[aras2002]

Hi everyone,

I have a K-30 and a 18-55 WR lense, and on Saturday mornign I am attending a street parade with some giants puppets (I know it sounds strange ) It will be in very narrow streets, and the weather will be most likely to be cloudy.

I want to get some pretty good photos, so what will you recommend me? As far as I know, I will have to use short exposure times, because if I use long ones, the puppets will be blurry

[rbefly]

Hello aras2002,
You normally have three settings to control exposure; F/stop, shutter speed and ISO. There is one setting on the mode dial that allows you to control 2 at one time and the camera light meter controls the 3rd. It's called TAv (time or shutter speed and Aperture or f/stop). For example, your 18-55mm has a maximum aperture of f/5.6 at 55mm. The shutter speed needed to stop normal human motion (slow movement like walking, not fast 'sports' type motion) is around 1/125s-1/200s.
So, for the parade, set the mode dial to TAv, set the aperture (with rear thumb wheel) to f/5.6, the shutter speed (with front thumb wheel) to 1/200s and the camera will choose the ISO to match these settings for a correct exposure. If it's cloudy, the ISO will be high, because there's less light available.
I understand the K-30 handles high ISO very well, so this would probably be the best solution to the parade situation. After you try a few shots, check the results on the LCD screen. If the photos are slightly too dark or light, correct with exposure compensation.
Just an idea for you, there may be other possible solutions!
Ron

[topace]

Positioning is important. I'd look for three things;
1) if the route turns away from a position, that position gives more available angles.
2) Elevation will give an official sort of feel to the images, as well as some angles that are not captured by others.
3) You will want to see what's coming ahead of time so you have time to plan where to put your effort.

Out of those, the third is probably the most important.

Cloudy weather may well be preferable, since it softens the available light, and parades are usually colourful enough anyways. But yes, short exposures are the way to go, unless you want motion blur on a specific picture. Better up the ISO a bit.

[aras2002]

Hello aras2002,
You normally have three settings to control exposure; F/stop, shutter speed and ISO. There is one setting on the mode dial that allows you to control 2 at one time and the camera light meter controls the 3rd. It's called TAv (time or shutter speed and Aperture or f/stop). For example, your 18-55mm has a maximum aperture of f/5.6 at 55mm. The shutter speed needed to stop normal human motion (slow movement like walking, not fast 'sports' type motion) is around 1/125s-1/200s.
So, for the parade, set the mode dial to TAv, set the aperture (with rear thumb wheel) to f/5.6, the shutter speed (with front thumb wheel) to 1/200s and the camera will choose the ISO to match these settings for a correct exposure. If it's cloudy, the ISO will be high, because there's less light available.
I understand the K-30 handles high ISO very well, so this would probably be the best solution to the parade situation. After you try a few shots, check the results on the LCD screen. If the photos are slightly too dark or light, correct with exposure compensation.
Just an idea for you, there may be other possible solutions!
Ron

Positioning is important. I'd look for three things;
1) if the route turns away from a position, that position gives more available angles.
2) Elevation will give an official sort of feel to the images, as well as some angles that are not captured by others.
3) You will want to see what's coming ahead of time so you have time to plan where to put your effort.

Out of those, the third is probably the most important.

Cloudy weather may well be preferable, since it softens the available light, and parades are usually colourful enough anyways. But yes, short exposures are the way to go, unless you want motion blur on a specific picture. Better up the ISO a bit.

Thanks to both of you for the advices. I think that I will follow your tips about the exposure. I'll try to post some photos with the results!

[wombat2go]

Here is a failed shot that illustrates some issues raised by rbefly and topace.
On 35mm film with a 28 mm 2.8
Too close in, after I got through the crowd to the front of the sidewalk
The street was dark so the shutter was down around 1/60 ( see the weird motion blur on the drummer) and the lens aperture wide with no DOF.
OH and to cap it off, a spectator darted in front !

In this case a dslr to take lots of tries with high iso and a wider zoom would have been better.

[aras2002]

Finally I couldn't try the advices you gave me. This has been a rainy weekend so the parade was cancelled... let's hope next will be luckier

[cali92rs]

Finally I couldn't try the advices you gave me. This has been a rainy weekend so the parade was cancelled... let's hope next will be luckier

Too bad, you had your WR lens for just this sort of rainy occassion