Advice for a shoot (dinner party @ a castle)

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djs

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Daniel
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Hi all,

Last year I did some studio style portraits for someone.
They saw me today, and asked if I would take photos at his birthday dinner party....in a castle.
I've only ever done portraits in the studio, so I explained to him that it's something I've never done before, but I'd be willing to give it a shot.

Now I'm just hoping to get some tips or advice really.

The dinner party is going to be in a castle. And he would like photos of people when they walk in. And probably when people are walking around having a chat.
Once they've entered the dinner room I can finish.

So, do I just take candid shots when people are walking in?
Or do I tell them I'll be taking photos, and hope they smile back? :help: (lol, as I said, 1st time doing this kind of thing)

I've never been in the castle before, I've had a look on the website and the lighting doesn't look TOO bad. I'll be taking a 30mm 1.4 with me, and a zoom lens.

All tips and help appreciated.

Thanks

djs
 
I think with the 30mm 1.4 you should be fine even in some harsh lighting conditions , it should not be too bad as people have to be walking around if you have an external flashgun take it with you and diffuse it.

Just go for some candids and get some people together for fixed shots if you can.
 
Thanks. I think that sounds good.
I get quite uncomfortable talking in front of lots of people, so it will be just a "few" groups shots. I'll see what he says when he calls me.

Unfortunately I dont have external flash gun. I got plenty of monolights, but no travel battery :( So I can't even take one of them.
I think my mum has a fairly old flashgun, but I doubt there will be a cable release for it.

Thanks
 
you could set up lights and do proper portraits on the way in then dive into shooting candids

do you have a fast tele?
 
Hi,

I don't, I've only got standard kit lenses, and the 30mm f1.4.
The kit lens lens is 40-150mm f4-5

I suppose taking the lights is still an option. If it all goes ahead I'll get there early and hopefully I'll have a bit of time to work out what's do'able.
 
just walk around and get in people's faces with the 30 then, if there's enough light try the tele but f5 is a fair bit especially for a 4/3s sensor
 
is there no power in the dining room? if so, you could cross light it with monoblocs, or have them bounced off the ceiling, as long as this wasn't deemed too intrusive or annoying by the event organiser...
 
Well, I did the photos tonight.

The lighting was horrible, absolutely horrible. Even ISO 800 - f2 - 30th/sec produced darkness.
I got there early so I could prepare how I was going to do it.
The only thought going through my mind is "Ohhh, What am I going to do!!?"

As you can imagine, the ceilings were very high, so bouncing off the ceiling wasn't really an option.
So I took with me a DIY flash diffuser (a bit of white tissue:thumbs:) and just pointed the on board flash in their face :D (with a slow shutter speed to try and capture a bit of background light)

The dining room lighting was a tad better, the ceiling was much lower, so I bounced the flash off the ceiling.
The dining room photos were probably the only acceptable photos out the lot.
Yeh, monoblocks would have had the "wine pourers" fuming. They seemed a bit mad at me just for being there. Maybe I was getting in their way.

I was really wanting to "redeem" my photos by getting some nice window light shots. But by the time they had finished the tour round the gallery it was getting quite dark.

Ah well. It's experience :thinking:
I feel like my photos aren't good enough for the money I was paid. I did tell them I'd never done this kind of work before. The price I quoted them was 5 times lower than what they gave me.
So I see some serious photoshopping heading my way.
 
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