Event Photography

In 2013, I decided to master my Camera. Not once did I think I would be Photographing a Wedding or an Event of some kind. This was outside my thinking and Comfort Zone.

To my great surprise, I have experienced the thrill of documenting Business and Sporting Lunches in the last four years of my journey.

A Wedding.

Live Music Events.

and now a Birthday Party.

My friend Catherine celebrated her Birthday last weekend. The venue was Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly.

It was great fun.

Now here comes the interesting part; my gear and Event Workflow. I would never have been able to write what I am about to share. I took me time to learn it, understand it and put into practice.

In the opening image you can see my Event Set-Up.

To me, this is a no brainer.

The Lens choice is industry standard - the classic Nikon 24-70mm F2.8. I could have done the job easily with my Sigma 35mm 1.4 Art - I chose the 24-70mm because I just felt I might not have enough room to navigate. I was right because The Wine Bar was spacious and yet, I found myself shooting a number of times at 24mm which felt perfect. This gave me a little flexibility to zoom in a little with my feet.

There were a number of moments where 35mm was perfect. I simply adjusted my zoom and framed the scene with a few steps backwards or forwards as required.

The Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 is a superb Lens - I had it paired with my Nikon D700. They make a formidable partnership.

Some moments were perfect for 50mm.

This is an easy Lens to use - I set it to my desired focal length and then frame the shot.

There is one extra addition to my Event Workflow; My Speed-Light. I would never, under any circumstances leave home without my Speed-Light; I don’t care how fast my Lens speed is.

When shooting any kind of Event, all Photographers are at the mercy of the Light in room. Not only that, without my Speed-Light, I would be shooting at F2.8 all night which would impact my depth of field for group shots.

So with my Camera, Lens and Speed Light, I also use the wonderful Mag Dome Modifier. The White Silicone Dome which sits on top of Speed Light. I think of this as my portable fluffy Cloud. Just like the Clouds in the sky on a bright sunny day, my Mag Dome softens the spread of Light on my subjects.

So now, allow me share my settings.

The first thing I do is check the ambience of the room. I noticed the warm tones of the wood panelled walls. I knew this would make my images “warmer”. I didn’t worry about it. The Light levels were typical Wine Bar slightly low level settings.

So my Camera settings were all manual:

Aperture F8

Shutter Speed 1/25th no lower than 1/100.

I set my ISO to 200 - I wanted to see how much light in the room my Sensor could capture. It was very dark with these settings.

I set my ISO to 800 - much better legibility. I went to 1200 ISO and decided to leave it at 800.

That’s my settings for the room.

Once I set my Flash on my Camera, I did a quick test shot in TTL just see how everything looked; TTL was perfect. I dialled in 1/8th Power on the Flash with a little FEC - Flash Exposure Compensation and everything looked pretty close to what my eyes saw.

The most important thing in all this is to set my Camera to shoot RAW. This is imperative because there is the possibility that I may need to adjust the White Balance. I take no chances.The White Balance is the foundation for great looking colour images.

The Raw Files give me flexibility and confidence providing, my exposure and focus is on point.

I am very happy with these images. Also, having the skill set to create images in challenging Lighting conditions is part of my photographic maturity. I am still practicing and take every opportunity to flex my skills.

I must thank my great teachers for the coaching in this: Bryan F Peterson, Neil Van Nierkerk and the Jedi Master of Speed Light Photography David Hobby. These three gentleman through their books and websites taught this complex topic of On-Camera and Off-Camera Flash with great simplicity it made sense to me.

Final thoughts; Light is Light.

Natural Light and Artificial Light can play well together or independently of each other. I believe for my Photography, learning and understanding the nuances of both, arms me to make the best decision for my creative expression.

Thanks for reading. ⚡️⚡️⚡️