Here’s my morning today: were you among the crowd?
The crowd waits
And here’s my evening, shot by Raymond, my excellent assistant tonight:
Michael Willems
Now I need to do post work on 800 images. No rest for the wicked.
Auto ISO is a great feature, but use it wisely. Here’s when NOT to set your DSLR to “Auto”:
My most expensive camera does not have auto ISO – you do not need it. I like having it, but I can live without it.
My starting points: 200 ISO outdoors, 400 indoors, and 800 in tough light (sports, museums). And then vary from there.
And how would you like to take pics like this, shot about an hour or two ago on my way back home from day one of the excellent Henry’s Digital Imaging Show:
Oakville.com party in Oakville
How did I shoot this:
That’s how it’s done. Come to my courses and I’ll explain more!
Today I had a great time, as I hope did all my listeners, at the Digital Imaging show. Before it starts, the room looks like this:
And then the doors open and it gets hectic:
And all seats fill up. Thousands of people, and I love seeing, listening, and talking to thousands of people.
If you want to hear me talking about Travel Photography, Flash photography, Digital SLRs, Lightroom and RAW, and much more: I’ll be there tomorrow until 4, and then all day Sunday as well.
A reader just emailed me, telling me she recently attended a course for her Nikon D5000 camera, and says:
“I will be attending a fundraiser in Oakville this evening and bringing my camera (of course). I am have a bit of difficulty firstly with indoor dimly lit lighting and secondly I am looking to create the look of my subject which is focused and the background is faded. I am having many, many other problems, but for know if you could help out with those two that would be splendid!”
Let’s see if I can help. Of course there is a lot to learn (it’s what photographers spend years learning), but I am sure some quick tips will be of use.
First, you want photos like this:
Gregory Talas at The Kodiak Gallery
In other words, photos where the background is well-lit by available light (not under-lit) and the subject is well lit by your flash (not over-lit).
Here’s some starters, then.
What are we doing here?
I hope that helps.
Please do search the blog here for terms like “bounce flash” and “events”, and scroll down and select the “FLASH” keyword and browse through those articles. Ignore the advanced ones, just read the ones that speak to your situation. Here’s a few samples:
And that’s just a quick search. This blog is a useful resource, if I say so myself, if you use the search function.
And as for your event: above all, have fun! Tell people “heads together” when you shootthe “grip and grins”. And enjoy making them smile.
And finally: take more courses. That’s what they are for, and you will be amazed at how few three-hour courses you actually need to learn photography. See you in class!
The LCD on your digital SLR is fabulous.
But do not use it to judge exposure, for one main reason: it is not objective. Its apparent brightness is affected by ambient light as well as by your LCD’s brightness settings, and this can easily lead you astray. I see this all the time in classes. “Why is my camera overexposing every shot?” is usually answered by “it’s not, but you have set your LCD to full brightness”.
My tip:
I like to “expose to the right” – your preference may be different. Either way: do not judge a photo by the LCD on the back of your camera.
Oh sorry, that is not news. Cable and mobile telephony provider Rogers Inc, a company so close to its government buddies who provide them with the near-monopoly they enjoy that when a Rogers president dies, every living past and present Canadian prime minister attends the funeral, always screws their customers!
This time, Apple a few days ago sent an email about the iPad. It mentions the Rogers rate of $20 for existing iPhone data customers. So I order a 3G iPad. And then days later, Rogers say that rate is a typo. Actually it’s $35 for a few GB. And there’s no break for existing clients who already pay $60 for 6GB on the iPhone. Even if they only use a fraction of that 6GB.
My cell bill is never less than $125. Why we accept being raped (figuratively) by people who to me seem simple criminals is beyond me. But the outcry on the Rogers blog and other publications and even the Globe and Mail leads me to believe that they will recant. We shall see.
In any case, the iPad will be a major item for photographers: I think there will be entirely new, innovative ways to share and show off and use photos.
Do I set my flash to TTL or manual?
Both.
TTL (fully automatic flash measuring) is a revolution, and you should use it whenever:
Use it as is (your flash shows “TTL” on the back display), and do not forget to use Flash compensation to adjust to taste (or when shooting dark or light subjects).
I used TTL here, Sunday night (with -2 stops flash compensation, or it would have been too bright):
Berlin Nightclub in Oakville
Manual (your flash displays “M” at the back and you set the power level to 1/1, or 1/2, 1/4, etc) is useful in cases almost opposite to the previous, namely:
You can even mix: use TTL for most flashes but fire small accent lights using Pocketwizards and manually set flashes.
Earlier that same Sunday night, when I had time, I used three speedlites set to manual and fired by Pocketwizards, here:
Berlin Nightclub in Oakville
You can probably see I also used some Honl gels: one red and one purple. And one flash was zoomed in to light the picture.
A good photographer knows both TTL and manual. Practice with both, and make them “your own”.
A regular reader asks:
Good morning Michael,
I’m going on a 2 week vacation soon, and am thinking about how I manage the cards to keep my risk as low as possible. I plan on nightly backing up the cards to a laptop and to usb sticks. I won’t be deleting any pictures off the cards until I get home (if at all possible). This way I should have 3 way protection. A little crazy, but we’re dropping 10k into this. I don’t want to lose anything. My big worry would be losing the camera bag and laptop due to theft. The usb sticks will always be kept on me or in a different location at least.
Anyway, I’ve a question about handling memory cards. I have always left them in the plastic containers they came in and then put them into slots in my camera bag. I find that cumbersome, but I don’t want to damage them. These are SD cards if that matters. Is it okay just to forget about the plastic cases and tuck the cards into the elastic slots? What about card cases? Do you have any recommendations?
Thanks for any thoughts. I’ve been enjoying your down to earth photography discussions.
Thanks for the compliment, and yes, I have some thoughts:
Finally: shoot RAW so you can save sub-optimal pictures, and bring a lot of memory. Your $10k is ephemeral: it is gone as soon as the trip is over – but by securing the trip in pics that $10,000 becomes a lasting investment. That’s worth some extra memory cards!
Well, what I mean is: when there’s a party or an event. I am happy to shoot it.
Let's Party!
The problems are always the same: black walls, low light, and great “inverse square rule” distance differences. A steady hand, high ISO, fast lenses, and innovative flash modifiers, combined with deep camera and flash knowledge, plus above all, experience, get you nice pictures.
A nightclub shot by low light
My typical settings would be:
At least as a starting point.
If you need a photographer to shoot your event: you know where to find me!