[chrissy]

Like a few posters on the site I am too a newby, I have a Canon 350d and am well into it. Anyway long story short, my tutor at school has asked me to do the photos for the 5th form prom. Its tomorrow night and I desperately need a flash gun. I have a Jessops 400AFC which I use for my canon 350d. However due to a rather strong wind and a stupid photographer I have dust and a tiny bit of sand in the sensor!! shoot me now... Anyway that has gone away to be cleaned and I have asked the art department if I can borrow the Nikon D70s the the department prides. After much persuation and promising, I have the D70s! woop! however i am now utterly frustrated to find that the flash gun will not work on the Nikon. When I test it by the camera on auto and putting the flash on, pointing the camera at a dark spot, the camera senses that it is too dark and the pop up flash pops up while the flash gun is still onto, therefore the pop up cannot come up fully and the result no flash. The flash gun works perfectly as I said with my canon but not with the nikon. Any suggestions?!

Chris
Isle of Man

[Dabhand16]

Hello Chris - and welcome to Pixalo.

Could be that the Jessops flash has a Canon fitting. I'm pretty sure that the Nikon may need an adaptor between the flash and the camera and/or a sync cable if you are not using a Nikon flash.

You should get a more positive reply soon.

[Whipspeed]

You need good light for those photo's, have you thought of asking a local pro to do the shots? I was asked by one of my sons rugby team to shoot his prom, but have passed it over. You really need the gear for these things, backdrops & preferably proper lighting, not just flash. Guy I passed it onto, takes the photo's, they can view them on the laptop, order & he posts the shots to them, all for £12.00 for a properly mounted 10x8.

Sorry if you feel I'm putting you off, but you'll not feel good if you get it wrong. These kids put so much effort into these things

[chrissy]

Thanks and yeah I know people have put a load of effort in. Don't worry you won't put me off!! This is the 3rd year of the prom:-
year 1 - no photographer
year 2 - A local pro, but he charged a fortune and didn't take enough and then when people wanted the photos they had to wait for about 2 weeks.

Now its my turn, I have the back drops, i have already thought of the idea of the laptop. It sounds like it will work well. Thanks alot for the advice, but I cannot pull out now, like I say it is tomorrow night.

It is not a MASSIVE prom, it is a fundraiser for the Austraila hockey & rugby tour. People stil like to have photos of them all dressed up though... I guess im stuck without a flash though
Thanks again for all the help if anyone comes up with anymore ideas please do post, this forum seems very welcoming and perfect for a budding young photographer to get some inspiration from.

[Whipspeed]

Right, you've got the basics Chrissy, that's good. If you haven't got a flash gun, you'll have to make the most of the pop up. try to make a diffuser from some tracing paper, make a box shape round it, I've tried it & it takes out the glare really well, you can also buy a diffuser for a pop up flash if you can get one from a local camera shop. For lighting, try to get some bright lights in the area you are taking the shots, even if you have to bring in some halogen desk lights. Next set the ISO to about 400, & have a fairly small apeture to get a decent shutter speed. If the grain is too much in the final photo's, try a free programme called Neat Image, it's great for smoothing grain. If you get it & are not sure about using it, just send me a PM & I'll run you through it.


Good luck & I hope you raise lots of money for your tour.

[chrissy]

Well the prom went well, the head had arranged one of the students parents to lend a ferrari so that people could have photos taken with it, this of cause was a nightmare to hear as I had nothing to boost the light in the quad (which is the courtyard in the middle of the school) its an old castle. So I wa stuck with the pop-up flash and the photos all came out far too blurred... I didnt think about bringing a tripod so I wasted about 40 minutes out there. I set up with the backgrounds and the laptop inside and it worked really well. I have about 80 orders and will get a lot more tomorrow! winner!
The pictures of the ferrari were a bit of a let down but the rest worked really well...
Thanks guys your help was very ....helpful!

chris xx

[Whipspeed]

Glad it went well Chris, they obviously set the car up not realising how dark it would be for your camera. I'm glad the indoor shots went well for you & you got plenty of orders.

Sarah