Shooting pics at a local Gathering tommorow.Suggestions?

[civicfrk1]

my sisters friend told me they needed a photographer to shoot some pics at an event theyre holding. there will be some dances , talent show , and some more performances. its a cultural gathering type of thing. theyre paying me to be there from 11am to 4pm. 150 bucks.
i told her that ive never done it before , but she said , even if you have a crappy camera(which i dont , XTi FTW) , it doesnt matter , i just want some general pics of the whole event. like 50 pics or so.

i think i should be ok seeing as just the camera itself takes good pics and ive gotten into the whole photography thing lately.


she will give me a list of the events and the times and what she wants pics of.
and i get free food the whole day. lol.


any suggestions on what style to shoot on?tripod or no tripod?should i take my 70-300 lens just incase?

[budakinns]

tomorrow should be a nice day for shooting. seeing how its during the day time i would say no to a tripod and yes to the 70-300 depending on how far away they want you. if your gonna be right there in their faces a 50mm would do just fine.

[btuner]

nice that should be fun! wish i had gigs like that, and no tripod should be fine!

[SaturnTypeR]

Wish I had gigs to. Tired of doin shit for free.

[DareDevil]

Im guessing its outside?

[Mama Got Boost??]

Wish I had gigs to. Tired of doin shit for free.
+1

Tomorrow is supposed to be a great day. Like this afternoon.
Good luck and have fun.

[civicfrk1]

thanks guys. yeah it was pretty fun.

different . because it was an indian gathering. but they had talent shows and dances and free food for the "photographer" haha.

plus i got paid. lol.

i took the tripod and used it for like 4 1/2 hours , out of 5 hours. right when the show ended , my battery died. haha. perfect timing.
she said shell be calling me again for another event theyre holding in like 2 months. w00t lol

PS- believe it or not. there are actually ALOT of hot indian chicks. lol

[DareDevil]

Good deal man:thumbup: Post some of the pictures up if you want.

[budakinns]

nice dude its always great to get your foot in the door. might lead to other things.

[civicfrk1]

yeah ill post some up later. took a bit over 250 pics. goin to put them on CD's n give em to her.

batt. is dead right now though. lol

[btuner]

lol shot my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary today, got about 600 pics to sort through

[budakinns]

how many hours was your camera on for the battery to be dead? did you at least charge it before you when to shoot. Think i went from 11am-6pm and only dropped one bar on my xti.

[civicfrk1]

yeah it was really weird. i was there for about 4 1/2 hours. and it said change battery pack. but i was already done n the show was over. when i got home , it had only dropped one bar aswell... confused me for a sec lol

[civicfrk1]

heres some pics.

http://i30.tinypic.com/33tmj4g.jpg
http://i29.tinypic.com/350v0nm.jpg
http://i28.tinypic.com/5forqb.jpg
http://i27.tinypic.com/2jerzoj.jpg

[DareDevil]

Those are not bad at all. Great job. I really like #1.

Get a battery Grip and you will never have that problem. Battery life is crucial. A low battery can cause your pictures to lose quality.

[.:Chris:.]

Battery life is key!

Two batteries + grip = lots of weight though. If you're shooting for extended periods with a lens that has some heft to it you're going to get tired. I used my new camera for about an hour the other day and my arms were about dead. What are the XT bodies made of, plastic or metal?

Looking at your pics it looks like you did a good job. It's a pity the background wasn't lit a bit more, but there's n ot much you can do about that. The subjects all look well exposed, which is pretty difficult to do a lot of times.

If you want suggestions, I have a couple to offer:
1.) Try and rotate the image so that the main features are vertical/horizontal. For example, in the second picture you posted you have two very strong vertical lines that aren't quite vertical. Straighten them out and it'll be great.
2.) Back off on the saturation a bit. This is personal taste, and you may disagree, but they like a hair over-saturated.

Overall, I'm mostly jealous that you got free Indian food all day. I'd take that over the $150 any day. :grin:

[civicfrk1]

thanks for the advice. ill put it to good use next time lol..


as for the indian food. i didnt really have time to try it. i had 3 slices of pizza and 5 cups of coke ( fo free!!)

but i took a friend with me , and the lady who hired me , saw that i brough a friend to help me with my gear , and she told the people "hes with the photographer assisting him , so whatever he wants give it to him for free , its on us"


so he was walkin around eatin shitload of food with curry and everything for free.
lol.always saying "im with the photographer"
hahaha

by the time i was done shooting pics , they were already closing up... lol.

[.:Chris:.]

thanks for the advice. ill put it to good use next time lol..


Ah, it's tough to get it perfect in the viewfinder. If you use the 'measure' tool (looks like a ruler) in Photoshop and draw a line along the wall, and then go Image->Rotate->Arbitrary it will magically rotate the image so that your wall is straight.

Sucks that you didn't get the food though. I've yet to find a great autehntic Indian restaurant in Florida. I love Indian. :grin:

[DareDevil]

I've yet to find a great autehntic Indian restaurant in Florida. I love Indian. :grin:

Next time your at wedding architects, come get me and I'll show you the way. ;) I know all the good spots downtown.

[.:Chris:.]

Next time your at wedding architects, come get me and I'll show you the way. ;) I know all the good spots downtown.

Will do, for sure. I've been by India Grill a bunch of times, but I've never been in. Do you know if it's any good?

[btuner]

actual indian food is :puke: when we were in india all we ate was rice, you dont know where that meat came from:lol: americanized indian food is good though lol actual thai food is strange and actual chinese food is really good!

[.:Chris:.]

actual indian food is :puke: when we were in india all we ate was rice, you dont know where that meat came from:lol: americanized indian food is good though lol actual thai food is strange and actual chinese food is really good!

Well, I used to live in England and I have to say that indian food there is a lt more authentic. There are more Indian people in England than you would imagine if you've never been there. Nice people, good food. :thumbup:

Can't say I've ever been to India though.

[btuner]

i dunno we were in some of the more remote parts and that stuff was sketchy as hell lol

[Mars_302]

You get used to extra battery and grip weight. Not bad pics, I would have gotten a little more tighther on the shots