Indoor Party Tips - HELP!

[rocket74]

I'm an amateur and recently bought my first DSLR (Canon T2i). In addition to the kit lens, I have a 50mm f/1.8 lens and a 55-250mm lens. I also bought a 430EX flash. I've been tasked with photographing a party for my wife's business next week. It will be held in a small room with 11 foot ceilings. I've been practicing with the kit and prime lenses, and using the Av mode to get shallow depth of field.

My problem is, at any aperture, the shutter speed is too slow with the lighting in the room, even using the flash. I could switch to manual, but as I'm brand new to this, I'm worried about getting the settings correct.

Can anyone help me with what I'm doing wrong with Av? Or give me a small range of settings I should use (and which lens would be best)? I have a few days to practice, but this is an important event for my wife - so I can't afford to screw it up!

Also, should I buy a diffuser for my flash or will bouncing it be enough?

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Rehesan]

I am an enthusiast amateur as well, so, I have not much experience shooting events, but I would say or suggest you to use the prime lenses, mainly due the fact it will be an indoor party. I think a prime lense will do a better job than the extensive use of flash. Personally I like more the images produced by a prime lens in a low light conditions, than the bright flash photos using a normal lense, I mean I do not like to use the flash when I am taking photos indoors.

Hope this helps a little.

[mLynnWalker]

@Rocket74:

I have a 430 as well. You can use either lens, and I would stay in Av mode and set the flash for manual (see flash owners manual). You can set the power of flash in increments depending on the light or lack of it in the room. The cool thing is that if you take a shot and it is too bright or too dark you have several options: adjust flash unit power, adjust exposure compensation +/- , adjust f/stop number (smaller # = more light/ big # less light), or increase/decrease ISO. Bouncing flash (turn swivel head to face what's behind you or straight up and down) turns walls and ceilings into a softbox of sorts illuminating the room with diffuse light. Take a couple test shots and look at your histogram for exposure. Since you have a zoom lens you can set the 430 for focal length if you wish (read owners manual). Canon ISO 100-800 with flash produces no-to-very little noise so crank it up if needed. I hope this helps some. Oh do set your metering for evaluative or average. If you have questions you can email me and I'll try to help to the best of my own knowledge (intermediate) mlynwalker@gmail.com
Good luck and have fun with it.

[mLynnWalker]

Oh by the way if you go into flash control on the camera and set it for "highspeed synch" you can use the full ETTL evaluative function in camera and on flash without having to go manual or get that slow curtain effect. Flash control is under my menu, ctrl function, flash buttons. Your camera's manual should direct you.

[OsmosisStudios]

Do yourself a favour: throw it into manual mode with the flash. That's the only way youre going to get the flash to help you. Bounce it straight up to the ceiling, possible with the 50mm lens set to f/2.8. if it's too dark, raise the ISO a bit. If it's too bright, stop the lens down.

[crisinmardel]

You could try the drag the shutter technique-it´s helped me lots of times when ur not to sure what settings to use..I love the "natural look" when using flash. Basically you use program mode-P, let the camera meter the room-scene etc., take a look at what the shutter speed and f-stop, then go to manual and put the same f-stop, now for example if the shutter speed is 1/60- dial in 1/15 to "drag the shutter" actually what it does is let more ambient lighting in the image-don´t worry about getting blurry shots-the flash will freeze motion. as for iso start at 400 if it´s still too dark, u can raise it or bump up the exposure compensation..and don´t forget practice,practice practice good luck!

[i speak in math]

If you have a TTL flash, the camera is probably trying to intelligently balance the ambient light with the flash to avoid bad lighting. Thus, its using a long shutter to let in the ambient. But if the shutter is too slow, why not use Shutter Priority instead of Aperture Priority and tell the camera you want a faster shutter?

[rocket74]

Thanks for all the advice.

I was playing around this weekend using M, f/4-4.5, and shutter speeds from 1/15-1/100 (iso 400). Then I adjusted the flash exposure +2/3. I was happy with what I was seeing, but I was photographing objects since I didn't have people around. I now see how the lower shutter speeds let in more ambient light, and the result is a much warmer picture, which I like for this event coming up.

How slow of a shutter speed can I do without risking blurring? Any other tips for when there are actually people in the room?

This exercise has been a good one for me, as I've been forced to use manual, and am starting to get a much better feel of the exposure interplay, and how to play around with those.