OMG, I invited to a kiddy party!

[docxnoel]

Let me preface....I am no expert at all in photography and I only have little knowledge, I just getting a serious last January and I have no plan to get photography into business., so here it is... I usually posted pictures in FB for friends viewing and to track my progress in photography, and my friends notice that I'm improving ( I hope it's not just a friendly comment, an ego boosting compliment) , my friends little son is celebrating his first birthday and he invites me to the party and also ask favor to take pictures too, I said yes, there is no money involve, just for friendship. (all they want is to take pictures). For me, even there is no money involve and even they ask just for pictures, I want to deliver them a quality images, can you please suggest what are the things I can do for this kind of event, It is indoor gatherings, nightime, just at home, also I don't have flashes except for the one attaches on my camera, and I only have 18-55 mm lens. Please help me and I think it is a good chance for me to have a practice. Thank you in advance, all your input are appreciated.

[JFSanders]

Make a bounce card out of white card stock or white plastic to fit under your flash at a 45 degree angle. This will bounce your flash up to the ceiling and keep you from pancaking the little person's face. Make sure you have your white balance set to the light temperature in the house. Shoot as wide as your lens will let you go. Get close so your flash has a chance to do its job. Get there early and experiment with tracking the little people. Get down on their level so all of your shots are not looking down on them. Good luck!

Jim

[docxnoel]

Thanks Jim for sharing, sometimes I'm afraid to use the built in flash because it may flatten my image, but with your suggestions, I think it was very helpful, I'm going to experiment for that before I'm going to the party.

[JFSanders]

Just another suggestion. If you can find a small plastic cup that is semi-clear that you can rig up on your pop up flash it may just create enough diffusion to keep from pancaking your subject.

Jim

[UlpilotSC]

I used a #10 envelope before. The result was Very different. I love the cup idea...

[jojonac]

I agree with the above posts about trying to find a defuser, or bounce for your flash. If the house is really well lit, you may be able to get away with using a higher ISO and no flash, but most likely it will take a combo of both.

Remember to shoot at the the lowest aperture number you can get. Also the tip about getting down on the same level as the little ones is a great tip. To often you only see pictures of kids from above.

Good luck, and Im looking forward to the results on flickr.

jojo

[docxnoel]

It is very informative, another question, most of the time I shoot and practicing in manual, since most of my subject is not moving and does not need to be quick, in this particular situation like birthday party and from the above suggestions of having my aperture as wide as it go, would you recommend of using aperture priority mode instead of manual in most of the scenario? I know my questions are sometimes self answerable, but I need an answers from you which have the experiences, thank you and your suggestions are very helpful to me.

[gturner]

Originally Posted by docxnoel

It is very informative, another question, most of the time I shoot and practicing in manual, since most of my subject is not moving and does not need to be quick, in this particular situation like birthday party and from the above suggestions of having my aperture as wide as it go, would you recommend of using aperture priority mode instead of manual in most of the scenario? I know my questions are sometimes self answerable, but I need an answers from you which have the experiences, thank you and your suggestions are very helpful to me.

I think you need to get your expectations in order. Shooting moving subjects with nothing but an on-board flash is tough. It would help if you could rent or borrow a external flash to mount in the hotshoe.

Try and get poses out of the kids, get them to put arms around each other, let them see who can pull the silliest face... those will be great memories.

Get the cake under some bright lights, no flash and take pics of the details (assuming there is a cake)

A child darting across a dark room is not going to be a good photo or a good memory.

[docxnoel]

I got amazed on what I got, very effective, this bounce card really helps, now I can use my built in flash in a way that I'm not worry to flatten and pancaking my subjects, here are the test shots, Thak you Jim and for the rest who give time for sharing the ideas.

without popping the built in flash


firing the built in flash


firing the built in flash with bounce card at 45 degrees

[JFSanders]

Very good! And yes go with auto if you have to. Let the camera make the choices while you concentrate on composition and subject. Shoot in RAW if you can so that if the camera guesses wrong you can change the exposure and the white balance in post processing.

Shooting in A mode the camera may give you a slow shutter speed depending on light availability but with your new found bounce card setting your flash setting to rear curtain will use all the ambient available and then punch up the subject to get a good exposure.

Have you tried the plastic cup yet? This will give you more throw than the bounce card but you may not need it if the rooms are small (under 15 feet in any direction)

Remember if you shoot RAW don't let the wb bother you if you look at the LCD screen and the colors are weird. It will be fixable in post.

Also, don't forget to focus on the eye of the subject. Everyone expects the eyes to be sharp.

Jim