Shooting an event with 60d...need advice

[bradfordswood]

Hello all,

I have been asked to shoot an event tonight, kind of a last minute thing. It's a cocktail party at a museum. My understanding is that they want pictures of the guests, atmosphere, etc. The event is indoors and the room has *decent* lighting. I'm told the photos will be used primarily for their Facebook page.

I'll be shooting with my 60d, and the lenses I have are the 50mm 1.4 and 28-135. I do not have an external flash.

I realize this is all kind of vague...but any advice? This is entirely on a volunteer basis, so I'm not all that nervous. And of course I'll do some minor post processing before I hand the images over.

Thanks!

 

[RLPhoto]

Hello all,

I have been asked to shoot an event tonight, kind of a last minute thing. It's a cocktail party at a museum. My understanding is that they want pictures of the guests, atmosphere, etc. The event is indoors and the room has *decent* lighting. I'm told the photos will be used primarily for their Facebook page.

I'll be shooting with my 60d, and the lenses I have are the 50mm 1.4 and 28-135. I do not have an external flash.

I realize this is all kind of vague...but any advice? This is entirely on a volunteer basis, so I'm not all that nervous. And of course I'll do some minor post processing before I hand the images over.

Thanks!

The 28-135 will probably not be fast enough and on my 7D, ISO 3200 is comfortable, ISO 6400 Im cringing, ISO 12800 is un-usable. That 50mm will quickly become your best friend but I'd recommend bounce flash if they don't mind. Then you could get away with your 28-135mm.

 

[benherman]

Practise your standard portrait /group shot before you go, and set up a manual exposure which lets the ambient light in on the shot and use fill flash. Take an extra battery, spare cards, spare camera if u have one even a point n shoot. Consider taking a tripod and do some long exposures to get the feel of the movement at the event with a wider shot. Use the 50 for most shots you don't want to attract attention with and to capture the ambient feel of the event.

 

[Menace]

I'd suggest use 50 1.4 for the majority of your shots and use the pop up flash as fill. Tripod / monopod will be very useful for longer exposure times.

 

[AG]

I would also add if you are going to use the onboard flash from the 60D dont be afraid of adjusting the Exposure Compensation settings. Otherwise the flash can really blow out shots and make them not feel as natural.

Heres a quick FYI link to get you started.
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/flash-exposure-compensation-options-on-a-canon-eos.html