Mm mm..

Don't now much about it yet but I think the couples will be in exactly the same spot ... Hopefully ..

[Simpo Two]

If you can do a whole wedding without flash what are you worried about?

Mind you I hate the 'couples arriving' thing - they've just arrived, possibly feeling nervous and sometimes not too good at being photographed/asked to smile by a stranger waving a giant camera at them...

[mike80]

I know what you mean, but if that's what a client wants... The whole naturally lit, shallow depth of field thing is great for candid stuff when there is a reasonable amount of light, but this sort of thing needs some extra added by the photographer to look (reasonably) good.

[Yellabelly]

Use matrix metering so you get them both in focus rather than spot or centre weighted which gets the background in focus but not the couple! ;¬)) I've done that, so damned annoying!

[rottie102]

Yellabelly said:

Use matrix metering so you get them both in focus rather than spot or centre weighted which gets the background in focus but not the couple! ;¬)) I've done that, so damned annoying!

How is metering connected to what's in focus?

[Digitalize]

rottie102 said:

How is metering connected to what's in focus?

Focus metering.

[K12beano]

OP - presumably you will be checking out the venue, if nothing else to see whether you have fluorescent lighting or whatever to contend with.

But, there's little option if you have poorly lit subjects, you either add light or put up (and su!). What's the objective of the final output? Fashion posters or perp mug shots?

[Simpo Two]

Yellabelly said:

Use matrix metering so you get them both in focus rather than spot or centre weighted which gets the background in focus but not the couple! ;¬)) I've done that, so damned annoying!

You can of course move the position of the spot or c/w metering so it's where you want it to be (and the camera will meter there). I use c/w and choose my focus point because I like to control where the camera's focusing.

[rottie102]

Digitalize said:

Focus metering.

But that affects the exposure, not what's in focus, no?

[Digitalize]

rottie102 said:

But that affects the exposure, not what's in focus, no?

Sort of, it directly affects what is in focus, but it also effects the exposure, as it will expose for what is in focus.

[rottie102]

Digitalize said:

Sort of, it directly affects what is in focus, but it also effects the exposure, as it will expose for what is in focus.

Yeah, but the metering will not affect what's in focus. Aperture and point selection will...