Got asked this question

Scott_Quier · July 23, 2007

Howdy, i was browsing Dgin, and I came across an excellent post you made in which you detailed the correct way to shoot a party at the YMCA in a low light setting.

I was wondering if you could give me a few pointers, as I am in a similar situation myself. I have been asked to take pictures of a "Haloween in July" party my bar is putting on. Needless to say the lighting will be less then ideal. However, the bar itself is not a dive bar or a club, and has better lighting then other similar establishments. I ordered a 430EX flash, and I also made a bounce card with the "Foamies" material from Walmart.

I have never used a flash before, so my question lies in how to best utilize it. I am used to shooting with my XTi on manual and i have a working knowledge of how aperature/shutter/iso work and relate to each other. Should i continue to compose my pictures in manual, even with the 480 attaached?

Sorry for the noob questions! Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me!

I'm posting this rather than answering e-mail directly for two reasons:

If there is anything I know that I can share, it is best if it is shared with more than one person.
In the more likely event that I don't know what I'm talking about, someone else can help straighten out the mess that I make.

Shooting in a bar - I've never done this before. My understanding is that most patrons will not smile on someone flashing away. But, you say it's your bar so I would guess you would know better than I on that score.

Assuming that flash photography will be appreciated, the cooler light from the flash will clash with the atmosphere of a bar setting. You might want to look into getting some CTO gel to balance your flash with the ambient light of the bar. You could probably do well with some 1/2 CTO gel. Look it up at B&H Photo - you can get a sheet (20" x 24") for about $7.00.

All that aside, your plan to shoot in manual is a good one. You will have much more control over the exposure that way. Determine what aperture you need for depth of field (DOF). Meter the scene (like the day before, for example) to determine what shutter speed you will need to get some of the ambient background in the shot. I would set the shutter speed for something between 1 and 2 stops under exposed. This will allow you to capture the context of the photograph. Now, turn on the flash and take a test shot of some volunteer. Look at your histogram - ignore the LCD - to see what your exposure looks like. If you don't have something in the last stop to the right, then you need to increase your FEC. Repeat the process until, according to the histogram, you have a decent exposure.

Shoot in RAW. RAW is appropriate for any occasion where you are not 100% sure you have the exposure nailed. You have a lot more lattitude to recover a poorly (under-exposed) shot if you have the RAW as opposed to attempting to do the same thing with a JPG file.

Be aware - when shooting in crowds, you will tend to get correct exposure (or event slightly burned out) for the near subjects and all else will be pretty much under-exposed (see preceeding paragraph for a clue). This is a function of the E-TTL of the camera/flash combination and the metering on your camera. Someone else will have to chime in with suggested metering modes as I'm still trying to figure that one out.

Depending on what you have for lenses, I might suggest you consider shooting with a fast prime (50mm f/1.4, Sigam 30 f/1.4, for example) and leaving the flash in the bag.