Does anyone here take photos of house parties or similiar? Looking for ideas.

workaccount

Hi,
Firstly I'm finding it difficult to find anything decent on flickr or google showing house parties.

I've taken photos at a few house parties now over the last few months and want to really start trying to create something different rather than the standard poses and candids. Some of the candids come out really cool but I want to start developing some sort of a style or something. I want my photos to say something more but I have nothing to aspire to.

I remember someone posted up a link to a photographer that does weddings here recently and this photographers photos were really different to the norm. This is something I want. I want people to say wow rather than nice shots when they look at my photos.

Also while I'm asking and rather than start a new thread - I usually use the 50mm 1.8 with a 350D for these parties. I have noticed that it's hard to hold the lens steady for those slower shutter shots. I notice when I put on a bigger lens I have Sigma 10 20 (bigger, larger and heavier) it is much easier to hold the camera steady. Is the 50mm lens just too light to hold steady with consistent results on a lightweight body such as the 350D or is it just me?

I'm looking to get a 40D at some stage in the future anyway but just wondering. If so it will be another benefit for me in upgrading. The only reason I would upgrade as of now is the higher ISO performance.

mehfesto2

I've done it only the once:







My main tips: let them get drunk so they won't noice the shutter noise and shoot from the hip (tbh, after a while you won't need to - the more the drink flows, like). That and pump up the ISO. :pac:

Fajitas!

I've done plenty of parties, from black tie nights in the K Club to college balls, to your very basic house parties. I was only looking back through an old album of mine from around this time last year, and found I still really liked the shots... Must start humping out the camera again.

I've taken down most of my house party photos from Flickr, so won't be posting anything up from that I'm afraid.

Nothing at all wrong with the 350D - It's nice and small, and does a plenty good job. You might want to upgrade for the sake of durability moreso than anything else!

Mr. Grieves

workaccount wrote: »

Also while I'm asking and rather than start a new thread - I usually use the 50mm 1.8 with a 350D for these parties. I have noticed that it's hard to hold the lens steady for those slower shutter shots. I notice when I put on a bigger lens I have Sigma 10 20 (bigger, larger and heavier) it is much easier to hold the camera steady. Is the 50mm lens just too light to hold steady with consistent results on a lightweight body such as the 350D or is it just me?

The weight will have an effect, but the main difference is the focal length. Remember that camera shake is multiplied by magnification of the lens. The standard rule for hand-held shots is to use a shutter speed that's 1/(crop factor)*(focal length) seconds. So with the Sigma you would in theory get away with a 1/16 s exposure, and with the 50mm a 1/80 s exposure. Of course the steadiness of your hands etc etc plays into this too.

So I would say there is no real reason to upgrade to a 40D. What you might like is an external flash, or maybe something like a Sigma 30mm f/1.4 - wider aperture and shorter focal length than your 50mm.

In terms of inspiration, I really like this guy's wedding shots on flickr - mostly grainy B&W film, unposed. http://www.flickr.com/photos/edwardolive

AnimalRights

mehfesto2 wrote: »

This pic works in so many ways...love the PP, the position of the guy and also the couple in the background...the legs on the female, leaves you using the imagination.

melekalikimaka

try a long shutter with off camera flash on a few bursts

mehfesto2

melekalikimaka wrote: »

try a long shutter with off camera flash on a few bursts

There's a guy on the Electric Picnic Forum (can't remember his Flickr ID now) who does great things with this! It's especially impressive when there's loads lights in the background!

passive

mehfesto2 wrote: »

I've done it only the once:

Is that girl named emily?

mehfesto2

passive wrote: »

Is that girl named emily?

She is indeed...
How d'ya know her?

Schlemm

http://lastnightsparty.com/ <---- Maybe NSFW

complete with a few dodgy pics mind u, I dunno where they find some of these crazy shindigs!

MOD EDIT: Depending on how conservative your work place is, some of the linked content may be NSFW (not safe for work)

Fajitas!

Hahaha, a few of my friends ended up on the beer on that.

Breasts and all :pac:

Schlemm

nothing says I'm 21 like tiiiiiitties! tee hee

but ya slow shutters are always a bit of fun, my brother had a party recently that was loosely Tim Burton themed, everyone showed up in crusty aul victorian outfits and talc-y hair, I got a few class shots that looked really spooky even tho all I had with me was a borrowed point and shoot job, and I was too drunk to work my brother's fancy eos properly

KylieWyley

watch your quoting of photos...
the mods are a bit anal about it.

Fajitas!

Only in the Random Photo thread

And these mods aren't half as bad as the last shower that were in here

melekalikimaka

Fajitas! wrote: »

Only in the Random Photo thread

And these mods aren't half as bad as the last shower that were in here

yeah... that rymus fella was a right plonk

workaccount

Just wondering then if shooting at a house party would you be more inclined to use shutter priority mostly.

I have been using aperture priority constantly and then might only switch to shutter pri when everyone starts dancing and stuff.

None of my photos seem to come out sharp at all even though I know my nifty fifty is very sharp.

I really made much more of an effort the last night aswell after realizing that I can easily get a sharp shot at 1/50th (was testing this earlier on that day) and alot of my shots were at speeds like 1/100 the last night and still the autofocus point was not sharp. Dunno what's going on there - maybe my lens is just terrible at focusing in the dark - will have to start experimenting to see if I can do achieve the shots I'm looking for in a less pressure environment.

All the shots I've taken are good enough for the web - but that's all. That's because I have reduced the images down very small but if you zoomed in at full size there terrible.