Nikon SLR Cameras

Taking pictures for a prom! (Nikon D5000 settings)?

XXXLastChanceXXX
XXXLastChanceXXX

I go to a very small school and prom is not actually part of the school so I was asked today by the fellow students setting it up if I would take pictures for it, the prom is tomorrow. I'm just taking pictures of kids on the dance floor and around the prom. I don't have much in the way of professional camera equipment for my Nikon D5000, but I have two lenses (a 55 and a 200 mm), optic lenses (HD PL, HD FLD, and HD UV) for my 55, a tripod, a mono-pod, and a gorilla pod, and a 5n1 reflector (Gold, Silver, Black, White, and Translucent). No extra flashes or any type of lighting that I can afford.

My question is should I use any of the equipment I have and what should I set my camera settings to so I can get clear, shots of prom goers having fun (and not blind everyone with flash all night)?

Thanks!

Added (1). I just ordered a Neewer speedlite and a diffuser box for my camera on Amazon. So now I really just need to know what to set my ISO, shutter speed, ect at.

Steve P
Steve P

If you are primarily taking photos of kids on the dance floor, then your other equipment is of no use.

Your main thing to control is shutter speed. If it is not fast enough, you are going to have nothing but blur due to subject movement.

Use Shutter Priority. Set a speed of 1/250 which should freeze most any movement. Let the camera select the aperture and ISO as needed for proper exposure. Shoot in RAW mode so you will have wiggle room with adjusting exposure later in post processing.

For a nice look in some of the photos, set the shutter speed down to about 1/60. This will show some movement blur but should still show the faces and most of the body relatively clearly.

You can use your telephoto lens for more close up shots, but most likely, it does not have as large an aperture opening as your other lens, and thus a higher ISO will need to be set, resulting in some more "digital noise" in the photos.

Stewy
Stewy

If you're asking these questions I can tell you right now that you are going to struggle with this. I'm going to assume that lighting will be poor. If you don't want to end up with a blurry mess, I'd suggest that you find your local camera shop and rent a speedlite for 2 days. Use the first day to get used to using it to bounce off walls, etc. You may also want to rent a prime lens, around 35mm that does f1.4. However, before all that, you want to know the environment in which you'll be working so that you can plan accordingly. Can you use a tripod? Does it make sense? Keep in mind that unless you have a location setup for photography, you'll most likely be moving around with all of this equipment. The monopod may be best. You don't need a reflector if you don't have light, so keep that in mind.

If you're lucky, there's a ceiling and its white, or at least not dark colored and you do find a speedlite to rent. Just bounce the light off the ceiling and use the light to freeze action instead of the shutter speed. That means going with a fast enough shutter speed (around 1/125) and a lower ISO. For the cases where you have enough natural light, use a higher ISO, larger aperture and the slowest shutter speed that gives the best result. When you pickup the speedlite, you should ask how to use it with your camera. Aftter that you'll want to be on youtube and the web to learn how to use it the day before the event.

You'll most likely want to use Manual mode or use some kind of exposure compensation.

Guest
Guest

Didn't read the other answers cause they be way too long.shoot on a high ISO (pictures will have more grain) and keep depth of field as low as possible (aperture open as much as possible to let in the most light) if you bring your tripod you can take some long exposures but you will get ghost like images (might be fun with people dancing)

in summary just bring a good tripod and try some different combinations till something works. And remember for every good photo you get expect like 10 bad ones.