High School graduation

I tried a search and didn't find anything on the site so posting a question. My son is graduating in May and I am looking for some good tips for nice pictures of the event. Camera settings, lenses etc. I can do some portrait stuff at home before hand just fine but at the event it could be more difficult. What have you all done for graduations?

Mark, I know you have a 300mm zoom 5.6 I don't think it's going to work for you indoors. I shoot my stepson's middle school graduation indoor ceremony with a 55-200mm 5.6 with poor results using my D3000 at the time. I would recommend you rent (or use this as the perfect excuse to buy one) a fast glass zoom lens if your going to be doing anything inside and can't be close.

Most graduations I been to have been indoors and in the school gym. See if you can get into the gym right now and shoot some sporting events. This will give you an idea of what you're up against before you get there and you can play around with settings and maybe come up with something that will work using a higher ISO.

If your event is outside hope for good weather and get lots of good shots.

That's my 2 cents worth.

Rick

Rick, some good advice. Unfortunately I can't talk ME into getting some new fast glass at the moment. Budget won't support that. Have the graduation present and my parent's 50th wedding anniversary this year in June so will be an expensive couple months.
I do like the idea of going in before and shooting some pictures and seeing what I can get. I do have a monopod so maybe I can use that with a slower shutter speed and see how that does as well.
I am not sure if it is outside or not. In So IL it just might be.
Thanks for the ideas.

See if you can experiment before hand as suggested. I may have missed it but I don't see what camera body you are using. The reason I was wondering is how high you can crank up the ISO. Some folks are afraid to go above ISO 200 but I would much rather have a well exposed shot taken at high ISO ie 1600 - 3200 and clean up the noise later rather that not get the shot. Your flash both pop-up and external will do you little to no good except for the shots that are 10-15 feet from you. I would use no flash, crank up the iso and use aperture priorty and see what can be captured. Also your faster glass will allow you to get better exposed images and you can crop them later. My 2cents.

Rent a lens for the occasion. You can rent a 80-200mm f/2.8 and probably get the shots you want. It's big and heavy but wii get the job done.

I may be able to rent a lens. I will have to check on how much that would cost. Especially if this is indoors.
I looked and my camera is not on my profile anymore. It used to be there. I have a D90.
Thanks for the advice.

Renting is a lot cheaper than buying a 80-200mm f/2.8. In any case the D90 will auto focus well with either the AF-D or a AF-S lens.

Found a store near my house that will rent the 70-200 2.8 VR for $40. If this turns indoors I will see about renting that. I will only need it for one day anyway. Deposit is $1700 but I bet they use a credit card as a deposit.