Photography help!!!

[Jake]

I need advice from good photographers!

Here's the deal:

About my gear: Canon Digital Rebel XT with Canon Speedlite 580EX. Three crappy lenses to choose from: 50mm prime @ f/1.8, 18-55mm zoom @ f/3.5-5.6, 70-300mm zoom @ f/4.5-5.6.

About me: new photographer with fairly strong technical understanding of how it all works.

About the job: so a friend of mine works for a small denim company that does kind of a travelling jeans sale, primarily on college campuses. They're pretty popular and getting bigger all the time. In about a week, they are doing a small runway fashion show at a nightclub in Orange County. She asked if I could do some photography at the event.

The runway is probably about 15 feet long and about 3 feet off the ground. The platform I'll be on is at about the same height, about 5 feet from the end of the strip.

My understanding is that lighting will not be ideal. Clubs are already lacking in good direct lighting, so my guess is that I'll have some slightly raised house lights, and that's about it.

The ceiling is about 20-30 feet up, so it's not a good place to bounce light from.

My questions:

If you were in my shoes, what would you use for a lens? My gut is that I need to pick up a wide angle prime, something like 28mm @ f/2.8 or lower, and move the ISO up towards the high end. I don't have a tremendous amount of cash, but I might prefer a faster lens over a lower f stop to at least make sure I can get focus in low lighting. My experience has been that cheap primes don't move fast in anything but great lighting.

Will that flash light the place enough? I'm not excited about the head on lighting, but I probably don't have much choice. Would a diffuser be recommended?

Thanks in advance. Greatly appreciated!

 

[pakman]

Got a friend who could lend you a 28-70 f2.8L ?

Although I'm wondering from your distance if 28mm would be wide enough. Maybe a 17-40 f4 L? Any local camera stores that rent lenses?

as for diffusers, I had some sucess with the stofen omni-bounce on my 430EX pointed directed at subjects where there were no walls/ceilings available. But I'll let the experts chime in on what the best method would be to soften the 580EX flash in your case.

 

[Jake]

Thanks pakman. I've never tried looking into lens rentals. I'll look around for that.

Also, before I get flamed for where this thread is, let me just mention that justleesa was kind enough to move it over here to try and get me more results. (Thanks!)

 

[stiebs]

If I was doing the shoot I'd put 50/f1.7 (Pentax) on one body and 16-45/f4 on another.

You've got a difficult distance to work with. At 20ft, you should have a good full frame with a 50mm. Whe the models are at the front of the stage you've got a good close-up. Unfortunately you'll probably want the full-frames when they're mid-way, which means the 25-35mm range is what you'd want.

The 18-55mm will cover the range, and unless you're doing some flash-less shooting, you won't really need a fast lens. Stopping the 18-55 down to even f8 with your 580.

I'm no Canon expert, but if you can run your flash wireless (or at least wired remote) that would be better than a diffuser or bounce off such a high ceiling. What I'll often do is diffuse my on-camera flash enough for a very soft fill and to trigger a remote Metz 54-MZ4.

If you're running the flash straight off the hotshoe, you can drop $20-$50 on a diffuser, or you can chop the top of a Pringles packet and use tape. Works a charm.

So if I was in your shoes, I'd throw a diffuser on the flash, pop the 50mm on the camera and the 18-55 in the bag. Check out the 50mm for range, and swap it out for the 18-55 if it doesn't suit.

 

[alcina]

If you haven't already, head to www.fredmiranda.com and check out the people forum - lots of shooters there doing club work...every skill level imaginable.

 

[bladephotog]

I'd use a medium lengh telephoto zoom and wireless strobe. When I shoot this kind of thing if the light is bad I put one or both of my 580's on a stand at a 45 degree angle to the stage, not bounced, and use the Canon wireless transmitter to fire them.

If you're stuck right at the runway you might have to use a wide. But a telephoto zoom will help you clean up the background and won't distort the models like a wide angle would. But I would shoot some wide angle overall stuff to get the feeling of the show.

Now, if you can't work a wireless set up then use an off camera cord with the flash. A fairly sharp angle on the flash from the camera will help you avoid any shadows in the frame. You can either hold the flash yourself, or put it on a stand or have someone hold it.

Just make sure you use enough ambient light to get the mood of the club scene. You don't want to completely overpower everything with your strobe. It's a balancing act between shutter speed, aperature, ISO and flash compensation. And if I could shoot the models in one spot on the runway that is ideal, I would seriously consider shooting the flash in manual mode once I got my exposure locked in.

When shooting any assignment I have three things drilled into my head I look for: overalls, portraits and details. Meaning get a wide, scene-setter type shot, tighter portrait type shot, and very tight detail shot of something meaningful. Having these three types of shots makes for a nice presentation and helps you tell the story.

Good luck.

 

[AUTiger]

You might also check out the forums at dpreview.com. They have a wide variety of photographers who are willing to contribute advice.

David

 

[JMD123]

Got a friend who could lend you a 28-70 f2.8L ?

Although I'm wondering from your distance if 28mm would be wide enough. Maybe a 17-40 f4 L? Any local camera stores that rent lenses?

as for diffusers, I had some sucess with the stofen omni-bounce on my 430EX pointed directed at subjects where there were no walls/ceilings available. But I'll let the experts chime in on what the best method would be to soften the 580EX flash in your case.

I think the new L lens is a 24 to 70. With the conversion on your camera it should be just right. Not sure how much money you want to spend but samy's camera can rent you everything you need. i think you need one more body with a 50m 1.2 on it. you can also rent lighting there.

 

[pakman]

JMD, oops... thanks for the correction.. the new L is indeed a 24-70.

 

[Mariozi]

I would go for the 50mm/1.8 and work my feet to get to the right place to shoot it with natural light, maybe using the flash for a nice little (-1.5) fill.
I own one Nikkor AF 50mm/1.8D, I call it the best lens you can get for under U$100.
in a digital body it is pretty attractive with the cropping factor.
Remember, no camera body has such a thing as "perspective control"... those are nothing but your feet!!!

Another option is the 70-300mm/4.5-5.6 with your 580EX, but

The runway is probably about 15 feet long and about 3 feet off the ground. The platform I'll be on is at about the same height, about 5 feet from the end of the strip.

I think at 5ft away you might even have to back up a little with the 50mm on a DSLR, and you will get a different lighting from everyone else, and you can try blurring with slow speeds... and more creative techs.

Good Luck