Shooting in a family room, or kitchen, or kid's room

[scootermcq]

Originally Posted by sharse

Thank you for your comments. I will be buying either a 50mm 1.4 or 85mm 1.8, which should help immensely with lower light conditions.

(I know this is the lighting section, but any thoughts about those two lenses? I'm leaning toward the 85mm so I won't have to be in my subject's face... but if my subject allows me in their face, all the better!)

Um, you might be in trouble composing images in most living rooms with this selection. They are a little long for small rooms, especially the 85mm.



Camera Nikon D300
Exposure 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 92 mm
ISO Speed 200
Subject Distance 2 m

This was at 92 mm in an average living room I was 2m or 6.5 feet and it is just a head and shoulders shot. You will have a hard time fitting a couple or family in the frame at 85mm in a 12' distance.

BTW that image is a single speedlight bounced.

[sharse]

Thanks! Yes, it's becoming pretty clear that I need to think of a 50mm or a 35mm. My workhorse of an 18-135 will be great too, but it only goes to f/3.5 and I want something faster to supplement.

[bhursey]

If you do not have time or room or the situation is dynamic I would say decent lense and flash bounce.

[graciousness]

Whenever children are involved, you seriously don't want to or have time to follow them around with off-camera lighting such as softboxes and any other diffusers whether they be on light stands or clamps. You really just want to keep it simple.

If you have an assistant, you can use your flash off camera hand held by assistant.

However, since this may not be the case, learn to bounce your flash really well and yes, have a decent lens.

Having a really wide aperture with your lens is great with low lighting, however, do keep in mind that the wider the aperture (lower f/stop), the narrower the depth of field. It's harder to focus when your depth of field is so shallow so imagine trying to focus with that on a moving child.

In having said that, there will be instances that it may be difficult to bounce light off indoors due to coloured walls, etc. Then you have to rely on shooting in a very well lit room and using fill flash, or just go outdoors. Homes doesn't necessarily have to mean indoors. I would consider buying a big white foam board to bounce off in situations you have nothing else to bounce off on.

I can't recommend a lens to you. It really all depends on what your style is, etc, and what your budget is. However, if I were buying lens for this purpose, I would go for a 24-70mm L f/2.8 because it's fast, obviously you can use wider or longer without changing lens, and this is a great lens that is good for low light situations. Anything else, I wouldn't know what to recommend. Prime lenses are fabulous, but then they are prime lenses and it's really ahrd to say which ONE lens would be good to have when homes are just all so different and spaces all vary. I'd only consider a prime if the shoots are in my controlled environment/space and I know what I can work with.

Anyhoo, hope this helps. Good luck!

Cheers,

Grace

[sharse]

All of this talk about bouncing (I have green walls in my family room!) has me investigating options today. I'm intrigued by the Rogue Flashbenders.

Has anyone used them? I did a search for them here on the forum and I didn't find any posts about them.

[scootermcq]

Similar idea....I have made and used this:

DIY Reflector-Diffuser

Which works well in a pinch. Not as good as a well bounced flash, but better than direct flash when you have nothing to work with (dark walls etc)

Here is an example of a wedding in a banquet room with yellow walls to work with

[ccting]

Originally Posted by graciousness

However, if I were buying lens for this purpose, I would go for a 24-70mm L f/2.8 because it's fast, ...
Grace

That's why I recommend the first time buyers to take this len instead of kit len. I have a huge DIY bounce back card but too ashame to use it ..

[ccting]

Originally Posted by scootermcq

BTW that image is a single speedlight bounced.

beautiful..


On camera Wall bounce..using widest aperture f/5.6, 55mm, ISO 400, VR KIT LEN 18-55mm

I wander why the IRIS of asian ppl is not as clear as others..Or it is my technique problem? Or because of the len or aperture?

[brianxlt]

A nice camera mount flash bracket and light modifiers should do you good. You can make flash modifiers your self - youtube light modifiers brings up a lot of options.