I'm off to the Autosport Show - Need your help!

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Next Sat I'm off to the Autosport show at the Birmingham NEC, no doubt I'll be bringing my D70 along with the 18-70mm n perhaps my Sigma F2.8.

Firstly what kind of ISO should I be shooting at? The NEC as most of you know is indoors so perhaps 400min?, I'll be taking pictures of obviously everything motosport related. Most of the objects will be stable i.e cars, people n so on!

I would also like to ask your general advice of taking photos at these type of events? any techniques? flash/noflash?

Thanks in advance.

Ed :)
 
cool,
i was thinking of going along as its my birthday on saturday....but we shall see...

i think yu have got it covered , mostly,
i always use fill flash at these sorts of things, but the cars will be heavily lit anyway, also get as low as you can when taking the pic , it gives a better perspective, and will cut out a lot of background clutter,
iso 400 sounds good , no need to bracket, you can do that in PS if your shooting RAW , be weary of blown highlights tho, so look at the histogram for the first few shots to see if its in the ball park

wear elbo pads and shin guards, ...it will help, lol

lastly....have fun

MyPix
 
Go as slow as you can. These indoor arenas usually have pretty decent lighting and the individual stands will also have their own lighting set-ups so as to show the products off to their best advantage.
I reckon you'd be ok with 100 ISO and shutter speeds of 1/30 at f/4 and up, if previous experience is anything to go by.

And yes, try to use a fill-in flash (not a pop-up one if you can avoid it - something with more control-ability), but be careful not to overflash - and set your shutter speed to what you'd use without the flash to bring up the background detail.
 
I was there last year and managed quite well due to the stands being well lit, I think the majority of my shots were done at ISO 100/200 with a little fill in flash for the people type shots.

Don't forget to aproach the ladies on the stands, they are paid to look pretty and help the public so if you are polite they will happily pose for you. Just be ready though because as soon as you get their attention and frame a shot all the idiots with mobile phone cameras suddenly feel brave and start to jostle for your position and picture. Elbows out, stand your ground and having the largest camera/presence will bag you all the attention and the best pictures.
 
I'll be there on Saturday, my gf bought me VIP tickets for xmas :)

Steve said:
Don't forget to aproach the ladies on the stands, they are paid to look pretty and help the public so if you are polite they will happily pose for you. Just be ready though because as soon as you get their attention and frame a shot all the idiots with mobile phone cameras suddenly feel brave and start to jostle for your position and picture. Elbows out, stand your ground and having the largest camera/presence will bag you all the attention and the best pictures.

Thats good advice - will bear that in mind, although I normally take my g/f to act as minder/shoulder-barger and general "caddy" (she gets the kit dumped on her to carry lol)
 
For the car shots, the wider the lens the better, low down and close to the corners of the cars make the pictures more interesting. Don't forget some detail shots and abstracts of the many shapes and lines that will be there too.
 
Steve said:
I was there last year and managed quite well due to the stands being well lit, I think the majority of my shots were done at ISO 100/200 with a little fill in flash for the people type shots.

Don't forget to aproach the ladies on the stands, they are paid to look pretty and help the public so if you are polite they will happily pose for you. Just be ready though because as soon as you get their attention and frame a shot all the idiots with mobile phone cameras suddenly feel brave and start to jostle for your position and picture. Elbows out, stand your ground and having the largest camera/presence will bag you all the attention and the best pictures.

Hi there..........

Thanks for all your help! I'm looking fwd to this on Sat! I may even try out "the asking" hehehe How do you mean by "fill in flash" do you mean in the sense of a seperate flash attached to the camera?

If I don't have one of those (which I don't :( ) what kind of settings flash settings will I use? The lighting might be good enough without but not to sure to be honest.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Ed :)
 
I don't use a D70 but I'd guess your pop up flash will handle fill flash for you. On fully auto and Programme Modes, the pop up flash is usually just an automatic function and pops up automatically when the light levels get low, and in those scenarios, the flash tends to be the main source of illumination giving harsh light typical of direct flash on camera.

If you use Manual, AP or SP modes though, and meter as normal for the ambient light, then pop up the flash manually, the flash will be combined with the ambient light for a far more pleasant natural looking result. Try a few test shots and you'll soon get confident in using this technique.

That's how it works with Canon, if it's any different with Nikon, no doubt someone will pop-up and tell us. :D
 
Fill-in Flash is a term used to describe flash used for just that - to fill-in any shadow areas and not used as the main light source.
It's most used in low or flat-lighting situations where there is a low subject luminace range to 'lift' shadow areas such as under brims of hats (if worn, obviously) and to put a little highlight in the eyes. Biggest error is to use too much flash output resulting in an artificial look to the image - this is known as 'over-flashing' and is characterised by overly pale faces and hard shadows cast by the subjects onto nearby backgrounds (which then appear too dark compared to the subject).
 
You should have something called FEC (Flash Exposure Compensation) which you can use to reduce the power of the flash. I personally have this knocked down a couple of notches as I like the effect of fill-in without the washed out look it can give if the flash is too strong.

Try it out before you go in similar conditions, i.e. indoors.
 
Thanks for the replies all......... excellent help! I will check out the flash settings when I get home........

Do you reckon I'll be better off taking photos with the 70-200 F2.8 sigma apposed to nikon 18-70mm in such lighting environment as the NEC Birmingham?

Mind you, I'm going to be some distance away using the 70-200 but that may play to my advantage? I don't really know?

Ed :)
 
The Nikon's a much better bet - get close.

Stick the other one in a bag and carry it with you though...
 
I'm thinking about going to this on Saturday.. not sure yet though..

If I do, I'm really not sure what lenses I'll take..

I sold my 18-70mm in anticipation of the 18-200mm VR, which still hasn't arrived!

Therefore, I have the following choices -

10.5mm Fisheye (may be good for some interesting/abstract shots?)
12-24mm F4
35-70mm F2.8
50mm F1.8
70-200mm F2.8 VR

I think the 12-24mm and 35-70mm should cover it really...??
 
Chez said:
I'm thinking about going to this on Saturday.. not sure yet though..

If I do, I'm really not sure what lenses I'll take..

I sold my 18-70mm in anticipation of the 18-200mm VR, which still hasn't arrived!

Therefore, I have the following choices -

10.5mm Fisheye (may be good for some interesting/abstract shots?)
12-24mm F4
35-70mm F2.8
50mm F1.8
70-200mm F2.8 VR

I think the 12-24mm and 35-70mm should cover it really...??

Some very nice kit there :)

The 70-200 sigma f2.8 I'll probably as suggested, bring along with me........ I want to get some natural expressions of people and I spose having a longer lens may give me more options.......

I'm worried about lighting more than anything and not to sure what focus mode to set my D70 on? Could just put it on "centre" and see how I get on?

Ed :)
 
Not sure about from distance, but the built-in flash on the D70 is one of the better built-in flashes around..
 
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