Advice Needed asap.....

[Browno]

Hi guys, I need a little advice on taking some formal shots tonight. I'm going to a dinner evening with a lady friend of mine and for the first time ever I'm wearing a Tuxedo. I'd like to get some nice formal shots of the both of us before we go out but having messed about for a quite some time with my camera I can't seem to get the lighting right. I am pretty much a complete beginner to photography so I'm a little bit stuck with my limited knowledge and it's very frustrating
I only have the normal lighting of the room I'll be in (ie no special back lighting or reflectors etc) and the flash on my camera. Firstly I'd like to know what would be the best colour background to use if I can find a choice (we will both be wearing black) and what settings to use (I've read up and it seems f11 is a good focal length as a start ?). Also what would be the best way to angle my flash if at all ? Any other tips or suggestions would be gratefully recieved. Please don't get too technical with the jargon though as a lot of it goes over my head at the moment.

My equipment consists of...

Camera- Nikon D80
Lens- Sigma DC 18-200 1:3.5-6.3 (I only have this lens at the moment)
Flash- Digital TTL/Auto focus (it's only cheap but all I could afford)

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help me out with this.

Kind Regards

[Jim Poor]

Originally Posted by Browno

Hi guys, I need a little advice on taking some formal shots tonight. I'm going to a dinner evening with a lady friend of mine and for the first time ever I'm wearing a Tuxedo. I'd like to get some nice formal shots of the both of us before we go out but having messed about for a quite some time with my camera I can't seem to get the lighting right. I am pretty much a complete beginner to photography so I'm a little bit stuck with my limited knowledge and it's very frustrating
I only have the normal lighting of the room I'll be in (ie no special back lighting or reflectors etc) and the flash on my camera. Firstly I'd like to know what would be the best colour background to use if I can find a choice (we will both be wearing black) and what settings to use (I've read up and it seems f11 is a good focal length as a start ?). Also what would be the best way to angle my flash if at all ? Any other tips or suggestions would be gratefully recieved. Please don't get too technical with the jargon though as a lot of it goes over my head at the moment.

My equipment consists of...

Camera- Nikon D80
Lens- Sigma DC 18-200 1:3.5-6.3 (I only have this lens at the moment)
Flash- Digital TTL/Auto focus (it's only cheap but all I could afford)

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help me out with this.

Kind Regards

Background - white or other very light color.

F11 is NOT a focal length, it's an aperture setting. With one on camera flash, I don't think you probably have enough power to stop down that far. Try something more like f4 or f5.6.

Bounce your flash of the ceiling or off the wall behind the camera if it's not too far away.

To practice, stick something black and something more neutral color in front of your background and play with settings until it looks right.

A black chair with a tan stuffed animal in it would work great. Any old chair with a black cloth over it with said stuffed animal would work too.

[inkista]

White balancing is going to be an issue, especially if you're mixing your flash with the lights in the room. If you have an orange gel to color the flash warmer to match your room lighting it would be a good idea to use it. At any rate, shoot RAW so you can white balance in post.

As for bouncing, if the flash's head tilts and swivels, think of where you'd put a studio light/softbox, and then point the head at that spot. You may also want to flag off the flash so that the light only comes from the bounce surface, not directly from the flash. Whatever you do, don't bounce straight up into the ceiling. That'll make the light come from directly overhead, and you'll get racoon eyes.

[Browno]

Thanks for that advice, it was very usefull. I'm going to make myself a snoot and try that out too. Wish me luck, but if all else fails we'll be having plenty to drink later so I'll forget about it and try again another day.

P.S
Focal length/aperture, I didn't realised I'd written the wrong one down sorry. Too much going through my head but I do know which is which honest