Shooting Birthday Candle Blowing Moments

[ocpuso]

I'm going to a friend's birthday celebration in a few days time, and I'll be bringing my Nikon d40x (and probably SB-400 flash unit) along.

My question is, when the light is switched off (or very dim), everyone's singing to the birthday song while the birthday boy is going to blow out the candles, how to capture that "candle blowing" moment and mood perfectly?

If I use direct flash, the result would be harsh for sure. If I use bounced flash, it would seem to be too bright and kills the mood of the photo. If I don't use flash at all, with my current lens (f3.5 max), i'd definitely need at the fastest 1/10 seconds, which would be long enough to produce blurry photos (with sudden movements from the subjects).

Anyone have tips to share? Or which would be the best setting/choice that I should use?

[ricktas]

Increase your ISO so that your shutter speed is faster.

Do some trials at home first to determine a suitable shutter speed. Remember as you increase ISO you also increase noise, so its a matter of finding the fast enought shutter speed at the lowest ISO that will produce the result you need.

[Darvidanoar]

As an example, this photo of my daughter was taken with my kit lens (so no big apertures available).

With the ISO at 1600, I was able to get the shuttier speed up to something managable.

ISO1600, F/4.5, 1/30s

[reaction]

I would use a flash with a reduced setting
I mean, that is why you got the flash. To avoid high ISO if possible
shoot in raw, make it dark or brighter as you wish

[hoffy]

I personally try and meter to the candles:

this was 1/100, f2.2 @ ISO100. It would have given a better effect if there was someone blowing the candles out, as the light on the face would make it look just about spot on