21st Birthday Outdoor location - terrible lighting

[JeannieK]

I have been asked to photograph a 21st next week Friday. I have been to the location many times where parties have been held and the lighting is terrible.

How can I avoid "orange-red" skin tone? Will setting my Custom WB with a grey card helpt at all? I will be using my 50mm 1.8 because of the wide aperture and perhaps my 18-55mm and 55-250mm with 430 ex speedlite.

I want to take good qaulity photos without having to push up my iso. I am using a Canon 400D.

[Rentham]

Setting your WB to tungsten should probably get you pretty close to neutral. If you use your speedlite, which I strongly recommend, you'll also want to gel to match the tungsten light. Even with the 50mm lens and the speedlite, you will most likely still have to bump your ISO a bit.

[JeannieK]

Yep I know I will have to push my iso up yet some pro's seem to think a lens with a wide aperture should do the trick but it doesn't help with all the noise you end up with.

At a wedding reception I had to push up my iso so much using the 50mm.

[Rentham]

Wait a minute. On re-reading the post, this venue is outdoor? Tungsten white balance wouldn't work here. What is contributing to the "terrible" lighting and reddish skin tone?

[JeannieK]

It is the outdoor lamposts that shine orange on everyone.

[form]

This is the whole purpose of better equipment: Lower noise, higher ISO limits, able to do more in more demanding environments.

CTO gel to flash, RAW capture, fast lens, high ISO. I regularly use ISO800-3200 for my work and I am in many wedding reception halls with tungsten (orange) lighting. The lamps are either tungsten or fluorescent anywhere: If they're orange, they're almost always throwing tungsten white balance. CTO gels match flash to tungsten. Shoot RAW, tungsten white balance.

[JeannieK]

Well if I had money I'd invest in better equipment...

Thanks for the advice. I will shoot in RAW which will also be a first. I should have enough. memory. Is there anything I should be warned about shooting in RAW? Once I download the photos what are the next steps to saving and converting the files. Sorry to be such a pain the ass...