Party photography for the amateur - advice request

O

ollymel

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Obi John Mikel
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Hi All,

I've offered to take some shots of a friend's party to get a bit of experience and give him a nice prezzie. Only thing is, I have next to no experience at shooting in these situations (aside from getting the D80 out drunkenly at the occasional house party). I'm going to be hiring an external flash for it, as I imagine the built in one isn't up to it.

The advice I would like to request is relating to use of an external flash - i.e. if there are any simple tips to get best results. I imagine there aren't many (but could be wrong) - I have a reasonable amount of experience in other branches of photography, but mainly shoot outside. Also, any advice on shooting in this sort of situation? I'm used to getting candids, landscapes, portraits etc. but have not shot 'crazy' parties before. Any tips would be greatly appreciated and of course i'll share some shots if youd like to see them.

Take care all,

Olly(y)
 
Take a look here.

Some excellent tutorials, you basically want to be balancing the available ambient light with the flash, usually reffered to as fill flash.. Good luck, let us know how you get on!
 
thanks for quick reply - I'll check it out and have a play. (y)(y)
 
a good flash to use a metz hammer head , for example cl1. set it to automatic, camera to f8 and flash to f8- also as a guide the shutter with flash generally deals with the background, so if its 1/250 for example, less light will be obtained from the background and if its set at 1/30, more light is gathered.

nick @ imagetext

http://www.imagetext-photography.co.uk
 
Is the CL1 comparable to the nikon SB series ones? The metz is quite cheap on ebay and looks quite impressive, i take it it is fully compatibly with a d80?
 
You'll need to do some homework on the Metz for your camera. Often there is a Clxx adaptor that you need to use, Oh and you may have to use it manually, unless it's the fully digital version, no TTL that you would get with a Nikon. (I think!)
 
probably best to stick with TTL i think, for ease of use..i can hire a decent flash for not much.
 
If you have a flash sych on the camera, separate to the hot shoe, then the CL1 will work fine, this is how I always work with it. would also recommend NiCad batteries (you re-charge them) rather than normal ones. These are the two types of flash sold so if you by one from eBay, check first if it’s not stated.

Nick

www.imagetext-photography.co.uk
 
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