Award ceremony photography tips

[4Lmike]

Anyone got any tips for this type of photography? I've not done anything like this before so any help is much appreciated.

I'll be using a Nikon D5000 by the way.

[CarMac]

A bit more info would be helpful. Where is being held, ie type of venue/lighting etc. How many people etc.....

[4Lmike]

CarMac said:

A bit more info would be helpful. Where is being held, ie type of venue/lighting etc. How many people etc.....

Its at the Gilgamesh Studios - http://www.venuesoflondon.co.uk/Gilgamesh_Studios....

Not sure how many people in total but im going to be mainly photographing one group of around 10 people.

ETA It will be held between 19:00 and 22:00 so may be some natural light getting in there in the earlier hours

Edited by 4Lmike on Monday 21st June 20:28

[CivicMan]

Are you just taking one photo of a group of your friends, or are you covering the awards ceremony and photographing many groups of award recipients?
If it's the latter, and you're asking this type of question,without meaning any offence, are you sure you're the correct person to be doing the job?

[4Lmike]

Don't worry it's nothing too formal, and I'm not being hired to do it. I'm just going along to take some snaps of my girlfriends mums company as a favour...not really photographing the event as such. I just wanted to know if there was any secret photographer tips or settings I should use to get the most out of the camera in these conditions

[RobDickinson]

What lenses/flashes/lighting do you have access too?

If no flash then I'd say a fast lens, nifty fifty for potraits and highish ISO , f1.8-f2.0 and ISO 800-3200 should capture natural light.

Or f2.8 and ISO 3200-6400.

If flash then likely 1/200th, ISO 400-800, f5-f7.1 or so will do

Edited by RobDickinson on Monday 21st June 23:28

[Ed_P]

If I'm shooting indoors and want to maximise the chances of success without constant "fiddling", I find this is a useful strategy (also for outdoor low-light):

Camera
Mode: Manual
ISO: 400 or 800
Aperture: F2.8 or F4
Shutter: 1/200

Speedlite Flash
Mode: ETTL
High-Speed Sync: ON

Adjustments
Subject Lighting: Flash Exposure Compensation
Ambient: Shutter speed

If you've got a white wall or ceiling, bounce the flash off of that. Check with some "test" images (look at histogram), and adjust as necessary.

Have a practice at home first!

[itsnotarace]

4Lmike said:

I just wanted to know if there was any secret photographer tips or settings I should use to get the most out of the camera in these conditions

Post back after you've taken a meter reading in the venue, anything else is pure guesswork. Get yourself a gorillapod or something if you have no flash