The Accidental Photographer

by Bushra

Lately, I’ve been trying to learn more about photography. This entails becoming one with my entry level SLR and messing around with the settings to see what works and what doesn’t. The other night, I went to a spoken word/hip hop event sponsored by a Muslim organization at a cafe in Berkeley and thought it would be a perfect time to bring my external flash into the mix since I haven’t had too much of an opportunity to work with that.

Things didn’t quite work that way. Y’see, I was sort of tasked with taking pictures of the event.

I really didn’t mind but the fact that these pictures needed to come out well meant that I couldn’t afford to mess around. I wasn’t sure what the optimal settings with the external flash would be. Therefore, I *cough* kept the settings on automatic. Not only that, but I was so nervous about getting good pictures, I took about 400. I know, I know, but what could I do.

I really need to read up more on photography.

DJ March the 5th doing his thing

4 comments

1 Viv { 03.04.09 at 5:01 pm }: A good tip for using a mounted flash for indoor events it to set your camera at 800 ISO at 1/30-1/60 of a second at 5.6. If you want to do more with a flash, it would be good to invest in a Lightsphere aka Fong Dong. http://store.garyfonginc.com/diffusers.html

Hope this helps!
2 Bushra { 03.04.09 at 5:22 pm }: Awesome! Thanks for the info!
3 Beth { 03.04.09 at 11:23 pm }: I think that the photos came out very well. I especially enjoyed the one of the performer serenading his wife–very sweet:)
4 Bushra { 03.05.09 at 10:13 am }: Thanks Beth