Need some advice on photography. :)

[gerald91]

Hi all,

Hi all,

Few months ago I bought a DSLR and now some of my family member
task me to be the photographer for my grandfather death anniversary service and it be held in a church chapel.

There's a few NOOB questions in my mind, I want to ask as I am still very new to photography (still in the mist of learning the use of the "M"mode) and I don't wish to screw things up

Currently I owned a 650D with the 18-55 kit lens & the 50mm lens.

1) which lens should I use?

2) I only have one battery & one 8gb memory card with me. Should I buy another battery & memory card.
( it will be a 1hr+ service. )

3) is there a need to use the camera flash? The place I will be in is full of celling lights.

4) as I am still new in photography, Isit better to go with the auto mode?

5) is there a need for a tripod?

Err....Sorry, if I ask any stupid questions.

Thanks alot!!!

 

[brown19e]

hey gerald, amateur photographer here too.

firstly, if you really do not want to screw things up, switch to AUTO. Of course I wouldn't recommend that if you want to learn. I usually snap on Aperture mode (A), which allows you to shoot without tweaking too much of the shutter speed. (lesser options, lesser screwing up).

1. I would recommend a 1.8/f 50mm, if you do not mind going up close and moving about. This lens does not allow zooming, but provides some of the best pictures as well as background blur (bokeh).

2. the normal battery should be able to last you a few good hours. however.. would recommend you bring along another. You'll never know what might happen. same goes for the memory card.

3. external flash units are always recommended over camera flash. if you have, bring it. if not.. the 1.8/f 50mm lens should allow you to shoot in low lighting areas well enough actually.

4. as above

5. tripod is a good to have, especially when you have areas with poor lighting. however, you can always make do with your surroundings. look around and keep your eye open!

Use Manual mode only when you're out shooting in your own time and space. Manual takes into a lot of considerations such as the amount of light coming in - which you would have to adjust your ISO, Aperture as well as Shutter. Using Manual during an event for someone who's new to photography is not ideal..

just some advice another amateur photographer can give. I'm sure the other experts can advice better! : )

 

[silencer13]

Since you're shooting such an important and one-off event, my advice to you is - prepare for the worst possible scenario.

That means extra battery, extra memory card, even extra camera if you can.

If you're not familiar with your camera, always go with auto. No choice, better to have some good shots than none at all. Also set your camera to save in JPG + RAW. You'll be surprised how much can be rescued from a RAW file.

Use the 50/1.8 lens. Better picture quality and low-light performance. Practise a little before the event, so you can gauge the focal length and distance you need to stand.

You don't really need a flash, but if you have one just bring it anyway.
I think having a flash in a memorial service is a bit disrupting.

Same with tripod, if you have one just bring it. Most of the time you won't need it, but then the family might decide to take a group shot and the tripod + flash will come in handy.

 

[AlpineEscape]

the church should be quite spacious and can move about freely. either lens would be fine. but i would think the safer bet is the 18-55 kit lens, if it is IS version (image stabilization) ... which gives u 4 stops advantage (eg. f1.4 @ 1/60 sec equivalent exposure could be f5.6 @ 1/60sec minus the bokeh effect of wide apperture).

if you set flash to off, even at 55mm of zoom (f5.6) and shutter speed metering shows you 1/8sec, you should still get pretty decent shots capturing almost everything to be within focus, because of the IS 4 stop advantage. at 18mm widest, you are at an even better advantage since the aperture is wider at 18mm.

f2.8 to f1 are superb for portraits. but the shallow depth of field (dof) will run the risk of not capturing the event. meaning if u take a pic with people distributed from nearer to further from you, wherever you focus, those that are out from the dof zone will be blurred (the bokeh effect, background and foreground). if this was intended, then well, if not, wasted shots.

be at the event location 30min in advance and you can test shoot to see if this makes sense. in between, you can still switch the camera to full auto and shoot with flash as backup pics, these won't look as nice, but will bound to capture the folks at the event. then flip back to flash off mode. that's the only 2 modes to play with if you like to keep things simple.

if you plan as above, 200-300shots with ur battery should be more than enough, provided you don't use Live View, which consumes a lot more power. also assuming your battery hasn't deteriorated too much. for casual and occasional users, the battery life is quite sustained over 1-2years without significant deterioration. but there are odd ones that can be bad, eventhough they are canon battery and not 3rd party ones.

good luck!

 

[gerald91]

brown19e, silencer13 & AlpineEscape, Thank you your great advice.
have already bought an extra battery & memory card...

wish me good luck!!!

 

[silencer13]

brown19e, silencer13 & AlpineEscape, Thank you your great advice.
have already bought an extra battery & memory card...

wish me good luck!!!

Good luck!

 

[AlpineEscape]

enjoy and have a good one!

oh ... I believe 650D defaults metering and focusing using all the 9 cross type sensor. Make sure when you view, the right sensors are focusing on your subject. Sometimes the sensors get too intelligent and pick out other objects to focus and cause your intended subject to be out of focus. one way is to change the focusing to using only the 1 center sensor. to keep it simple, maintain all 9 sensors, but watch and confirm the sensor is focusing the correct subject before snapping. if you keep focusing and it keeps picking out the wrong subject to focus, switch to center only sensor or the correct sensor.

 

[brown19e]

brown19e, silencer13 & AlpineEscape, Thank you your great advice.
have already bought an extra battery & memory card...

wish me good luck!!!

gd luck and most importantly be relaxed when moving around shooting!

 

[Avatar e Last Trollbender]

Hi, I would recommend these for event shooting:

- Use the 18-55mm lens as it is more versatile. Can bring 50mm as spare if you want.
- Indoors can attempt to use flash, but the built-in flash will give pretty harsh light, unless you've an external flash unit.
- If using flash, set it to second or rear curtain. This will allow more light to enter your lens and brighten your background before the flash fires to light up your subject.
- Again, if using flash, try using manual mode with shutter speed set to about 1/30th seconds and aperture to f4 or to the smallest f number that your lens allows for. Use Auto ISO.
- If you're used to quickly changing your focus points, then use manual AF selection.
- For shooting people who are always moving, set your AF system to AI Focus or Servo if necessary.
- If shooting group photos, use f/8.

For future shoots, if relatives ask you to "help" shoot their wedding or whatever event, charge at least $120/hour. Not $50 and not for free. Factor in your travel costs. Taxi costs money. Time to edit photos etc cost money. As they say, time is money.

All the best. Cheers.

 

[AlpineEscape]

For future shoots, if relatives ask you to "help" shoot their wedding or whatever event, charge at least $120/hour. Not $50 and not for free. Factor in your travel costs. Taxi costs money. Time to edit photos etc cost money. As they say, time is money.

Have you got any friends or relatives left? LoL ...

 

[Avatar e Last Trollbender]

Have you got any friends or relatives left? LoL ...

Yes, plenty left who won't take advantage and won't expect free jobs to be provided.

For those who expect you to do things for free like you owe it to them or as though they bought you your camera and equipment, you can avoid them like the plague.

 

[AlpineEscape]

As long as it works for you ... lol ...

 

[Avatar e Last Trollbender]

You shoot for free?

 

[Airekris]

Hi, I would recommend these for event shooting:

- Use the 18-55mm lens as it is more versatile. Can bring 50mm as spare if you want.
- Indoors can attempt to use flash, but the built-in flash will give pretty harsh light, unless you've an external flash unit.
- If using flash, set it to second or rear curtain. This will allow more light to enter your lens and brighten your background before the flash fires to light up your subject.
- Again, if using flash, try using manual mode with shutter speed set to about 1/30th seconds and aperture to f4 or to the smallest f number that your lens allows for. Use Auto ISO.
- If you're used to quickly changing your focus points, then use manual AF selection.
- For shooting people who are always moving, set your AF system to AI Focus or Servo if necessary.
- If shooting group photos, use f/8.

For future shoots, if relatives ask you to "help" shoot their wedding or whatever event, charge at least $120/hour. Not $50 and not for free. Factor in your travel costs. Taxi costs money. Time to edit photos etc cost money. As they say, time is money.

All the best. Cheers.

If I might say something in all fairness. What give you the right to charge someone if you have no experience? I understand that our photos are pieces of art. But if your shots are crap because of don't have the necessary skills yet and you start charging your 120/hr rate, what are you trying to do? It's things like this which give photographers a bad name sometimes. Just as pro once told me, it's fine to do free jobs only once you have acquired the proper skill sets then start charging. There is no wrong in helping people shoot for free take it as opportunities to improve on your shooting skills

 

[Avatar e Last Trollbender]

If I might say something in all fairness. What give you the right to charge someone if you have no experience? I understand that our photos are pieces of art. But if your shots are crap because of don't have the necessary skills yet and you start charging your 120/hr rate, what are you trying to do? It's things like this which give photographers a bad name sometimes. Just as pro once told me, it's fine to do free jobs only once you have acquired the proper skill sets then start charging. There is no wrong in helping people shoot for free take it as opportunities to improve on your shooting skills

Hi, only you can give yourself the right to charge someone, and only you can give the others the right to have you work for them for free.

If a new photographer wants to learn, he can try shooting bonafide charities' events for free for a while. Even so, be prepared to have them attempt to take advantage of you. Because if they can pay for catered food, pay for tentages, pay for this, pay for that, but cannot pay the photographer for their event, then something is wrong somewhere.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think anyone, like relatives in this case, would entrust someone new to photography as the sole photographer to shoot their wedding, even if its for free. Then again, I've been proven wrong before.

Usually, its photographers who do things for free or charge dirt cheap which spoil the name and market for other photographers. Again, do correct me if I'm wrong, but clients would probably want to see a photographer's portfolio first before agreeing to hire and pay him a fair fee for his work and service.