Advice Please

[David61]

Hi folks I need some advice,tonight I a going to the Burning of the Clocks,I know I will be on manual setting,but what other settings will be good. I will be using my 50mm so any advice will be great.

[ChrisLumix]

Hi folks I need some advice,tonight I a going to the Burning of the Clocks,I know I will be on manual setting,but what other settings will be good. I will be using my 50mm so any advice will be great.

 

Can you give us some idea of what kind of an event it is? Lighting, movement, distance, etc?

[David61]

The link will explain it better.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-30555569

[ChrisLumix]

I would say you probably want to have your EV set to -1/3 or -2/3, to avoid 'burning out' (no pun intended) the highlights of those candles etc (assuming you're reasonably close and are filling the frame with them). With a good lens and camera, you can afford wide apertures and high ISO, so I would be trying to ensure a minimum shutter speed of - e.g. - 1/30 to avoid movement blur.

 

You also want to decide about White Balance - whether you want the exaggerated oranges of candle-light/firelight, or want to compensate for it somewhat. I'd not want to lose too much of that atmosphere personally, so I'd want to keep some 'orangey light'.

[David61]

Thank you Chris,fingers crossed I dont do to bad,as never done this before.

[David61]

Would manual focus be best too,plus should I use spot metering ?

[Black Pearl]

Wouldn't bother with Manual exposure, to much changing and too much of a chance you'll miss the exposure.

 

Use Aperture Priority and Auto ISO, you might need to dial in a little minus compensation but it is better to have the highlights blow out than lose all shadow details. You can pull highlights back with your RAW processor but lifting the shadows will create massive noise issues especially when you'll already be using high ISO's.

 

Manual focus is also a big no-no - your camera has a fairly poor viewfinder and even with a 50mm it will be a royal PITA to get consistent results. Use the centre point which is the only cross type sensor as that will give you the best keeper rate.

 

White balance is irrelevant as I assume you will be shooting RAW - you need by the way - to be to keep your dynamic range and have fine control over noise and extended detail. Let the camera do whatever it wants, if it gets it right then great, if it misses just correct it when you process the images.

 

....and take loads of shots so you have a greater number to chimp and play with later.