Re: R5 + 28-70 F2.0 child's party
2
R2D2 wrote:
Ephemeris wrote:
Hi Folk
Lens finally arrived but haven't had chance to use it myself as I've been travelling.
Loons quitea big tool.
I will be at a 3 year old child's birthday party on Saturday where I will be camera man.
I would appreciate any tips on settings to help me grab photos of this child and her friends party.
For example tracking settings and any advice on the shallow effects of the F2 aperture.
Thanks folks in advance
Hope I'm not too late for the party!
Move a lot!
Yeah!
Show the kids their images on the LCD. They'll love it.
Sometimes they love it too much and you are surrounded by them asking to see the pictures. I rather do it rarely.
Don't wear a neck strap (camera should be up and at the ready 100% of the time).
Yeah!
Shoot wide open whenever you can.
Yeah!!!
Stop down when needed (photos will still have nice character).
Why not, if it has the purpose (group shots)
Shoot (silent shutter) bursts.
At children party mostly even me myself and I do not hear the shutter. I am in EFSC most of the time. Also because I use flash(es).
Turn off Exposure Simulation in low light.
I'd rather say at VERY low light only. Otherwise it does not bring much.
Use Eye AF with "Focal Point" Initial (not Auto Initial).
Yeah, allways.
AF Case 2.
Works well.
Lock focus if needed, then use the "lean" technique to place your focal plane.
When there is the time for it. Which with childer might not be the case :-). Continuous AF with the Eye detection does it job very well.
Avoid using flash if you can (it annoys your subjects).
I use mostly on camera flash (rarely + remotes in corners) and people do not mind. And especially children are fully ignorant of it. It adds the spark to their eyes and eliminates unwanted strong shadows.
It also helps significantly with keeping the ISO down --> less processing needed --> better final output.
Set up better ambient lighting instead.
Which is not posiible in many (majority) places.
Shine a big LED lamp up into a corner.
This I would avoid. It works weel in very small rooms. In larger rooms it will create very different light amounts near and far from the light. The quality of such light also very differs based on the position of the subject relatively to the light - facing it, from side, backlit. Very difficult to impossible to keep some consistency shot to shot.
Shoot RAW and process with DxO PL6.
Allways RAW and allways the SW which you are most familiar with and gives you the best results. DxO PL6 gives very processed looking images (as the one above) which do not fit everyone.
Enjoy!
Shooting children is alwys fun :-).
R2
Two snaps from yesterday:

