Music Share is a non-profit organization recently started by the music studio I work at. Its aim is to provide music education programs and music therapy to children and families who have limited access to such services. One of their current music outreach programs is an early childhood music program for teen mothers and their young children at a local high school!
I volunteered to photograph their recent fundraiser, and it was a good experience to learn a bit more about event photography. Lighting is usually what I find tricky.
The room had mixed lighting, with lots of natural light coming in one side, and fluorescent lighting on the other side. I started with a zoom lens and Alex's fancy flash+diffuser. I wasn't too pleased with the results, as I found the flash still produced some harsh shadows, even as I decreased the strength of the flash and bounced it off different surfaces. Since events don't stop until they finish, I decided to switch to the trusty 50mm/1.8. The photos were sharper and more natural, so for the rest of the event I only used the 50mm. I also liked that without the flash I feel less noticeable to those around me.
When I edited my photos, I noticed quite a bit of digital noise. The camera was set on 'auto ISO' as Alex prefers this setting (I used Alex's camera since his is newer than mine). The previews looked fine at the time, so I just left it. Plus 'auto ISO' was blinking in the LCD screen, so I wasn't too sure what that meant. I suppose this could be an example of you should use your own camera since you know it better. Though since this was a low-light situation, I probably would have needed a relatively high ISO anyway.
On a slight tangent, I have been thinking of purchasing a new camera body. My camera body is about 7 years old (though I've only had it for about 4 since I bought it used), and according to the guy at Kerrisdale Cameras that's like 30 years in film technology. Apparently what my camera shoots at ISO 200 is what today's cameras can shoot at ISO 1200.
Things to do:
- Figure out how to use the flash more effectively, or decide that I don't like using flash
- Save up for a new camera body :D
