Question by : what do my camera settings need to be on?!?! HELP PLEASE PHOTOGRAPHERS!?
http://www.dontstayin.com/usa/az/phoenix/a-secret-location/2010/jun/06/gallery-377367
im going to a rave tonight, and im spotting it! (taking pictures of the ravers there)
and i do pretty good already,
but i have NO idea how to capture the neon lights moving without the picture sucking,if you know what i mean, like you can see the person and the light show their giving,
help PLEASE! what settings does my camera (canon rebel xsi) have to be on? @#$ %&
Best answer:
Answer by Jeff B
If you are using a strobe light to light the crowd, then use your shutter speed to capture the ambient light (neon lights) and your apperature to control the lighting on the people. This works with all flash photography. Set the camera to manual OR to shutter priority (manual is better). Set the shutter speed to about 1/15 to 1/30 of a second, ISO to about 400 or so and your apperature to f/8 if you have a flash head that mounts on a flash shoe on the camera.
Shoot a couple, and look at the image on the LCD. Look at the neon lights. If they are TOO bright, adjust your shutter speed to about 1/45 or so of a second. or your ISO down 1 notch. If they are too dark, bump your ISO up 1 or 2 notches (800 or 1600) if you can.
When you run with a slow shutter speed you will end up with the people having “ghosts” or trails behind them, but the flash will FREEZE them and make a sharp image of them at that moment. The trails will be less visible if it is rather dark in the room, and the faster your shutter speed is.
You can practice this some in a darkened room that has a limited light source. Adjust the ISO and shutter speed to get the room to look decent (or at least the light source itself the room may be very dim still but the light might look good.. minimal blurr) and then fire the flash with someone moving (at dance speed) in the frame and see what it looks like like. Adjust the aperature so the person is not blown out. Remember that you will have a limited range (distance) infront of the camera inwhich to get the image properly exposed. But NO LESS then what you had when you were shooting before. You are simply more likely to pick up camera shake in the image.
Oh, set theh camera to FULL MANUAL (M) and adjust everything from there.
have fun and good luck.
Jeff
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
you’ll need to to shoot in manual, off the tripod.
slow shutter speed.. 1-3 seconds, possibly, with appropriate aperture.
and if you want to freeze motion, with the light flying all around, shoot in rear sync… you’ll get the whole lot of ambient light, with a well lit person that is in focus.