So....I'm finally shooting my first event this weekend. It's a B'nai Mitvah for these twins (one boy, one girl) this Saturday. I'm shooting a few posed shots at the synagouge for about a half hour before the service, and then im shooting the full 4 hours of the party afterwards.
I'm going to be using my 20D, 28-75 f/2.8 Tamron, a Canon 430 EX flash with a Gary Fong lightsphere. I've seen the room the party is going to be in and it's pretty small so I was thinking I might not even bother bringing my 28-200 because I just don't think I'll need it. Other than that I have plenty of extra batteries, flash cards, and a borrowed backup camera so I think I should be set. Anybody have any advice? Am I forgetting anything critical? Any words of wisdom are greatly appreciated.
I have absolutely no experience with a B'nai Mitvah, just a dozen weddings and other events. So, generally, have some poses in mind for the formals, watch the personalities and let them shine through, keep looking for the shots throughout the entire event and enjoy the experience.
I really like shooting with 2 cameras. A different lens on each, so that I can get the complete shot and the tight close up within seconds of each other.
Bring plenty of storage (CF cards), (I see you've already thought of that), bounce the flash if possible, don't be afraid of long exposure shots in the available light, and make sure your "subjects" have fun, too.
Unless the room ultra tiny, I would bring the 28-200 anyway.....worse case scenario, you leave it in the car. Echoing rjktesch bring lots of memory. If you don't have/can't get/can't afford more memory...I would bring a laptop or something to dump the photos onto.
Well, I just got back and am uploading the somewhere around 900 pictures I took. I have a LOT of respect for all those professional event photographer's out there: this was one of the more difficult things I've done. I'll post some of the pics once I edit them.
