Help! How Do I Photograph This Event?! Video in thread.

http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=CzIdHPvwVMM
I'm photographing this event on Friday. It seems really difficult! The ceiling looks to high to bounce, my camera's ISO goes only to 1600, and my lenses aren't the fastest.

How would you go about shooting the event with my equipment? I have about $100 budget to buy new equipment if that might help. I'm thinking of speed ordering a flash bracket.

I used to always bounce my flash, but I recently discovered that ETTL is actually pretty damn accurate.

Throw a diffuser on the 430 for close shots and if you want to do some shutter dragging - When I shoot shows/clubs and stuff I like handholding my 430ex with my radio triggers on them so I can angle it wherever. What else are you trying to shoot? If your trying to fill a room you need another light source.

Flash @ 45 degree angle, use a bounce card. Obviously use the 50 1.8. You'll probably need to manually focus, and personally I'd use the flash in manual and chimp a bit until you find something that works OK.

Are you shooting the club goers or the people on stage?
But whatever it is, personally, I would shoot as follows:

•ISO 1600
•Manual Mode
•Widest Aperture possible @ 1/30 sec
•Stroboframe Flash Bracket (Click Here)
•Canon OC-E3 Off Camera Flash Shoe Cord (Click Here)
•Light Modifier (Click Here)

IMHO, it's not that the ceilings are too high, but if you use bounce flash, because the ceilings are high, you will basically light the whole damn club, thus washing out the ambience of the club environment..... I would allow the ISO of 1600 along with your widest aperture and shutter speed of 1/30 sec to provide the ambient club lighting and keep that colorful atmosphere of the lasers and colored spot lights. So what you'll get in the final image is a correctly exposed subject (due to E-TTL) nicely diffused soft lighting (due to the large modifier) and an AWESOME colorful natural looking club type background because you didn't contaminate it with ceiling bounce flash.....

NOTE* Regarding the cost and brands of the items listed, there are other alternatives, I personally prefer NOT to use cheap non-brand chinese quickly-made products that have a high rate of failure.....

These are great tips! Thank you all so much! I tried shooting outside just now to experiment a little in low light scenarios, and got this:

SunnyOctopus wrote in post #12066799
I was holding the flash in my left hand, and I shot the picture with my right hand at ISO 1600 with 1/4 shutter speed. If I could get that slow of a shutter-speed without significant blur, could I get away with shooting in AV 1.8 with ETTL Flash Bracket+Diffuser Flash?

Also, what's the difference between these two:
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …ick_Flip_350_Br​acket.html http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …_Camera_Flip_Br​acket.html

The link you linked me to says for 35mm cameras. Is the Canon Rebel XS a 35MM camera? Should I get that one?

The reason that you didn't get a blur (at least this time) is due to the flash duration. The flash duration is fast enough to "freeze" any slight blur you may cause due to a slightly shaky hand while holding the camera. Personally, I think 1/4 sec. would be way too slow. Remember, some of the dancers and their dance moves are pretty fast, so even tho, the flash will pretty much freeze their fast action moves, during the remaining time that the shutter is open, it's possible that you'll get a slight blur that's sometimes called "ghosting". Also, I probably wouldn't shoot THAT wide open at 1.8. Give yourself a little leeway and allow for more depth of field, especially on group shots..... So I would take it down to about 2.0, 2.8 at the most. And yes, ALL DSLR's (Digital Single Lens Reflex) are based upon the 35mm camera design, so it's still basically considered a 35mm camera, only digital.....

When I shoot with flash I like shooting @ f/4ish gives a nice DOF

Ah...useful advice....Love it!