Photographers - advice please!

[beanzontoast]

Need some advice from the many excellent photographers here, please!

I'm going to be taking photos at an indoor arena, totally artifically lit, about 100 feet (30m) from the stage. There's a presentation going on which involves quite a bit of movement - not fast, but people walking around, waving etc. Unfortunately, I won't get chance to experiment at the venue and view the results before taking the actual photos at the presentation.

Up to now, I've used my Sony a100 dSLR on 'auto' outdoors (still learning about it's non-auto settings - apart from using manual zoom and focus recently because I prefer it). I'm guessing auto won't hack the indoor arena though.

I have the double lens kit - 75-300 f4.5-5.6 and 18-70 f3.5-5.6. Can anyone suggest what aperture and speed I should be looking at as a baseline to start with - and whether I need to adjust the lighting setting to tell it there's tungsten about (will it be tungsten?)? Is it possible to avoid monopod and still get reasonable close-ups at that distance? (The a100 has built in image stabilisation). Should I bother with flash, or at that distance is it going to be useless?

Any help appreciated - and obviously, won't feel bad if results of suggestions aren't brill. Just need some ideas of different settings to try.

 

[Melvil]

Hi there!

Difficult to advise accurately as I have a nikon but generally I would choose a slightly higher ISO - (200-800 max) and a lower shooting speed (anything above around 1/60 is going to be blurred unless you have image stabilisation - ah, just read the post again, you have).

I would start shooting off a few pics as soon as you get into the place before anything starts so you can get an idea of the settings you need.

You'll be a fair way from the stage so it looks like you'll need your long zoom lens - just remember that the shake will be that much worse at that kind of zoom.

Yes, set the white balance to 'indoor' or 'tungsten' and if you have some photo processing software like Adobe photoshop / lightroom or Apple Aperture you can adjust the white balance on the computer.

Finally, yes, if you are using the pop-up flash then it won't be much cop at all at that distance. A powerful add-on flash just might work but then again, it does seem like a fair way...

Hope this is of some vague use!

Mel.

 

[beanzontoast]

Cheers, Mel.

Am I better sticking to my guns and using manual focus, or do you think I can trust the camera to focus for me in those conditions?

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Wot Melvil said. The auto/manual focus thing is up to you - go with whatever you feel happier using. It's possible that there may not be enough light to use autofocus, but if that's the case, you're not going to be taking many pictures anyway.:?:

 

[CopperBrompton]

You want a high ISO to get a decent shutter speed. Use whatever ISO will give you 1/50th or better.

The lighting will probably be mixed and with a colour temp that's impossible to predict ahead of time. If your camera supports it, do a custom white balance. If not, try tungsten and shoot RAW so you can adjust the white balance retrospectively.

Aperture-priority, and the widest aperture you can get from your lens (unfortunately you only have 'slow' lenses).

Use a monopod if you can, otherwise google for a stable shooting position (basically making a triangle from your body and arms).

If you can't get 1/50th of a second or faster, increase your ISO as required.

If it's too dark for your auto-focus to work, it will probably be too dark for accurate manual focus, so be prepared to measure the distance and then set that manually.

Ben

 

[beanzontoast]

Thanks all. There's so much to think about with my new camera, and I'm really enjoying the learning curve (though the manual that came with it isn't that great), but your advice has helped me see where I would otherwise have gone wrong I'm sure.

 

[Globalti]

Take lots of pictures so that you can weed out the bad ones. Your camera may have a "bracket" setting, which allows you to take three shots each time with different exposures. Set the ISO as high as possible and live with the sometimes grainy effect.

 

[beanzontoast]

Rigid - it does have the bracket option, though have not used it yet. Will give it a shot (groan!).

ISO goes up to 1600 - seems quite high - and I also have an option called Lo80 "to keep dark scenes from becoming underexposed". Is that worth a try too?

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

Your piccies will have more noise in them at higher ISO, and I suspect at that distance you flash will be all but useless.

Also, if you are at the top end of your zoom (i.e. trying to get closeups) your aperture is not wide enough to allow a whole lot of light in so your shutter speeds will not be fantastic for capturing pin sharp pictures (a monopod will be useful or a good bracing position failing that) and certainly not within the limits required to get good handheld images (using the general principle of 1/lens length for the required shutter speed would see you needing a 1/300 sec at the top end of your zoom!!)...

But apart from all those problems you may get some "atmospheric" shots which have movement captured and thus bring them more to life... the key is to get a sharp face (if possible) whilst other areas of the photo are motion blurred.

Indoor halls are not ideal venues - but they're a challenge, and a challenge is good!!

Sorry if this all sounds rather negative!

 

[beanzontoast]

No problem Sharky - I'm expecting to waste a lot of shots trying different ideas and will be happy if 1 in 10 is usable. Going to learn a lot in the process. I wish there was some way of practicing this kind of shot beforehand, but I can't think of a way to do it at the distances involved. Bad luck that my first time with this type of photography is going to be the event itself.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

As an example from years ago - light was fading and I used a mini tripod to capture this young chap playing with his sparkler on the shores of Lake Ontario on Canada Day.

The movement is obviously more than you'll be aiming to capture (it was a 4 sec exposure at F8.0) but it shows that it can be the movement which "makes" the image.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

Can't you get to the Hall early and take a few practise shots? I'm presuming you're using digital so should be able to review the results immediately...

 

[beanzontoast]

Nice image!

Unfortunately, its a Uni presentation where they usher you in, present, usher you out, usher next lot in on a conveyor-belt approach, so no access beforehand. I feel a lot more confident now about getting decent results based on what you guys have suggested. No substitute for experience I guess!

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

Aaaah, I've done some of a presentation at work (a University) - they're generally very well lit so you should be reasonably fine... that being said I was on the balcony so had a good view, some good pillars to brace against and no problems with having to move as I was being presented with anything.

 

[beanzontoast]

Yup - we're upstairs too, but a few rows back, so knowing my luck, I'll get some woman with a ruddy great hat pinned to her bonce smack in front and will have to slide out to the side to take the pics!