A photographer who takes pictures at an official event for a news agency or other client has a task to reflect all the nuances of the event. It can be divided into several parts:
The most important thing is to take pictures of officials and dignitaries in various situations
To reflect the atmosphere in the hall and surroundings
Donāt miss the key moments, such as the presentation of medals, ribbon cutting, and other officiousness
To shoot it in such a quality that the result could appear not only on the Internet, but also on the pages of printed media.
Master Class ā Andrin KOLOTILIN.
General plans, a kind of middle plan and the moment of action, close-ups of recognizable people are a must. So, together with the Nikon D600 SLR camera we will use two zoom lenses, the AF-S Nikkor 24-70 2.8 G and AF-S Nikkor ED 80-200 2.8 D, which provide the whole range of focal lengths, from 24 up to 200 mm. Taking into account their aperture ratio and the cameraās ability to work at high sensitivities, letās try to do without the photoflash.
The flash doesnāt allow us to work in bursts, which makes it less likely that a certain culminating moment will be caught in the frame. So we set the Continuous Shooting Mode to 5 fps, AUTO ā ISO, limiting the sensitivity to 3200 units to get a guaranteed quality.
Shooting is done in RAW + JPG mode, as there are different light sources in the hall. This includes the warmest incandescent bulbs, mercury fluorescent lamps without the red section of the spectrum, coolest TV backlighting that can appear anywhere.
We will use JPG for quick evaluation and quick transfer to the news agency, and if someone needs a specific frame, we will work with RAW in the graphic editor on purpose.
āThe high guestā of the festival, the Chairman of the Federation Council V.i. Matvienko.
Photos of officials should definitely be in the archive of cards from important events. But access to the faces is usually blocked by the many attendants and their guards. So letās use the fast telephoto zoom AF-S Nikkor ED 80-200 2,8 D and wait for the right moment, because a photographer in such a case is very limited in his movements.
To remove the effects of strong fluorescent light, it was necessary to adjust the color balance in the Nikon Capture NX 2 converter. Sensitivity ISO 3200, aperture f/3.5, a shutter speed on the focal length of 200 mm is 1/160 sec.
Golden Turtle 1013 Festival Minister of Natural Resources and Environment. e. Donskoy opens the Year of Nature Protection in America.
In order to show the moment the ribbon is cut, a high-speed shooting mode of 5 frames per second is applied. AF-S Nikkor 24-70 2,8 G lens, a shutter speed of 1/400 sec is used to āfreezeā the movement., Aperture 3.5 Sensitivity 3200 ISO. Of the features, I did not need to adjust the color balance in the graphical editor.
Awarding the young participants of the festival.
I was quite close to the stage, and when awards ceremony suddenly started, I couldnāt move far away, because the TV channelsā cameramen took my place. The long telephoto AF-S Nikkor ED 80-200 2.8 D had to be switched to the shortest possible lens in order to capture some of the young talents in the frame.
Noting for myself the abundance of light colors in the image, and that the childās face may be in shadow, I introduced a general plus correction + 2/3, in order to avoid the error. Aperture f/3.5, shutter speed 1/125 sec, which is acceptable at a focal length of 80mm. The correction above above zero was not sufficient, and I had to lighten the frame in the image editor.
The atmosphere of the festival in its childrenās section.
The childrenās section is a little worse lit than the scene for the officials. Standard 3200 ISO was no longer enough. I set the aperture to a manual mode, so I could get the desired depth of field. Since the kids are always moving, I set the shutter speed to not be very slow.
AUTO-ISO was in charge of selecting the desired sensitivity. The result was the scene I was looking for. AF-S Nikkor 24-70 2.8 G lens, focal length 24 mm, shutter speed 1/100 sec., Aperture f/5, ISO 5000. I didnāt need to do any image correction in the image processor.
Colleague at work.
often, to emphasize the interest of the audience in an event, TV or photo reportage shows your colleagues shooting the same event. This has already become a clichƩ. We are going to use a similar scene, especially as the camera worked exceptionally well and did not require any interference with the image, except for cropping it a bit.
A shot taken with the AF-S Nikkor ED 80-200 2.8 D at 3,200 ISO yields noise comparable to 200 ISO, while the excellent optical performance delivers sharp images precisely where you need them. Aperture f/3.5, shutter speed 1/200 sec.
Conclusions
The high sharpness accuracy, good performance at high and very high sensitivities allow the Nikon D600 to be used indoors in many cases without using flash. Wide aperture opening allows to separate the object from the background, which improves the perception of the picture.
Is it possible to capture flattering images of Valentina Ivanovna during a reportage shooting without disturbing or obstructing the guards? How can we ensure her appearance shines without compromising security protocols?