On Tue, 4 Jun 2002, Michael Krebs wrote:
> What would be the desirable aperture setting for table shots of
> approximately 10 people at a wedding? I use a nikon n90s with a 35-70 2.8
> lens, an SB-26 flash with 400asa film. I would like to light the background
> a bit without blowing out the subjects. Thank you for your suggestions.
> Michael
You have some things to consider. First, Depth-of-Field...unless
you have enough of it, your table shots will not work, and this
is a parameter without any flexibility. Are you going to have them
get up and line up behind the other seated half of the table ?
That would necessitate less DoF. Let's say you're stuck with
f/8.
What is the ambient light exposure at f/8 there with your ISO
400 film ? My guess (if it's indoors at night) is somewhere
around f/5.6-8 @ 1/4 sec.
In order to hold maximum detail in the background you need
to let as much of the ambient light affect the exposure as
possible. Since your aperture is fixed by your DoF needs,
you are left with shutter speed as your control to do this.
By slowing the shutter down, you will bring in more of
the ambient light onto the film. With the example at hand, and
a shutter speed of 1/30th sec. you would be somewhere between
a 6:1 and an 8:1 ratio, meaning the background would be visible,
but very dark. If you could go to f/5.6, or risk going to
1/15th (you will get some, mostly minor blurs) it would be better.
Oh...and on the 8th day, the Goddess invented Portra 800...
--- Luis
