Night Time Party: Flash, High ISO, or Both?

Hi Everyone,

I have been asked to take some pictures at an outside, late night party. There will be some light from a bonfire, but unless the guests are close to the fire I don't think I will be able to document the party without using flash.

I have a 30D, 550EX, and the 17-85 EFs lens. If using the flash, should I crank up the film speed to 1600 (or H), and with my camera on P try and capture as much ambient light as possiible, or should I try some other approach?

Thanks,
~Dom

The 17-85 will not be cabable of shooting in such low light without a flash, as you've already stated.

I'm sure that most people will agree with me that you should shoot this in manual, not P or Av/Tv. This is because in P/Av/Tv your camera will try to capture the correct exposure but using the flash only as "fill flash". This will result in slow shutter speeds and blurry images (even at ISO1600). (This could be an effect you might desire, if people are dancing and you want to capture the motion. ) Shooting in manual will allow you to crank up the shutter speed to 1/200 for example, and the flash will pump out the light needed for the proper exposure. If it is too dark/bright then adjust the flash exposure compensation (FEC). I would shoot between ISO400 and ISO800 for reduced noise. The higher the ISO you use, the more ambient (background) light you will capture relative to the subject you are aiming at.

I'd use M for the flash, too.
Got time to run a test? See post #3
Tips for Xmas Ball Please

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. I have bookmarked the suggested postings and I am finding them useful. This evening I will go out and take a few test shots, in Manual mode!

~Dom

THe 17-85 is too slow an apeture to take night fire pictures. You'd need a 50 f1.4 or 30 f1.4 shooting wide open at either iso1600 or 3200 depending on the brightness of the bonfire. But an external flash outdoors at a fire may be a tricky thing not to get too much flash since the camera is going to meter a lot of blackness.

f/1.8 is almost a must. Get the 50mm f/1.4 but use it at f/1.8. DOF at 1.4 is paper thin - 1.8 and 2.0 are much more tolerable.

50mm f/1.8 is a bare minimum, in my opinion.

Don't worry about shutter speed. Use an ISO around 640-800, and shoot in AV mode f/1.8 or 2.0 with flash in ETTL.

If you're comfortable, go full Manual in both camera and flash.

The reason I say don't worry about shutter speed is obviously because the flash helps to freeze action, and with good hands, shake is not too bad.

I've shot sharp images at 1/3rd and 1/5th of a second with a flash filling in (I primarily used ambient light). ISO 800, and it worked well.

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. I think the 17-85's aperture is somewhat limiting for bonfire pictures, an looking over my library I can see that low light/flash photography of groups is something I have perhaps been struggling with for a while now.

I already have a 60mm f/2.8 macro, but have found it slow in focusing in dim light. What I think I am reading is that the 50mm f/1.4 be the way to go. Is this OK with a 1.6 crop camera when photographing groups?

Thanks,
~Dom

Yes, just step back a little. You have to be a good 4 feet from two people for a group shot, 6-10 feet if you wanna get 6+ people. It depends on how you arrange the people, but its not very wide.

On a crop, its a small telephoto...

Here's some of my campfire pix if you are interested. Too blurry without a flash, if you are particular. I don't care for flash for family and candids, so I'm willing accept a lack of sharpness, and a low keeper rate to get the color and dimension I like. Taken with my 40D. Most at ISO 1600 @F/1.8 Av between 1/8 and 1/30

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I would always use a wide aperture lens, a medium ISO of around 800-1000 and then use a flash aswell on second shutter sync.

Chris

Frank's right. Manual mode is your friend here. Trust in the M and ETTL.

Read -=HERE=- for my example

Yeah flash would have definitely helped you in those shots. Flash doesn't always = hard, cooked light that burns people's faces...

ngray77 wrote in post #6665054
Here's some of my campfire pix if you are interested...

Great pics. Thanks for sharing. These are all handheld, witout flash. I do like the campfire atmosphere the pictures show.

~Dom

Pete wrote in post #6667336
Frank's right. Manual mode is your friend here. Trust in the M and ETTL.

Read -=HERE=- for my example

Yes, I think I will try manual mode, high film speed, and the Sto-Fen (which I already own), and then maybe take some without flash using... my old 50 mm f/1.8!

Thanks!
~Dom

P.S. -=HERE=- and Tips for Xmas Ball Please are two great threads. Thank for sharing!