Now lets get down to business How do you get pictures at say a graduation.
Well this can be a very challenging situation especially if you do not have a good understanding of all the obstacles you face.
The first is the distance between you and your subject. If you are more then 15-20 feet away from your subject your on camera flash is worthless. Not only is it not helping it is actually telling your camera that it is giving enough light for the scene but it can not. So in turn your image will come out dark. This is true for every camera from a basic P&S to a canon xti , nikon d90 and so. To use a flash over 20 feet you will need an external flash, flash gun, there are many names for them but it connects to your camera VIA a hot shoe. If your camera does not have a hot shoe then you will not be able to use one in this situation.
The next problem / obstacle is the lighting. Usually graduations are held in a gym or auditorium that has poor lighting for photography meaning that if the flash has already been ruled out then you will need to compensate in a few different areas. Shutter speed ISO and Aperture. Now keep in mind most P&S cameras do not let you adjust each of those individually and even the ones that do I am just going to try and get you started.
If your camera is in Automatic or priority and you force the flash off (because you know it can not reach your subject) then the camera is going to automatically start adjusting the shutter speed ISO and Aperture. The first thing to realize is that now your shutter speed will be a lot slower your ISO will be Higher and your aperture will be lower. Now as long as your camera can go to an ISO of 400-800 (and give acceptable photos) then your shutter speed may be just fast enough to keep motion blur to a minimum. Also with the camera using the smallest aperture your DOF will be narrower so you will need to pay more attention to your/the cameras focusing.
Now this leads in to timing. Timing really is everything. Especially if you have to use a slow shutter speed so you will need to keep an eye on this. It is hard to get sharp photos of people (not moving) below an 80th of a sec. However it can be done as slow as a 20th. The key will be timing your shots. Since all P&S cameras have a shutter lag you will have to add this to your timing. It is best to find where people will be stopping, such as a hand shake, the handing of the diploma and or receiving, awards, ribbons, cords, hoods, etc. If you pre focus on the place where your subject is going to be and then press the shutter (any where between a split second to a full second) right before your subject comes to a complete stop. Once you have your timing and rhythm down you will see some large improvements in your photographs.
I will reserve the more in depth how to for my workshops and one on one training. It is usually easier in person so I can show some one what I am talking about.
If you have any questions or feedback feel free to leave a comment I will try and respond to all of them either by comment or email.
Thanks and God Bless.
Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)
All photos were taken at Western Illinois University in Macomb Il for the 2008 winter graduation.
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