looking for advice for shooting a 1st bday

hey guys

my best friend just asked me if i would be the "designated" photog at his nephew's 1st bday. needless to say, i was quite honored to be asked this.

this will be just a friends&family event at their house, so nothing formal... that being said, am a bit worried about the quality of pics. my kit is 17-50 2.8 and 24-105 f4. i have a 30mm f1.4 on the way but i doubt it will get here by this weekend. also have a 430exii, but its fairly bright in the house.

a 1st bday is pretty important to the parents, so i want to make sure i give them the best pics i can. i think my equipment will be fine for this (again) informal occasion, but i was more concerned with the technique. what would you seasoned pros recommend to look for in terms of framing/composition?

bump

you should do good with the 17-50 and the flash! Make sure you have you flash exp lowered and get there early to get it right before the shin did starts. Also its a great time to get pics of the bday boy alone checking out stuff and mom and dad pics. Also make sure you get the decorations!!!! They worked hard on those!!! Good luck!

Oh! Make sure you are up front and center when that cake comes out and also potty b4 it starts!!!!!

I would shoot this in AV mode, with exposure compensation (NOT flash exposure compensation) set to underexpose by a stop, and set the flash to ETTL and bounce it off the ceiling.

Doing so will result in your main light being the nice, soft, bounced flash, while having the ambient provide fill.

thanks for the advice. i was wrong, it isnt in a house, they are doing it at a restaurant, and i can only guess what the lighting will be like. i am bringing both lenses (unfortunately the 30 1.4 didnt come in yet) and im hoping there is plenty of ambient so i dont need to use the flash

austin, that is fantastic advice!!! i tried it at home just now, and i loved how it came out. this is exactly what i am looking to learn to do.

did you mean -1, or -1/3? i tried it with -1

I suggest shooting in manual and ETTL on the flash. In a restaurant, perhaps something like ISO 800; f/4.0; 1/60. Then bounce your flash adjusting the FEC as necessary.

If you shoot Av, the camera is going to meter for the ambient lighting and use the flash for fill light, so you may have extremely slow shutter speeds which will cause motion blur.

ekinnyc wrote in post #12192311
thanks for the advice. i was wrong, it isnt in a house, they are doing it at a restaurant, and i can only guess what the lighting will be like. i am bringing both lenses (unfortunately the 30 1.4 didnt come in yet) and im hoping there is plenty of ambient so i dont need to use the flash

austin, that is fantastic advice!!! i tried it at home just now, and i loved how it came out. this is exactly what i am looking to learn to do.

did you mean -1, or -1/3? i tried it with -1

Well it's all up to preference. Underexposing by a stop will force attention to the flash-lit portion of the frame (the subject), but still provide background detail.

-1 is underexposing by one stop. -1/3 is underexposing by one-third of a stop. One stop = twice the light. Stopping down from f/5.6 to f/8 (one stop) will result in half as much light hitting the camera sensor.

I'm glad it worked well for you

well, the event came and went... i tried to remember all of the advice you guys gave me, but ultimately i just left the flash on E-TTL with FEC 0, and used my current set of skills. it was tough to keep up with kids and parents running around while also trying to compose each shot and try to remember how to properly expose it with/w-out flash. sure, i missed some moments, but captured some great ones - namely the happy parents and the 1yr old, whcih is all they were really expecting. i was bouncing the flash, mostly at 45 degrees, which helped immensely. the place was bright enough where i could comfortably use my 24-105 and not worry about blur (im sure IS helped, but with kids running around, it was tough to get some moments). all in all, i think the pictures came out pretty well (at least on a 3" screen). they knew i wasnt a pro, nor was i doing artistry. they were looking for pics that a point-n-shoot simply couldnt pull out.

needless to say, its a long learning curve, and it will take a long time before this pops into my head as fast as aperture/shutter reciprocity do now