Tips for Xmas Ball Please

[dajomel]

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all keeping well. Not posted here for a while due to being very busy but was hoping that some advice would be available for me.

I was invited to an Xmas Ball, along with my partner, this coming Saturday. The invite was from my partners sister who is organising the event. Anyway, I have been "volunteered" to do some photographs on the night and obviously couldn't say No. Last year someone else did the pictures and the results were not great apparently and so I am wanting to make sure that I do as good a job as possible.

As far as I have been able to ascertain, the only pics that are required are "quick" posed shots of couples together, possibly full length and upper body/head shots. People aren't wanting to wait around ages but want a record of the event that they can keep. So you can imagine I am not likely to have the most patient subjects in the world especially when alcohol and food will be available there!!!

I will be honest and say I haven't exactly taken many pictures of people and so am a little nervous and want to ensure that I get good results. The equipment I will have is far from extensive and consists of:
Canon 30d
24-105 F4L
50 1.8
Speedlite 580 with Stofen diffuser
Solid Manfrotto tripod and ball head

So what I would like, if possible, is some advice on setup, posing and any other pearls of wisdom that people could give to ensure I get as good results as I can.

Many thanks in advance

(Did post this in Photo Sharing section by mistake, sorry Mods)

[dajomel]

Noone out there that can offer some advice to get the best out of the evening? These will be posed shots as opposed to photo-journalistic style.

Event is this Saturday (15th Dec) so any help on setup, posing etc would be really appreciated as I have not done this sort of thing before.

Thanks

[PhotosGuy]

For a background exposure setting, I would use this:
Need an exposure crutch? (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=89123)
Why?
How the subject affects the exposure & why manual keeps me worry free:
Post #47 (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=5191658&postcount=47)

NOTE: Some flashes allow you to adjust different power settings. I'm going to ignore that here & address how the light falls off with a change of distance, & what you need to do to compensate. This doesn't mean that you have to always use it on full power, & in fact, that might not be a good idea in an event environment. It would be a good idea to run tests at different power settings & record them on a card for future reference, right?

I shoot on full "M" setting on both the camera and flash. Here's an easy way to calculate the exposure compensation as a function of the distance to the subject.
Shoot & chimp to get the best exposure at a midrange distance for the flash, like 5.6', 8' & 11'.

Now that you have that:
1/ With a prime lens:
Let's say that the right exposure for 8' is f/11. It's crowded & the next shot you take is at 5.6', so you change the f-stop to f/16. Why? Look here for details:
Fill light at sunset (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=66353)

If you still have trouble visualizing that, look at image #4 here (http://www.zarias.com/white-seamless-tutorial-part-3-from-white-to-black/) to see the effect of the light on the wall.

2/ With a zoom lens it's easier. Just stand at one of those fixed distances from the subject, & crop using the zoom.
Some flashes allow for you to set the angle of coverage. You should test your flash to see how much of the frame it covers on wide angle at whatever distance you chose to standardize at. Just stand that distance from a white wall & shoot a frame. See if the light across the wall is even. If not, then zoom in a bit & try again.

3/ Using two lights for tough location shots:
Simple "every-day-emergency" location lighting (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=66358)
SL-2 optical slave: Look at post #10:

Flash at events (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=503099)

Strobe on a Rope (http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/strobe-on-rope.html)

A good read. Listen to him: 15 Insights For A New Speedliter (http://speedliting.com/how-to/15-insights-new-speedliter/)

Several pages of "natural flash" tutorials by Neil van Niekerk starting with Natural looking flash (http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/1-natural-looking-flash/)

Curtis's excellent thread: No more excuses about high ceilings and bounced flash (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=673538)

Strobe sync @ 1/400: Pushing the limits. (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=599450)

Settings?? Help Needed! (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=2953374)

Q & A: Dwight McCann (Event Photography) (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=81761)

Retirement dinner (http://%5Burl%5Dhttp://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=326681%5B/url%5D)

Concert Photography Tips: A FAQ Perhaps (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=226809)

Anyone with Club/Nightlife photography questions? (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=363560)

Night club photos (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=415099)

Social Events Photographer - Sydney (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=362179)

Please help me improve--indoor birthday party pictures (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=415032)

large room; Low light:
planet neil - Tangents » Finding the light (http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/2007/09/12/finding-the-light/)

[dajomel]

Many thanks for your time with your comments and providing the links. I am now going to have a good read of them all and hopefully absorb the useful info within them. Guess I am just worried about letting people down, despite last years photographer apparently produced very bad pictures.

Cheers :)

[PhotosGuy]

Guess I am just worried about letting people down,... I used to do it with film, so don't talk yourself into the mindset that this sort of work is all that hard if you standardize your workflow. Then you can concentrate on the expressions & background exposure.
And don't forget RAW for the time you don't get the distance quite right. ;)