Beginner First time indoor event/charity festival

Hi all, looking for advise on shooting an indoor event, basic beer, burgers and general good times.

I’ve been asked to cover an event, now please before it happens, I’m just looking for tips and advise, I DONT want this to turn into a “your not qualified, let them pay a pro” thing. It’s something I’d like to learn and way to get started.

It’s a tricky one, as my boss runs the club that organise the event, I can say no, but it’s a bit awkward, they know I’m mostly outdoor sports with little to know experience with indoor photography and zero experience with flash, and I’ve warned them loads that I won’t and can’t guarantee usable images, but they know I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so what ever I get is going to be better the iPhone snaps.

This event has outdoor areas, indoor with reasonably good lighting and then a nightclub type bit with live music.

So I know the basics, understand mostly for good light, it’s the low light and flash I’m struggling with.

Any tips or help would be great.

Hi

ideally with indoor I would personally use a lens with a bit of reach so you don't become to invasive. ideally an extrenral flash is recommended, if you use an external flash in "ttl mode" that's auto mode, and you can add + for a brighter flash or - for a less bright flash.

I don't know what camera you are using but such as with mine, I use Nikon d3300 and I never go above iso 800 indoors, having the flash on will compensate for less noise also.

the flash is really simple honestly, attach it on the top, turn it on, turn it on "ttl mode" (auto). you can go down to -5 and upto +5, and you can adjust to what your happy with ie you can set it to +1 1/4 which will add that bit brighter flash etc.

What type of shots you want will have an effect on what you do.

If you want candid reportage type stuff then a very fast short telephoto and high ISO is probably the way to go (50mm 1.8 would be the obvious cheap option).

If you want posed portrait in a club type stuff then a flash to freeze the action with a slowish shutter speed/highish ISO to collect ambient light (which will be blurry), I'd probably use rear-curtain flash but that isn't critical. This works particularly well with disco lights. A kit lens will work in this situation and probably worth getting some gels for the flash to match the ambient light if there is any. If you google nightclub photography I imagine you will get some good tutorials.

Damo88 said:

Hi

ideally with indoor, I would personally use a lens with a bit of reach so you don't become to invasive. ideally an external flash is recommended if you use an external flash in "ttl mode" that's auto mode, and you can add + for a brighter flash or - for a less bright flash.

I don't know what camera you are using but such as with mine, I use Nikon d3300 and I never go above iso 800 indoors, having the flash on will compensate for less noise also.

the flash is really simple honestly, attach it on the top, turn it on, turn it on "ttl mode" (auto). you can go down to -5 and up to +5, and you can adjust to what your happy with ie you can set it to +1 1/4 which will add that bit brighter flash etc.

Click to expand...

So flash compensation works pretty much the same as exposure compensation then? (gear wise its all in my signature, D500 and then really my heads telling me 35mm 1.8, but my other head is not wanting to be right in peoples faces and i certainly want something with VR.

Nawty said:

What type of shots you want will have an effect on what you do.

If you want candid reportage type stuff then a very fast short telephoto and high ISO is probably the way to go (50mm 1.8 would be the obvious cheap option).

If you want posed portrait in a club type stuff then a flash to freeze the action with a slowish shutter speed/highish ISO to collect ambient light (which will be blurry), I'd probably use rear-curtain flash but that isn't critical. This works particularly well with disco lights. A kit lens will work in this situation and probably worth getting some gels for the flash to match the ambient light if there is any. If you google nightclub photography I imagine you will get some good tutorials.

Click to expand...

Thanks, its both really, reportage type stuff for sponsors and such and to mark the occasion with general shots of people drinking and having fun for social media. No kit lens or 50mm, i do have a 35mm but feel its a little short (gear list in my signature), i certainly want something with VR to help the shutter speed, but that's really only the 70-200 and its not that big a place, think the 200-500 might be a tad long

You could either use ambient light, fast aperture and high ISO and no flash. A 35mm f1.8 on one body for group shots, with the 70-200 f2.8 on the other?

Alternatively a crash course in flash - plenty of tutorials, and possibly time to get some practice in...

andrewc said:

You could either use ambient light, fast aperture and high ISO and no flash. A 35mm f1.8 on one body for group shots, with the 70-200 f2.8 on the other?

Alternatively a crash course in a flash - plenty of tutorials, and possibly time to get some practice in...

Click to expand...

Hi Mate, the no flash was my first choice but i feel im going to have to push the so high with ISO noise will/might be an issue, and I've never really had to do that so no real idea what the d500 acceptable range would be, online suggest 4k is about top whack and still be "clean", I'm not really loving the two body idea, but i guess its an option.

Practise wise, its tomorrow/Saturday and Sunday, hence the ask for help, normally i would research my little heart out, test and learn, i wouldn't even go in blind (normally) but I'm struggling with time.

If you could simulate the event this evening you could try using friends / family and see how far you can push iso. Lightroom etc can assist in recovery. You could use a manual mode to fix aperture and shutter speed and let auto iso help out. If the shots are for social media or web use you they will look comparatively ugly at full res but will resize nicely for web.

andrewc said:

If you could simulate the event this evening you could try using friends/family and see how far you can push iso. Lightroom etc can assist in recovery. You could use a manual mode to fix aperture and shutter speed and let auto iso help out. If the shots are for social media or web use you they will look comparatively ugly at full res but will resize nicely for web.

Click to expand...

Cheers, good point on the social media side, I'm more than happy to try that as I normally shoot manual with auto ISO, think the poor dog might be a model for the night