Professional Photography Job Review: Low Lighting Party
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- Опубліковано 28 сер 2024
- I have been a professional event photographer and photography teacher for 10 years. Follow the links below to see my work.
Patreon | / mikmilman
Instagram | @retrograding / retrograding
Facebook | / mikmilman
mikmilman.com
If you enjoyed this video, I really think you'll like this one:
ua-cam.com/video/k52jsgl1-xI/v-deo.html
I love that you show all of your work and not just your perfect captured image.
Hi everyone,
Thanks for watching. My recorder turned off after my into- sorry about the audio quality. Hopefully its decent enough though. Let me know if you have any questions. As always, I'm happy to help!
This is solid advice. I shoot a lot of bars and night clubs that have lighting like in this video. I am 100% with you that bounced flash is the way to go, and certainly with the white card out if you're lacking good surfaces to bounce off. Where I differ with you is on shutter speed. I usually shoot at f/1.4-2.0 and try to keep shutter speeds at 1/125-1/250 to avoid blur/shutter drag, unless I'm intentionally pop-dragging. This has really improved my hit rate and gives me the room to lower my ss and/or push ISO if I have a sudden flash failure or just want to use ambient light. As you said, stuff happens and you need to be ready and able to adapt. I can always tweak exposure in post and run the noisiest images through Topaz to clean them up a bit if needed as long as I can hit the shot in the first place.
Other options that can give good results (in the right environment) are to use a gridded diffuser and shoot direct, or to try gelling your flash to compliment the room lighting. The grid works great to highlight/expose your subject(s) and make them pop in the scene without blowing out everyone/thing around them, especially in bounce-unfriendly environments. The gels can let you add flash in colorful environments, like night clubs, without "shocking" the subject/scene with neutral light.
Keep sharing good advice and stay humble!
I love your work, Mik. This video has answered a few of my questions about what I'm trying to achieve with the bounced flash other than fill in the light. Your honesty is inspiring and makes me think there is still goodness in this crazy world. Your approach keeps photography real. No AI can teach us about improvising when things don't work out. I had a few moments like this, and appreciated learning :-) Keep sharing your passion!
Hi Katarina! Thank you for the very kind message.
Thank You! Thank You for sharing your work. "Capturing the moments "will be my mantra as I journey to become an aspiring event photographer.
Thank you Mik for the realistic peek into a typical session! It helps me to see that some of the issues I encounter shooting in low light events exists with others. Picked up a couple of good pointers which I appreciate. Many thanks. 😀👍🏽
Glad this one helped, Gene! Sorry about the late reply.
Just loved this. A real insight into a real photography job in real world conditions.
Sometimes watching photography related UA-cam videos I'm like, "wait, is everyone shooting amazing portraits in Norway? is every other wedding in some fancy beach resort?".
Your are really interesting, informative, and make me feel good about my work because it shows that most of us shoot actual real life events with diverse conditions.
Keep it up!
Thanks mate, that was a great video, I learned a lot. Seeing some of your mistakes also made me feel better about my own work, as I tend to beat myself up a bit mentally when things go less than perfectly and subsequently bin a load of useable photos, so your advice in that regard has probably been more valuable than lighting or camera settings. Cheers.
Thank you, Tim. I talk quite a bit about how to deal with not living up to your own expectations in some of my other videos.
Here's one I would recommend:
ua-cam.com/video/m-q_evO959o/v-deo.html
great video! I appreciate especially your view on " not perfect " pictures. As you say " the moment is more important than the technical stuff. Thanx for your insides!
:)
so glad I found this video, I just finished an event in a small club. I was all over the place, but it worked out well enough. Flash not firing stopped me sometimes high iso accidentally set my Sony to aperture ,but though the viewfinder was ok so I shot not realising and most were useable talking 12,600 iso! I got stressed trying to get moments definitely a challenge. Great tips thanks for this post.
👍
Thanks, Jeff!
I've been shooting events for many years and I can tell you lighting is always a challenge. You take one shot and you think you got it , next shot the lighting is totally different but you have not done anything different. frustrating.
Shoot, shoot shoot, that's the key.
Thanks Mike. Appreciate seeing all the shots you take and to talk through all the positives and negatives of shots.
Really useful information. I am just getting started and understanding options for managing the light in these circumstances is a lifesaver. It saves so much time getting the images optimally exposed up front; as opposed to fixing them in post.
Yes. And this is a business. The more time you spend on editing, the less you're really making per time put into it.
Renewed my interest in photography a few years ago. Even though I have not really pursued it as a business, I have spent a lot of time learning the craft (workshops, course, photography clubs, professional photography organizations, etc.). Decided to get a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Digital Photograph; one of my professors recommended your work/videos so that is how I found your channel. As others have noted, I appreciate the honest review of your work and sharing your knowledge/experience. Looking forward to watching more videos.
Yeah, Mik, more just like this! I really like what you're doing lately!
Thanks! Will do! Next video will be another live one though.
Thank you! I have been asked to captured a 21st party for my partners son. I have an R6, but don’t normally capture people. I’m crapping myself. Really good to see your images and go through your process.
How did it go ?
this was pretty helpful! fingers crossed for my first event using a flash as a natural light shooting
You’re awesome! Thank you for sharing your imperfections and making me feel a little better about my flash photography these low light events are toughest to shoot so crowded everything moves so fast and you don’t get a second shot. You’re a great person buddy your friends are lucky
Thank you so much for sharing. Very informative and practical.
Had my 1st event & went into the night. This answers many questions. Thank you.
So happy to hear that!
Thanks again for a great video! I am pretty decent at capturing moments (my favorite type of photos) but I am still learning the technical side. It just clicked (no pun intended) in watching this video that I could do better with balancing flash with the ambient light. I always felt there was something lacking in my low-light photos. Sometimes I'd get it right but didn't fully understand the "how" or "why".
It would be great seeing daily videos from you during this pandemic and Shelter In Place time-period. I'm still working my Corporate job (from home) but have more flexibility in watching UA-cam videos on photography while I work. :-)
Your videos really are my Master Class for Event Photography! Take care and stay safe!
Hi Linda,
Im glad you enjoyed it. Was I clear in explaining how to control your ambient light? I hope so. I'm always working on trying to more clearly explain things.
I'm most likely going to be producing a video a day, even if it just means going live and interacting with people.
When I see someone else's image, shot during whatever event, I always played "Where was the main light ?". That little game, I "invented" when I really was very very short on technical knowledge, helped me trumendously in understanding most of the basics of light (telling you about a time when the net was a fisherman's tool !). Step 2 obviously being "Where are all (other) lights ?". And you can do it with any event picture.
But you also can do it live, at most event just anywhere, be it wedding, birthday, meeting, convention, etc. even though you have no camera, or no intention in shooting... just to train your eye, and your own "brain settings".
@@gillesmatheronpro excellently put. I give my students this exact advice.
@@MikMilman Yes, you were clear on your explanation. Thanks again!
@@MikMilman yep !
Even though we shoot and film for 2D media (screens, prints, walls, billboard...), the world around us is alive in 3D (and shall remain, if I'm not mistaking). So is our main fuel : light.
So useful! Easy to listen to and learn. Sharing the experience is invaluable. Thank you!
Thank you for sharing your work! I've learned a lot from you!
Happy to hear that! I am going to try to publish daily so stay tuned. I'm not sure yet, but I might take the weekends off.
Just stumbled upon your channel and really like your images, your style, and this particular video. I'm an event photographer much in the same vein as you - it's all about capturing the moment. I routinely deliver images to my clients that are not technically perfect, but I can often capture a moment perfectly, despite a little blur and a little motion. Wabi-sabi (embracing imperfections).
Thanks! -JH
Thank you for sharing your work. Really helped and would love to see mote of these videos :)
hello Mik, thank you so much for sharing your ideas. I also enjoyed watching all of your videos about event photography
Very educational- very well explains how flash and lighting jockey works.
Glad you liked it.
They're not bad pictures, but I can think of a few ways of improving. I shoot a lot of low light events as well as concert. Personally, I think you are going with a too shallow depth of field. I'm not sure what your iso is at, but I tend to be around 6400-8000 as standard without a flash and try not to shoot below 1/160th. Noise is pretty easy to get rid of nowadays, so don't be scared pushing your camera. Having crisp images gets me jobs and I don't submit blurry or out of focus. If a customer doesn't know a picture exists, then why submit it it if it isn't up to standard? Also, the magenta haze really should be reduced. It is easy to do in Lightroom with the calibration panel and it allows for a lot more detail to come through in your pictures.
When discussing photography, I think its important to discern between opinion and objective fact; After carefully reading your comment, it seems to me that you are suggesting that your preferences would amount to objective improvement of my work.
I shoot with a Canon 5diii. My opinion is that it is not worth shooting over ISO 3200. Your willingness to shoot at 6400+ could be based on the camera you use which may have a different level of performance at high ISO. You also may be more willing to spend more time reducing noise in post production than I am willing or able to do due to typical work loads.
Regarding the magenta tones that you are describing as haze, well, I actually shoot in a way in which the images more accurately reflect what it was like to be there. This is a choice. I'm not sure what you mean about more detail coming out, as that would have no impact on detail in a technical sense. Did you mean something else?
@@MikMilman I shoot with a 6d, 5d mkiii and an Eos R. All of those cameras can shoot at 6400 plus. Noise only becomes an issue during editing if you are under exposing. For noise reduction, I tend to use the Lightroom built in system, but if there is a special shot, I may use Denoise 6. With the noise reduction, I tend to mask the sharpness at around 70% and bring the luminance up around 10-20% for the whole set. This video explains removing the magenta really well and the details popping out once the saturation is removed. ua-cam.com/video/rySjawQwOFQ/v-deo.html
great double lighting tip! love the channel, dude!
Appreciate it!
Hi man! :) Thank you so much for the informative video! Watched through the whole video, super useful for a beginner like me
Great video! Will try lowering my shutter, I usually shoot at 160. Always scared of blur but it makes sense to use lower shutter speed when using flash
When you said that you lit with your phone, did you mean you had the phone in your left hand pointing sideways to the person and the camera in your right hand?? That's so awesome and resourceful! I love your vídeos because you are so honest and show real-world work! Thank you so much!
Exactly what I did. Thanks for watching!
Hi! This is so helpful. What lens did you use?
@Mik Milman great work and tips, real talk advice too.
Thank you!
I learned a lot from this video. Thanks.
You are the best Mik! Thank you!
It seems like this video helped a lot of people. I'm going to make more like it.
Wow ISO 1000-1600! Would love to hear your thoughts on noise and why so many treat it like a third rail? Watching your vids feels like Morpheus touching Neo on the shoulder as he’s reinvigorating his atrophied muscles saying, “Rest Neo, the answers are coming.” 😂
Loved this video. Learnt a lot.
No need to carry 2 bodies. I find zoom lenses are much better for event work just for that same reason of shooting groups on the fly. There are always groups to be shot at events lol.
Grateful
Nice breakdown Mik! I have not done an event at all yet, let alone any commercial work. The biggest intimidation is the low-light image grain. My Sony A65 makes a lot of it at 1600 ISO
Well if you have a decent flash you can do what I did back in the days with the original 5d: get really good with flash photography.
@@MikMilman Thanks! I'm going to B & H tomorrow. Excellent content, keep up the great work
In person?
@@MikMilman Yup there's only so much you can gather online. Luckily there's a B&H not too far from me
Thanks!
Genuine question - Would adding some sort of very warm diffuser to flash help with the unnaturally cold flash color?
If it worked, flash could be used in warmly lit rooms without killing the mood.
Thanks for this
Love the videos man. I’m learning so much! I’m shooting my first event tomorrow as a new photographer. Not sure if I want to use flash or not. But if I do use flash do you adjust your flash power for every shot? I feel like bouncing it off a white wall will helps brighten the image but if it’s a darker wall an are you adjusting power as you’re walking around? I feel like I’m going to miss shots if I take one and it’s too dark and then adjust it to more power will cost me time and I can’t recreate a moment.
I have a couple of videos on TTL that I think would be helpful to you
Very cool!
Thanks, Zach
If there is dark ceilings I find it hard to bounce but don’t want to angle my flash directly on the subjects faces to avoid highlights. Where do you angle your flash in a dark wall situation? What is your white balance set to? Ty
I have my first event tomorrow, new client booked for 2 hours at $150 an hour. I bought a V1 flash and feel pretty good about it. Would you say if you shoot at a higher ISO that introduces grain, would you see the grain on your subject as they're being lit by the flash? Essentially the flash is canceling out the grain on your subject since it is well lit. Finding your channel before my first event came in with perfect timing, thank you for making this content!
No it would not work that way. If you're concerned with noise, shoot at a lower ISO.
Just came across this video. Really helpful seeing your approach to this kind of photography. Just wondering, what is typically your deliverable to the client? Are you just providing a file of JPEGs? Are they all cropped at the same aspect ratio as in camera?
I shoot in raw, then export the edits in JPEG, high resolution
Hey Mik, enjoyed the video. Can you talk about your ideas on cropping images? Thanks
Sure. I actually have a premiere in 12 minutes. You can ask me anything you'd like
@@MikMilman How do it tune in?
If you go to my channel it should be the first video in uploads.
ua-cam.com/video/m-q_evO959o/v-deo.html
Let me know if you had a specific question on this.
Hello.... This video was just what I needed. You let us know that it's not about perfection, but capturing great memories to the best of your ability. Just what I needed. I do not understand what you mean by dragging the shutter? Also, all I have is a 50mm, 85mm and a 18-200mm lens for an event I'm doing tommorrow. Which two should I use? Please and thank you
Dragging the shutter is when you freeze the action with your flash but use a longer exposure to allow for more ambient light. You can experiment with panning your shots, zooming as you make your image, spinning your camera, etc to create interesting light patterns. I'm not being as clear as I probably can be, I'm mobile right now. I'd love to make a video sometime on the subject.
Oh and good luck on your event.
You stated you bounce the light. Where the ceilings white? Ty
Yes. I always look for white walls and ceilings to bounce off of.
Great videoo
Hi Mik - how many photos do you usually shoot for clients at events? do you have a cap? thanks!
I do not... and I have a long answer for that.. too long to type out right now :) But I do believe I discuss it in one of my videos on maximizing your coverage.
Hi there... do you focus on the eyes, then re-compose?
Hey Mik, thanks for the video. Do you use TTL mode here or manual on your flash? Thanks in advance for your answear.
Ttl
28:44, I like no flash more too. How would it look with really low flash power? Thanks for sharing your experience. 🙏
One thing I don't think I mention in the video is that while in TTL mode, I often shoot at -2 exposure compensation in order to get a nice balance.
True true 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Mik missing mic :D
If you're not using flash how are you lighting your pictures?
Just available light.
Is your flash in manual mode or ttl during this event. My guess by the looks of it is u have it in manual but wondering if your constantly changing the power settings of the flash
I always shoot in manual flash but sometimes when moving around quick I'm thinking I should set it on ttl.i guess it all depends on how much the light is changing while moving around the event. I just hate ttl
Another thing you talk about is moving the focus dial to focus on the eye. It usually takes a couple seconds to do that. Have you ever thought about setting to single focus and using back button auto focus to lock in your focus then re-compsoing the frame. I've been trying that out lately.
It's on TTL. I use TTL 99 percent of the time. But I am always adjusting exposure compensation.
What is it you hate about it. I shoot manually 80 percent of the time or more but have not had an issue with TTL.
I do use back button focus. I just pivot my thumb back and forth between the controller and back button.
Great video, thanks! I would like to know if you use CTO gel in on your flash, please.
Rarely and on this job, no.
@@MikMilman thank you so much 😊
I did my first party last week but I was way too scared to ask people to take pics
Keep at it; You'll get there.
What camera and flash do you use?
5d3 and an R6, currently.
How do you cope with low light situations where the subject has too little contrast for the camera to focus?
If you're using a flash, you can use the focus assist feature. Another thing to keep in mind is that different cameras with different lenses will impact your ability to achieve focus in low light.
Thank you for the great video. What was the kelvin for your white balance? Also, did you use CTO gel for your flash?
Lighting like this can not be corrected for (neutralized with a gel): it's too varied and not of, or balanced for, traditional lighting like tungsten. Furthermore, some may disagree with my choice, but I wanted the lighting to look the way it looked, not try to neutralize it. So... since I could not balance my strobe to the light anyway, what I am doing is under powering it by a stop to two stops and essentially using it as a fill light in some situations. In other situations (mostly when I was near a good wall or something to bounce my strobe off of), I am using my flash as a key light but opening my shutter enough to allow for the ambient light to cast its color on the subject to give it a more true to life look. I hope my explanation was not underly or overly technical and also clear. :D
Oh and I used auto white balance.
@@MikMilman Thanks for the quick response. You did mention in the video that it was for fill light, but I didn't know you under powered the flash. Your flash looked so natural.
I started flash photography because I was so frustrated with my friends house with all the colorful and dark walls. Also, her house had only tungsten spot lights from the ceiling, that barely gave me any ambient light. I actually did the opposite and overpowered the flash. If kids were around, I would go back to regular power with CTO gel. It was a nightmare.
I will try underpowering it and using the long exposure method. Thanks for the great video and reply.
Yes, give it a shot, but remember that your goal is to understand lighting so that you can troubleshoot and come up with creative solutions for various different scenarios. In other words: every situation is different.
@@116Paul crank your ISO up. Introduces noise but gives you more keepers, less blurry pics.
I find low light events even before switching on my speed light I would set my shutter to 125th @ f2 and then introduce the ambient light by adjusting ISO.
Now I’d turn the speed light on and adjust it to light the subject or set it to TTL 1 stop under exposed.
See my work: mikmilman.com
Pin your work in the comments ✔️
Thanks for all of your tips and great content!!
How do you only have 6.5k followers? I'd love to work with you, how can I get in contact?
You can find my contact info lots of places: my channel page, patreon, website or Google.
can you help me to find a night club job in INDIA
05:08 how you avoid the reflection of the flash in the glass behind the subjects?
Thank you so much for your content 🫶 greetings from Australia @lemonlens__
By bouncing the flash off of a corner. Had I pointed the flash directly at the subjects, its possible there would have been a relection.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Thank you, Michele! I really appreciate you!