Beginner Party photos in a bar

Samantha Trigwell

Samantha Trigwell

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Sam
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Hi sorry if this has been asked before I am going to be taking photos of my friends birthday party at a bar with quite low light (informal photos of friends maybe some
Portraits). I only have a 18mm-55mm lens would I get a low enough aperature to take some good photos with my pop up flash. Should I buy an add on flash - unfortunately I can't afford a 1.8 50mm aperture lens before the party - I assume this would be the best lens. Any suggestions on which camera settings I could use would be great.

Thanks for your help!
 
Hi

What camera body do you have?

Re a flash yes it would help but you need to use bounce flash as opposed to direct flash.
 
Hi I have a Nikon ds3300 thanks I will look at getting a flash - I will research bounce flash thanks
 
A second hand f/1.8 lens will probably be a similar price to a decent flash.
 
As above you could get a used Nikon 50mm F1.8G used for about £100, or buy a ttl flash link yn568, yn565, Godox TT685n. There are other cheaper flashes on Amazon but not sure what the quality is like.
 
If you have a D3300 then rather than a 50mm f/1.8 I'd suggest the 35mm f/1.8 DX would be the lens to look for.
 
Amazon basics or cheap neewer manual flash with a bounce card or diffuser shouls do the trick. You will be limited to 1/200th SS with flash sync on the D3300, so be aware you may get movement blur in parts of the image lit by the ambient light.
 
Orangecroc said:
Amazon basics or cheap neewer manual flash with a bounce card or diffuser shouls do the trick. You will be limited to 1/200th SS with flash sync on the D3300, so be aware you may get movement blur in parts of the image lit by the ambient light.
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o_O
Highly unlikely to be an issue, the ambient should be underexposed enough to not care about anything not caught by the flash. I shoot as low as 1/4 sec and never consider what movement there might be that's not my subject.
 
Nod said:
A second hand f/1.8 lens will probably be a similar price to a decent flash.
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But a flash will definitely provide more light, a 1.8 lens might still struggle.

I've 1.4 lenses and cameras capable of very clean ISO but sometimes flash is the right tool for the job - photography osn't about 'how much' light but whether that light will work for what you want. And in a party situation, the dance floor is often the only place with any light and that lights only suitable for shooting 'atmospheric' pictures of people dancing.
 
@Samantha Trigwell
Buy a flash* and read up on 'dragging the shutter' and 'bouncing flash'

None of it's rocket science, it's all easy to practice in your living room.

*it is possible to do this with manual flash, but unless your mental maths is set to 'genius' it's more sensible to buy a fully featured TTL flash to begin with. Godox, Neewer, Yongnuo all produce decent fully featured units for under £100
 
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