Prom...........

[rylan]

well ill be shooting my brothers prom in june, and im wondering how can i prepare for this, and i need some suggestions with technique and everything. ive never shot something like this before so it will be an expierience for me
it will be in june so the grass will be green and ill be shooting outdoors
any help and suggestions will be greatly appreciated !

-Rylan

[gahspidy]

Great Rylan, these type of things are great experience. Outdoors can be great and tricky depending on the weather conditions. Bright sunny clear days will make for very contrasty shots where there will be blown out highlights and shadows with no detail. Overcast days can render a scene flat.
You will want to have a flash, preferably an external hotshoe flash such as the 430EX with a diffuser, but if you going to be relying on the built in flash from the camera, you can probably pull away some good shots as well.
First thing is to set your White Balance. If it is sunny, or cloudy set it as needed.Your camera has setting for different outdoor conditions.
If it is bright and sunny you will want your iso at 100, if it is overcast and cloudy a setting of 200-400 will be more suitable.
I would shoot in aperture priority mode and just adjust your aperture to what you think the particuliar scene should benefit from. More dof, less dof etc. Also, have the flash up all the time and the camera will use it to "fill" in the shadows rather than light the entire subject with it. This is ideal for outdoors in the day. If you notice the flash is too bright on your subjects in your lcd screen you can dial in Flash exposure compensation and reduce the flash output, -1/2 fstop, -1 fstop etc.
Get alot of shots. Don't stand around with the camera waiting for the ideal moments or you will miss them. By the time you recognize a great moment it is usually too late. Take the typical portraits of your brother and his friends but then after you feel you alot of good standard shots you can get more creative. Use wide angle, zoom in tight, try for some silhouettes by shooting subjects with the light behind them and exposing for the light. Just have fun as well.
You will have alot of time to get friendly with the camera and it's settings so I would suggest go outside sometimes with a friend or two and shoot pics as if it were the party. By the time the day comes along you will be more comfortable with camera in the situation.

[rylan]

thanks so much gary there is a ton of great tips! i love the idea of the silhouettes.
im gonna try to take some pics out doors im gonna invest in a 430ex, alot of my friends from saint john here use them and they say they rock! i appreciate the time you took to give me some tips

[gahspidy]

thanks so much gary there is a ton of great tips! i love the idea of the silhouettes.
im gonna try to take some pics out doors im gonna invest in a 430ex, alot of my friends from saint john here use them and they say they rock! i appreciate the time you took to give me some tips

Great, that flash will help you alot. It will help even more with an effective diffuser for it, so look into that as well. I personally use the GaryFong LightSphere(cloud) with my 580 EX ll and find it really works good. I had the Stofen Omni-bounce with my 420 EX and did not like it very much. It is more of a cap that really reduces the output but does not do a whole lot of diffusing.

[Grandpaw]

You have already been given some good advise. I would like to add that I don't shoot anything without having a backup of each piece of equipment you will need to get the job done and extra batteries and memory. Also have a plan in case it rains and everything is moved inside. Your backup doesn't need to be the same as what you intend to use but it does need to be able to get what you need done, Jeff

[rylan]

it will all be out side, because if it rains they have a rain date schedualed!

so either way ill be outside shooting most of them will be under a huge tree

[Frog]

Advice above is good. My only advice is to find a good background and make sure it is in the shade, preferably light shade, if its a sunny day.

[brmill26]

The above tips are great. The only thing I'll add is that since you mentioned you'll be under a tree, keep a very keen eye on your exposure to make sure you're not clipping too much on the highlights or shadows. You can do that by using the camera's built-in histogram. Further, if the day is bright with some passing clouds, your exposure will change even more as the clouds come and go.

[rylan]

alright thanks alot guys! i appreciate the help

[WesternGuy]

rylan, not sure what type of images you are going to capture, or even where this event is to occur...is the emphasis on your brother and his date, or do want to capture more of the general event as well? One thing I would do is visit the place where the prom is going to happen and check out possible sites for capturing images, e.g., higher ground where you can get above the crowd and take wider angle shots, places where various side events such as presentations, any speeches, places for portraits, group photos, etc., are going to occur. Take some pics of the place when you visit so you can remember where things are - you might even want to sketch out a crude map and place your pre-prom images on them, e.g., this is what I can see from here...this is where there are some good trees/bushes/ flowers, etc. As well, sunlight can produce harsh shadows, so the shade of a nice big tree is always useful (therefore fill flash). With the crude map and an understanding of where everything is, you can plan a lot before you get there and then you are not spending a lot of time hunting for places. Depending on when you make the visit, I would go back the day before, or the day of if possible, to make sure that things have not changed - maybe someone has planted a big tree that wasn't there before, maybe there are new/different flowers/bushes in bloom.

Do you have any flash equipment? Fill flash can be an important element at functions such as these, particularly if you are going to take portrait or small group photos. Make use of any natural vegetation, trees, flowers, bushes, etc. A portrait framed by trees on each side looks a lot better than a simple portrait as the trees add to the sense of place. Also, having some flowers or bushes as a background, particularly if you can fade them to bokeh using various DOFs always adds to the image (IMHO). :thumbsup:


I would also agree very strongly with Grandpaw, have backups for everything and a backup plan in case it rains :thumbsup: . Make sure you have your batteries for your camera and your flash fully charged the day before. Personally, I would want at least three sets for my flash and three for my camera, but then that is just me :blush2: .

You could also Google this item on the web and see what other advice you can get. Best of good luck and, come June, let us know how it all worked out.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

[Grandpaw]

I thought of one more very important thing that goes for any shoot like this. Get in touch with the person in charge and see if there is any program or information that will make sure you are where you need to be if there are things happening at certain times. There is nothing like something important going on and your in the wrong place, Jeff

[rylan]

thanks guys!

well its the same place were i had my prom 2 and half years ago so i know the spots, it will be just pictures of my brother and his girlfriend. i dont have flash yet but im going this weekend maybe to pic up a 430ex speed light......if the guy emails me back haha.
so yeah i will know when everything is going on too so ill be there for every second of it.

[WesternGuy]

rylan, one thing to add (I always think of other things afterwards). If you are going to do any portraits of your brother and his girlfriend, then you might want to get a tripod for these. If you don't have one, you can either buy one, there are some good inexpensive ones around, or...maybe someone will lend you one for the day.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

[livin4lax09]

off camera flash. about a stop under ambient, with an uncovered 430ex shooting at about 7' at a 45 degree angle from you. Should work like a charm. Make sure you have some nice skies in your background. That's what the 1 stop under ambient will do.