Prom Photography

[Dave Humphries]

If by lasting you mean a minute or two of seeing an gray blob, then yes. I'm fine now

Good

No lasting meant hours later

Take care,

[pwnage101]

Went to the beach / prom last Saturday. Overall I am satisfied with the pictures, but haunted by the [long list of] things I could have done better, or could have been better but were out of my control.

Beach:
Due to parental complications (strict Asian parents; it's just fact) people were late getting to the rendezvous point which carried over to getting to the beach. This left us 25 minutes to take pictures and rush to make our dinner reservation. To make matters worse, two of the parents decided to not only come with us to the beach, but also bring their DSLR (a nice Nikon D300 which I later found out they did not even know how to use). To make matters even more worse, I parked at least a quarter mile away from any sufficient beach area. I was in such a rush that I had not considered doing any of the following:
-counting to three to make sure everybody was looking up
-shading the lens to prevent flare
-wait the full 6 second recycle for full flash output (should have gotten a reflective umbrella instead)
The man with the D300 then kept insisting that I take the pictures a certain way, and wanted to try out my transmitter on his camera. Unaware of time I let him do so, but by then people pulled out their compact cameras, scattered, and became disorganized.
As bad as I make it all sound, the pictures weren't all that bad. The biggest problem was not being able to use a wide aperture with the reflector. It was hard enough holding down the umbrella with such strong winds. The only other major problem was not getting a chance to photograph everybody individually or even get all the guys together in one picture. We even had plans for a shades picture and a coats-off picture, both of which were tossed.

Prom:
There were two available settings: outdoor or under a high ceiling. This made flash bouncing quite difficult. Most walls were either severely floodlit with bright red lights, or distant due to vegetation. Direct flash turned out fine, and on occasion I pulled the transmitter/receiver out of my pocket and held the flash as far off axis as possible. There were times when I wished I had a full frame or 35mm lens - anything to widen the 50mm / DX combo. One thing I could have done better was ditch continuous servo and use the focus assist lamp. My spanish teacher got me to take a picture of her and her husband, but the one picture that i took was out of focus enough to have a circle of confusion of about 4 pixels diameter on the intended focal point (face).

Anyway, here are some random picks:
-http://i48.tinypic.com/j5jyv7.jpg <--
-http://i46.tinypic.com/ngbo5.jpg <-- normal, good light photography is always so easy! you can kind of see the uneven bokeh due to the dirt cheap lens.
-http://i50.tinypic.com/jhws2e.jpg <-- wasting precious time figuring out these damn boutineers
-http://i45.tinypic.com/swphqa.jpg <-- full output
-http://i45.tinypic.com/168vdab.jpg <-- image that immediately follows the full output is not full output (my fault)
-http://i49.tinypic.com/fcmmmf.jpg <-- no flash; flash went to sleep
-http://i46.tinypic.com/dljej4.jpg <-- hair-in-face followed by another shot, but the second was too early for flash recycle (again, damn it)
-http://i50.tinypic.com/v5jsro.jpg <-- ballroom dancing (i avoided this by looking like i was a serious photographer)
-http://i48.tinypic.com/33mtnw8.jpg <-- wishing I had that 35mm i was talking about earlier
-http://i48.tinypic.com/ju9083.jpg
-http://i48.tinypic.com/2m63ix5.jpg
-http://i48.tinypic.com/16c2nme.jpg <-- gel the flash next time?
-http://i47.tinypic.com/2q8ae8l.jpg
-http://i48.tinypic.com/n4k568.jpg
-http://i46.tinypic.com/ka67tz.jpg <-- these are the red floodlit walls
-http://i50.tinypic.com/30i7qrn.jpg <-- again, using the walls to my advantage

looks like people are drinking, but i assure you that's all apple juice

[pwnage101]

the focus ring on my prime sounds gritty, possibly from fine sand. oh well, it comes with a 5 year warranty.

[Shadowman]

Troy,

You have a few keepers in this series, especially the candids and I liked the portrait 3017qrn. The background in the beach scenes are distracting but the subjects look fine. The indoor scenes have too many light sources.

[rick55]

Hi, Troy;

Looks like you did a great job! And in a very difficult environment, where you weren't the "official" photographer. You have some wonderful shots here. I like dljej4, nice group in a tough situation; 2q8ae8l, unusual composition, and nice mood; n4k568 as a pure candid pop; ka67tz, nice silhouette, but the subject on the left spoils it some; and 30i7qrn, nice portrait.

I'm not sure I understand the comment about, "maybe gel the flash" for 16c2nme. Is it because of the color highlight on the man's forehead and woman's arm? I probably wouldn't worry about an highlights of other colors in an environment that's visibly a party situation. People expect multicolored lighting. If you're trying for a portrait in that situation, I guess you could try it, but the reddish lights overhead reflected in their hair means that you won't be able to completely avoid mixed light. If you gelled your flash to the yellowish light that's at camera left, the reddish light overhead might not be noticeable.

All in all, really good work. And it got you out of the dancing.

Cheers,
Rick

[pwnage101]

i was only thinking about gelling the flash because a handful of my outdoor pics have red backgrounds. I don't know, may be it looks better this way. I'd have to try both and compare.

and just for kicks, here's the man with the d300
http://i47.tinypic.com/2qmqiz4.jpg

[Colin Southern]

the focus ring on my prime sounds gritty, possibly from fine sand. oh well, it comes with a 5 year warranty.

A warranty that probably only covers defects in materials, and faulty workmanship -- not sand in the focus ring

[Colin Southern]

Went to the beach / prom last Saturday. Overall I am satisfied with the pictures, but haunted by the [long list of] things I could have done better, or could have been better but were out of my control.)

Hi Troy,

I thought it might be a bit of a case of "tested by fire" In many ways it's only 1-step removed from wedding photography with all of the fast pace and changing conditions and unforseen obstacles that go with it. So long as you think about overcoming some of the issues you faced (both photographic, logistical, and environmental) next time you'll add to your body of experience and get more keepers, with less effort.

Great effort

Just a few thoughts that popped into my mind ...

- Avoid servo mode - one-shot AF will be more accurate in these situations.

- Stop-down more (especially outside) - it'll allow you to expose your backgrounds a lot better (it looks like you were up against your x-sync speed outside), and give you more margin on your focusing.

- You might like to consider an external power connection for your flash to increase your recycle times.

- Use an assistant

- Invest some time learning about controlling foreground and background exposures.

- Practice practice practice!

Personally I wouldn't worry too much about gelling flashes just yet - if you gell the flash to match the background - and then correctly white balance the shot - the background will look weird - and if you don't white balance the shot then the skintones can look a bit weird (although that IS the way it's often done all the same).

[pwnage101]

I shall comply with everything in your post that I do not respond to in the following

- Stop-down more (especially outside) - it'll allow you to expose your backgrounds a lot better (it looks like you were up against your x-sync speed outside), and give you more margin on your focusing.

- Invest some time learning about controlling foreground and background exposures.

I actually did underexpose and bring the exposure up a bit in PP. The flash just isn't powerful enough shot through an umbrella. They say fill only needs to be subtle, but my tagrus flash at full output shot through an umbrella is less than subtle when the sun is right behind the subject. I need two more stops of flash power or a higher x-sync in order to get the balance I was looking for. That's why I instead want a reflective umbrella, which should save me about a stop.

In retrospect, too many of the beach pictures consist of a cut-off flash recycle for me to be making accurate judgments. Perhaps full output and subtle tone mapping is sufficient for any situation, especially with a reflective umbrella (but not limited to).

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Troy,

I agree with the others; these are pretty good under the difficult circumstances you had to endure, I'm sure I wouldn't have done so well at your age in similar situation.

You did learn a lot for the "next time" both in terms of environments and "people handling", although no doubt your age doesn't help when politely trying to resist the request of an elder to lend them your kit.

You should be proud of what you've achieved,

[pwnage101]

A warranty that probably only covers defects in materials, and faulty workmanship -- not sand in the focus ring

bummer. well, it doesn't seem that bad

[Donald]

I, too, agree that whilst you faced a number of challenges, you've produced good stuff. Although swphqa.jpg is blown out in the background, the set up and capture of the young people involved is excellent.

[Colin Southern]

I actually did underexpose and bring the exposure up a bit in PP. The flash just isn't powerful enough shot through an umbrella. They say fill only needs to be subtle, but my tagrus flash at full output shot through an umbrella is less than subtle when the sun is right behind the subject. I need two more stops of flash power or a higher x-sync in order to get the balance I was looking for. That's why I instead want a reflective umbrella, which should save me about a stop.

Hi Troy,

The ones I was referring to had OK foreground exposure, but over-exposed backgrounds - so the issue was really the ratio between foreground & background. Yes - flashes can run out of power - especially with backlighting - here's some ways around it ...

- Use more than 1 flash (I use 2x 580EX II on a side-by-side bracket)

- Make sure that the flash isn't on a wide zoom setting

- Move the umbrella closer to the subject

- Lose the umbrella

- Use a shutterspeed slightly higher than x-sync speed, and hold the camera upside down (so the blocking of the flash light occurs above the subjects head) - sounds and looks weird, but it works.

[pwnage101]

- Use a shutterspeed slightly higher than x-sync speed, and hold the camera upside down (so the blocking of the flash light occurs above the subjects head) - sounds and looks weird, but it works.

No kidding? Wow, I was thinking about doing this and just cropping the image, but this way seems more realistic still, it wont give me more than 2/3 stops before too much of the image is sliced, right?

[Colin Southern]

No kidding? Wow, I was thinking about doing this and just cropping the image, but this way seems more realistic still, it wont give me more than 2/3 stops before too much of the image is sliced, right?

It's something you'll need to experiment with ... the good news is that you can usually push it a little higher on a crop-factor camera, and it should be consistent.

Plan B can always be to take a battery-powered studio lighting with you next time!

[rick55]

Plan B can always be to take a battery-powered studio lighting with you next time!

Or a reflector. Colin and Rob convinced me to buy a reflector to use in studio setups. The one I got is about 40", and folds into about a foot diameter. I was thinking when looking at your shots that a reflector would have been ideal, remembering some of Colin's shots in his back yard, and Rob's shots of flowers.

Cheers,
Rick

[Colin Southern]

Or a reflector. Colin and Rob convinced me to buy a reflector to use in studio setups. The one I got is about 40", and folds into about a foot diameter. I was thinking when looking at your shots that a reflector would have been ideal, remembering some of Colin's shots in his back yard, and Rob's shots of flowers.

Cheers,
Rick

Hi Rick,

Outside I mostly use a couple of strobes into a shoot-through umbrella and/or with a diffuser - the biggest issue I have with reflectors outside is that if you use silver or gold in full sun it's like using a mirror to shine the sun in someones eyes. White is OK but often it needs to be both big and close, which can also be problematic. In the studio I use small reflectors to get some light up under chins etc but for straight fill light my favourite by far is a 8' x 4' (1.2 x 2.4m) sheet of 2" (50mm) Polystyrene which would work well on a beach, but someone would be needed to hold it - it would be a PITA to transport - and "interesting" on a windy day.