What kind of setting do I need to use to take pictures indoors with some flourescent lighting.?

Question

I'm shooting a wedding next month. I've never done a wedding before, but I've taken seniors ports. and lots of pictures of children, babies, etc. I have a really good camera. It's a Kodak Easy Share 7 MP. I can't remember what it's "Name" is, ya know, whether its a EX1234 or whatever. But, I'd like to know what the best setting is for taking indoor pictures. All of my outdoor pictures are beautiful!!! But anytime I do indoor they suck. They are blurry, or the flash brightens the object I'm shooting, but the background is dark. I would appreciate any and all help. I want the pictures to be beautiful. And I don't have access to Pro. Lighting.

Answer 1

first, forget all the trash talk about setting white balance. All flash units are balanced to outdoor lighting standards. Think about it, people won't notice if the wallpaper at the reception looks more fucia than teal, but if the brides face lit by the flash is green and the white gown turns pink, they will notice. don't over-ride the cameras standard settings.

Try not to stand too close to the subject, most camera flash units are good to 10 feet, maybe 15 check your manual. Getting back allows the distance ratio from camera to subject and camera to wall will allow the flash to brighten up the background a little. beware of white walls, they reflect light much stronger than people, so if that is the case make sure the wall is twice the camera distance than the subject. without buying equipment that is the best you can do, and best of luck.

Answer 2

With a point-and shoot, you almost have to use the flash for all indoor shots. The small sensors and lenses just don't gather enough light for good low light performance. You'll end up with noise at higher ISO settings and shutter speeds. .. Blurring at lower ones.

For flash pics... I'd force an ISO of around 100 if your camera allows, should prevent noisy backgrounds. If a background is reasonably well-lit and / or you're not too close to the subject... you should be able to get backgrounds that aren't too dark. You'll do best when the distance between the subjects and background is minimal and the distance between you and the subjects is greater. You're generally better off using the optical zoom than standing closer... maybe even cropping the pics a bit before printing. Having a 7 MP camera should allow you to crop pics some without noticable quality loss.

Remember to set your white balance to flourescent unless auto looks better... I don't think most point-and-shoot cameras even allow adjusting the exposure for flash pics. There may be an adjustment for flash strength you could try turning up to bring out the backgrounds. Subjects will be "flash burned" if they're too close though.

Good luck!!! :)

Answer 3

Do NOT worry too much about the fluorescent lights, they are the least of your problems, but one in which you can correct after the fact in Photoshop. However, your biggest and most challenging "bump" is the amount of overall lighting especially in the background if you use the small flash in your camera. There is NOT enough light traveling to the background to illuminate anything. Light diminishes with the square of the distance. I do understand what you are trying to accomplish, but you will need some additional help. The simplest solution is to rent a strobe pack with a bare bulb flash tube on a pole attached to the pack with the pole extended as much as possible, and make sure the strobe pack has a "slave" triggering device that will work off your camera's flash. If your camera flash puts out a double flash do NOT use it but rent a simple flash that only fires once during the actual exposure. The bare bulb will give the overall room additional light in order to produce something lighter then black. I would strongly suggest testing all this out at least two weeks BEFORE the real event -- otherwise the newly weds and their families will be very upset and my sue you. Remember, in their minds this is a once in a lifetime event -- okay so some people get to do this two or three times in their lifetime. Something about if you do NOT succeed the first time -- keep trying. You MUST work out your overall lighting problem -- the color of the light is secondary and can be corrected later.

Answer 4

Before I'd attempt a wedding with your camera, I would consider renting a set up from a camera store. Your background is dark because of the limitations of your flash. Pros might drag the shutter- shooting with flash (probably bouncing it off a reflective surface or using an umbrella) and selecting a slower shutter speed and this would yield two exposures- subject lit by flash and background with available (ambient light). A tripod can help steady the camera to avoid camera shake and an image stabilized lens or camera would also help. Flash ruins more photos than almost anything else- at least direct flash- which is why photographers set a higher ISO and set the white balance for the type of indoor light. You can set a custom white balance with dSLRs but most cameras let you select a white balance for the type of lighting. Look for an icon with a long, narrow tube- that is the florescent lighting setting. The light bulb is the incandescent setting. Take practice shots before hand to get the setting right. Look up white balance in your manual for your camera's specifics.

Answer 5

You really need an external flash of some sort to do the proper lighting. The little built in flash is not going to be enough. Unfortunately you typically need a professional camera to get this kind of setup.

Answer 6

I hope you get a lot of responses because I can only contribute one things. Make sure your white balance is adjusted. Your manual should cover that. And the standard thing like focus, lighting, flash, etc.