night club photo advice and flashes?

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mariag

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hi all. well this is all a bit new to me so please dont knock my head off for needing some advice!

im starting to get more and more into night club/dark photography. i was hoping one of you wise people could give me a little advice about this... i have a digital pentax 28-80. i would like to know what settings you would reccomend i use on my camera?

and also i am thinking about getting a attatchable flash with possibly a diffuser... have you any thoughts on this such as what model or if i should bother?

any advice is really appreciated! thank you!
 
I've been doing club shots for years, mainly on a point and shoot but been using a DSLR for about 2mths now.

The kit lens on your camera will be more than enough for 99.9% of club shots, as people are quite close to you.
For the shots of lighting set ups/glowsticks/etc, either turn the flash off (you will only see the lights and not the people if you do this), or use night scene/party and have a slow shutter speed and/or wide open apeture.
Also, only change one setting at a time.

Not sure which flash you'd need exactly, but a flashgun is a big help in clubs.
 
ISO 800, F/4, 1/20th, ETTL on flash

Start with that, adjust shutter or ISO til you get the effect you are after.
 
As a friend of mine keeps saying "Just f*** about with the settings and find what works for you"... She copyrighted the phrase lol.
 
thanks a lot for the advice guys, well appreciated! i will be sure to try the settings out and see how it goes... if anyone does know anything about suitable flashes though, dont hold back! thanks again.
 
I would say yes, invest in a decent flash gun. You'll get a good one for upwards of £100, but they can be found cheaper. If you're on a budget, check out the Sigma range.
If you use a flash with a long exposure, set it to rear sync so that it fires at the end of the shot rather than the start. A cheap plastic diffuser may be of use - these can be bought for a few quid.
 
Well as I was typing my responce I read Ian T's, his advice is the exact same I was going too say.

Long exposures to record glowsticks moving about then the rear shutter sync will freeze subjects. Possibly using bulb mode would work well as then you can release the shutter whenever you get the composition you want and the flash will fire lighting up the scene and freezing your subject.
 
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