POTN Aussie Club #3: This one's going straight to the pool room.

I'd do this:

1.) Find the darkest spot you can to put the people into. That will give you the most flexibility to bring up the ambient exposure (lights) without getting motion blur in the people.

2.) Use a high off-camera flash to illuminate the people. Not too far off-centre ... you want to hide their shadows and keep your spill as invisible as possible. Use your flash head zoom to get the right size illuminated.

3.) Use your 17-55 with IS on to get a low enough shutter speed around 800-ish to pull in the lights.

NSWESP wrote in post #6421398
Nice shot! Always liked long exposures with clouds visible. How does the number after the ND translate to stopes of light? I can never understand it.

It's about 8 or 9 stops, supposedly (where an ND8 is 3 stops). Not sure of what the actual numbers mean though - Lee (and Tiffen) use a different system whereby 0.3 = ND2, 0.6 = ND4 and 0.9 = ND8 but that doesn't really help either.

kja wrote in post #6421406
I'm looking for some input on options for an upcoming shoot.

I need to shoot a small group of people on the entrance of a "lighted" bridge during late dusk and night. The lights are poxy coloured things that don't really give a lot of illumination but are integral to the shot.

I will not be able to use a long exposure and no tripod (don't ask :eyerolley I will be able to use on camera speedlite; I will also *probably* be able to have a light off camera.

The goal is to have the people nicely lit, the bridge lights all pretty and the background "visible" not just a black blob, but so it's clearly nighttime.

Edit - groups: 2, 4, 5, 7, and probably 9 people. I'm guessing that once we start they will also realise they want a big group shot on the dumb bridge too - and that's going to be 50+. For the big group, I don't expect to be able to have everyone perfect, but if I get the major players and the rest just *there* that will work for me!

I have some ideas and I'm heading down later tonight to have a play so I'd love to hear your suggestions to try out!

Sounds like a nightmare... why no tripod, as that'd really help. You're probably going to have to crank the iso a bit to get enough shutter speed to hand hold. Off camera light would be handy, but only if you can diffuse it - for groups I find the safe option of two umbrellas at 45 degrees seems to work fairly well and then go from there.

DAdeGroot wrote in post #6421431
It's about 8 or 9 stops, supposedly (where an ND8 is 3 stops). Not sure of what the actual numbers mean though - Lee (and Tiffen) use a different system whereby 0.3 = ND2, 0.6 = ND4 and 0.9 = ND8 but that doesn't really help either.

I believe the 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 is the amount of light blocked as a decimal. 0.9 is 90% of tranmission blocked...

linarms wrote in post #6421423
3.) Use your 17-55 with IS on to get a low enough shutter speed around 800-ish to pull in the lights.

That's low?

photobitz wrote in post #6421440
I believe the 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 is the amount of light blocked as a decimal. 0.9 is 90% of tranmission blocked...

That seems somewhat logical but why cant they simply express it as a number of stops?

NSWESP wrote in post #6421447
That seems somewhat logical but why cant they simply express it as a number of stops?

Because that isn't confusing enough obviously.

Wasn't the 800 re ISO? Or did I read that totally wrong?

While i must admit my food photography isnt that amazing (Possibly because i waited untill half way through the meal to take the shot:lol And i didnt cook it (Well i reheated it with more sauce lol.

Some left over yum-cha from lunch and a coke

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photobitz wrote in post #6421443
That's low?

Low enough.

ISO 800 on the 40D is very clean. 1600 is getting a little dirty, especially for people photos.

Using a brolly to soften the flash will make it impossible to control the spill. Unless you happen to have a gridded softbox Kristin?

kja wrote in post #6421455
Wasn't the 800 re ISO? Or did I read that totally wrong?

Ahhh yeah. I expect shutter speed will be < 1/30

linarms wrote in post #6421465
Ahhh yeah. I expect shutter speed will be < 1/30

Ah... sorry, I read it as shutter at 800 (1/800)

A couple of shots from the backyard, nothing special but i just had to shoot something

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Angus or Nick! Could one or both of you please change your avatar. It's getting confusing!

I thought you said 800 is slow to

haha yep sure, ill change it now