Engagement Party
Discussion
Been asked to take some shots at a friend's engagement party. Not done anything like it before mainly just shot for myself but thought it would be good experience. Only doing it as a side gig so the expectations are quite low.
I have a D3300 but I know my current lens won't do it so will a 50mm portrait lens be the best thing to go for & if so are there any people would recommend?
I also saw some were F1.4G & some F1.4D, what are the differences?
I have a D3300 but I know my current lens won't do it so will a 50mm portrait lens be the best thing to go for & if so are there any people would recommend?
I also saw some were F1.4G & some F1.4D, what are the differences?
Needs more information!
- What are they are expecting from you? Have they shown you examples of what they like or don't like from other similar events?
- Where is the party being held? At home? In a pub? In a restaurant?
- What time of day does it start and when does it end? Do you have an appropriate shoulder strap (not a neck one!) to keep the strain of your kit off your muscles?
- Will there be sufficient artificial lighting or will it be moody and dark? Do you have an off-body flash with modifiers to soften the light? Are there high/low ceilings or walls or you can bounce off?
- How cramped is the venue? Will you have plenty of space to move around and re-frame the shot or are you just going to have to go wide as you can and hope for the best?
- How many guests will there be? Any VIPs or important groups you need to stage shots of?
- Do you have enough spare batteries and memory cards for your D3300? What's your backup plan should your primary equipment fail?
- Do you plan to enjoy yourself as a guest or are you going to focus on the job
Edited by eltawater on Wednesday 2nd October 23:49
50mm is a great lens, this a fixed prime? - zoom with your feet, gives you a much closer/personal experience in your photos - but it depends how confident you are with this technique, i find this technique more rewarding if you get it right, gets you right in the mix of the party aswell.
I use a 40mm pancake on my 5d's for work when doing documentary shots for clients.
Great site here for photographer who uses just a 50mm
http://www.turnervisual.com/index.php?c=50mm/&...
I use a 40mm pancake on my 5d's for work when doing documentary shots for clients.
Great site here for photographer who uses just a 50mm
http://www.turnervisual.com/index.php?c=50mm/&...
Edited by DailyHack on Thursday 3rd October 09:12
Lynchie999 said:
50 will be too narrow on a crop body... go for 35 or even 24mm ... you'll probably be wanting to get group shot of people ? depends if you want posed groups or candid portraits ?
Was going to say this, I tried a 50mm on my D7200 and ended up swapping it for the 35mm instead due to this, I hadn't taken into account the crop factor...- What are they are expecting from you? Have they shown you examples of what they like or don't like from other similar events? – No expectations its a favour to just snap shots whilst I am there.
- Where is the party being held? At home? In a pub? In a restaurant? – Currently at home and possibly outside depending on the weather.
- What time of day does it start and when does it end? Do you have an appropriate shoulder strap (not a neck one!) to keep the strain of your kit off your muscles? – Will be around midday and go on from there, not sure how long it will go on for, I’ve had the neck one on all day walking around Rome and places so I should be okay with it although not sure how heavy an external flash is.
- Will there be sufficient artificial lighting or will it be moody and dark? Do you have an off-body flash with modifiers to soften the light? Are there high/low ceilings or walls or you can bounce off? – High ceilings from what I can remember of the house but I don’t have a flash, would be happy to buy one but never used one.
- How cramped is the venue? Will you have plenty of space to move around and re-frame the shot or are you just going to have to go wide as you can and hope for the best? – I imagine a bit cramped, will be a few rooms with people in but also believe some will be re-arranged to give more space.
- How many guests will there be? Any VIPs or important groups you need to stage shots of? – Handful of people around 10-20.
- Do you have enough spare batteries and memory cards for your D3300? What's your backup plan should your primary equipment fail? – Plenty spare batteries and memory cards, if it fails then plan is to say can’t take anymore.
- Do you plan to enjoy yourself as a guest or are you going to focus on the job wink – will probably take some shots for a bit then put it down and enjoy.
- You'll probably be wanting to get group shot of people ? depends if you want posed groups or candid portraits ? – probably a mixture of group posed and candids.
It isn't anything official or too formal so will just snap shots whilst I am there, not likely to edit them after but may do. Just want to try deliver the best quality shots I can, have only really tried to shoot indoors once before and it wasn't that good plus will be good to add to the skills.
- Where is the party being held? At home? In a pub? In a restaurant? – Currently at home and possibly outside depending on the weather.
- What time of day does it start and when does it end? Do you have an appropriate shoulder strap (not a neck one!) to keep the strain of your kit off your muscles? – Will be around midday and go on from there, not sure how long it will go on for, I’ve had the neck one on all day walking around Rome and places so I should be okay with it although not sure how heavy an external flash is.
- Will there be sufficient artificial lighting or will it be moody and dark? Do you have an off-body flash with modifiers to soften the light? Are there high/low ceilings or walls or you can bounce off? – High ceilings from what I can remember of the house but I don’t have a flash, would be happy to buy one but never used one.
- How cramped is the venue? Will you have plenty of space to move around and re-frame the shot or are you just going to have to go wide as you can and hope for the best? – I imagine a bit cramped, will be a few rooms with people in but also believe some will be re-arranged to give more space.
- How many guests will there be? Any VIPs or important groups you need to stage shots of? – Handful of people around 10-20.
- Do you have enough spare batteries and memory cards for your D3300? What's your backup plan should your primary equipment fail? – Plenty spare batteries and memory cards, if it fails then plan is to say can’t take anymore.
- Do you plan to enjoy yourself as a guest or are you going to focus on the job wink – will probably take some shots for a bit then put it down and enjoy.
- You'll probably be wanting to get group shot of people ? depends if you want posed groups or candid portraits ? – probably a mixture of group posed and candids.
It isn't anything official or too formal so will just snap shots whilst I am there, not likely to edit them after but may do. Just want to try deliver the best quality shots I can, have only really tried to shoot indoors once before and it wasn't that good plus will be good to add to the skills.
I'd recommend getting a flash and learning how to bounce off walls / ceilings with it for any indoor shots later in the afternoon and into the evening.
What lens do you have at the moment?
It sounds like you need to steer clear of the 50mm and possibly even the 35mm. You're likely to be cramped with people and furniture all around you so wider than 35mm with the flexibility to zoom is probably going to be better for you on the day, particularly if you need to get group shots as you won't be able to step backwards through a wall.
What lens do you have at the moment?
It sounds like you need to steer clear of the 50mm and possibly even the 35mm. You're likely to be cramped with people and furniture all around you so wider than 35mm with the flexibility to zoom is probably going to be better for you on the day, particularly if you need to get group shots as you won't be able to step backwards through a wall.
bobski1 said:
Been asked to take some shots at a friend's engagement party. Not done anything like it before mainly just shot for myself but thought it would be good experience. Only doing it as a side gig so the expectations are quite low.
I have a D3300 but I know my current lens won't do it so will a 50mm portrait lens be the best thing to go for & if so are there any people would recommend?
I also saw some were F1.4G & some F1.4D, what are the differences?
As a former wedding tog of 10 years' experience...I have a D3300 but I know my current lens won't do it so will a 50mm portrait lens be the best thing to go for & if so are there any people would recommend?
I also saw some were F1.4G & some F1.4D, what are the differences?
Super-fast lenses are a double-edged sword because whilst you can get faster shutter speeds, your DOF can become unworkable - especially if your AF system is not top-notch and people are moving back and forth.
A 50mm lens on a crop sensor will be fine for some shots but you won't be able to pick out people from a distance, nor get wide enough indoors for meaningful groups. Nor can you reframe in a fraction of a second in a dynamic environment as you can with a zoom.
My weapons of choice indoors were a 17-55 f2.8 and a powerful flashgun with bounce and tilt.
'G' lenses don't have an aperture ring - not important IMHO as you set aperture from the camera, but there may be other difference in spec too. The more you pay the better it will be!
If you're up to it, shoot RAW so you can tweak white balance and exposure in post.
Current lens is an 18-300 which has served me very well but isn't suited to this.
Hadn't considered the 17-55. Also I know much is in the skill of the photographer so I'm not too bothered about having a full frame anytime soon however I would if possible like to get the lens and flash gun so I don't need to buy it all again if I ever did upgrade.
Can anybody suggest a good flash gun please?
Hadn't considered the 17-55. Also I know much is in the skill of the photographer so I'm not too bothered about having a full frame anytime soon however I would if possible like to get the lens and flash gun so I don't need to buy it all again if I ever did upgrade.
Can anybody suggest a good flash gun please?
bobski1 said:
Current lens is an 18-300 which has served me very well but isn't suited to this.
Hadn't considered the 17-55. Also I know much is in the skill of the photographer so I'm not too bothered about having a full frame anytime soon however I would if possible like to get the lens and flash gun so I don't need to buy it all again if I ever did upgrade.
Can anybody suggest a good flash gun please?
I've been using Neewer products for a while, served me well, and alot cheaper that Nikons own I suspect (I am a Canon man) - they have a few speedlites for Nikons using TTL.Hadn't considered the 17-55. Also I know much is in the skill of the photographer so I'm not too bothered about having a full frame anytime soon however I would if possible like to get the lens and flash gun so I don't need to buy it all again if I ever did upgrade.
Can anybody suggest a good flash gun please?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neewer-750II-Speedlite-Di...
TTL is great if your not wanting to set the exposures manually to a certain extent, the camera works out exposure by what lens and focal length is attached.
I would recommend using TTL as a intro to the world of flash, if you haven't dabbled yet, I was scared of flash for years tbh, but really opens your eyes to using it more often, especially now with TTL, or in Canons case E-TTL.
What TTL please?
Also what do people this of this as a lens: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sigma-18-50mm-Macro-Digit...
Also what do people this of this as a lens: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sigma-18-50mm-Macro-Digit...
bobski1 said:
What TTL please?
Also what do people this of this as a lens: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sigma-18-50mm-Macro-Digit...
https://www.nikonimgsupport.com/na/NSG_article?articleNo=000026310&configured=1&lang=en_SGAlso what do people this of this as a lens: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sigma-18-50mm-Macro-Digit...
bobski1 said:
Current lens is an 18-300 which has served me very well but isn't suited to this.
I started with a D70 and tried using my 70-300mm - but it hunted in low light. Probably a combination of being c.f5.6 and the D70s AF system which whilst good for its day wasn't a patch on modern cameras. However an 18-300 has all the ranges you'll need and advances in cameras (ISO, AF), plus a decent flash, might make it workable.bobski1 said:
Hadn't considered the 17-55. Also I know much is in the skill of the photographer so I'm not too bothered about having a full frame anytime soon however I would if possible like to get the lens and flash gun so I don't need to buy it all again if I ever did upgrade.
Can anybody suggest a good flash gun please?
The 17-55 was £1,000 when new but can be had s/h for £400, maybe less, which makes it good value. It's a great lens and is my usual lens now. The Sigma 18-50 looks OK but I haven't tried it. Looks a bit weedy compared to the Nikon; I like a lens you can do hand-to-hand combat with and it impresses the punters 'cos it's bigger than theirs Can anybody suggest a good flash gun please?
Full frame isn't going to make your photos any better.
Flashgun - for me budget wasn't a limitation so I got the best at the time, Nikon SB-800. I didn't want to risk a generic one when there was money involved. It has its own AF illuminator which talks back to the camera so your chances of getting fast accurate AF are better.
TTL - 'through the lens metering'. I always used balanced fill flash which in Nikonspeak is 'TTL-BL'.
Two things from me:
1 - Take loads and loads of photos. Expect to spend ages weeding out the good ones. Delete the others.
2 - Wide lens, fast shutter, high ISO. Nobody cares about noise on party photos, but they won't want blurred ones (from too slow a shutter) and they won't want out of focus ones (The wide lens will help here as more will appear in focus - It won't be, it will just look that way).
1 - Take loads and loads of photos. Expect to spend ages weeding out the good ones. Delete the others.
2 - Wide lens, fast shutter, high ISO. Nobody cares about noise on party photos, but they won't want blurred ones (from too slow a shutter) and they won't want out of focus ones (The wide lens will help here as more will appear in focus - It won't be, it will just look that way).
Bought a flashgun from ebay & going to mess around with it at home this weekend.
I have found a lens but it doesn't come with a AF-M switch on the lens, am I right in assuming that I can control the Focus Mode through the camera rather than flicking the switch?
If not that means I will have to focus every shot manually which I don't think is the right way
I have found a lens but it doesn't come with a AF-M switch on the lens, am I right in assuming that I can control the Focus Mode through the camera rather than flicking the switch?
If not that means I will have to focus every shot manually which I don't think is the right way
eltawater said:
Which lens is it?
The D3300 does not have an in body focus motor so you are entirely reliant on the lens have it's own focus motor.
Was thinking this one: https://www.wexphotovideo.com/sigma-18-50mm-f2-8-e...The D3300 does not have an in body focus motor so you are entirely reliant on the lens have it's own focus motor.
But looked at the tamron and this appears to be what I was thinking: https://www.wexphotovideo.com/tamron-17-50mm-f2-8-...
Edited by bobski1 on Wednesday 9th October 20:50
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