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Question from Kristina: I have a shoot coming up that will most likely be indoors with a large family. I haven’t quite ventured into indoor photography other than newborn and I do that with studio lights. My lights are not powerful enough to use on a group, So I need to use natural lighting. Luckily, she is a friend of mine and I’m going to “play” in her home this weekend to get my camera settings correct. It is a well-lit home. Lots of windows. I have a Canon Mark II. What settings would you suggest? Obviously a higher ISO but how high? Also, this family has mixed races. I would light meter off the lighter skin tones, correct?
Brandi: If at all possible, go to the location indoors and play with your camera settings, deferent ISo and adjust as you see fit. try to use windows if possible as well for letting in natural lighting. Also you can use a other types of lights if you have too and try will work out great. There’s ways around everything but just study and play with your lights. Best of luck to you!!
Blue Milkshake Photography: Don’t use a massive ISO as the shutter speed will be slow enough that any movement the person makes will come out as a giant blur, I wouldn’t go any higher than 400 to be honest. try to keep a 200 or 400. the pop-up flash on your camera seriously will do the trick with a red eye reduction setting. 🙂
Jamie: Pop up flash NEVER!! EVER!!
Desiree: A reflector may help bounce more light into the photos (or two big white sheet project paper board you can find at your local crafts store). You don’t want to go to far up on ISO, so just play with the settings for a few minutes.
Deirdre: REFLECTOR
Deirdre: Doing a re-shoot this weekend as when I originally did the shoot i wasn’t happy with the results. Very dark and the flash cart shadows… having the family up here to my place as I am all about natural light… still have studio lighting for those intense shots but there is no comparison to the warmth of natural light. Good luck and use a reflector (if you don’t have one use a white pillow case, or sheet or piece of fabric and try to bounce the light.
Shanyn: Blue milkshake photography – The MKII does not even have a pop up flash – and why would anyone want to use a pop up flash!! I would open up the windows and if you have something like the 430/580 for a flash I would bounce it. I use an ISO of around 800 for an indoor shoot with low light.
Crystal: The 5DMarkII can EASILY handle higher ISOs up to 2500 without any loss of quality. After that, you will start to see more noise and grain. The ISO setting doesn’t affect the speed of the shutter when shooting in Manual. I would push the ISO to 2500, use a shutter speed no less than 1/160 if held by hand, and adjust your aperture accordingly, but not less than an 8 with a larger group of people. Focal point should be on the person closest to you. If you need more light still, tripod your camera and make sure everyone holds very still as you decrease your shutter speed accordingly. Remember, if your group has small children, this might be difficult as they are unable to hold still for very long.
Crystal: Oh…and…I would use tons of reflectors before I would ever use a popup flash. For the record, the 5DMarkII doesn’t have a popup…so that shouldn’t be an issue. Good luck! 🙂
Cheryl: Reflector! Reflector reflector! Plus I would af on furthest away face and use f8 that way everyone is in focus in front of the last person….I’ve never used the 5dm2 so I’m not sure about iso but on my 7d I’d use 400 ….did this with a large family last weekend and pics are fab!
Cara: lol a mark ii doesn’t even have a pop up flash. a speed lite aimed toward. the ceiling may help add light if needed, although would dial down the flash to -1 or even -2 (assuming you use TTL.) it won’t be enough to be the primary light but could help if you need a little extra.
Cara: I have had little luck with reflectors and large groups.
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