Photography in a Night Club...

GFWilliams

GFWilliams

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I been asked (forced) to photograph 2 events in London in mid feb, so thought that I would come on here and ask for some advice :help:

I will be using a Nikon D90 (I normally use a D300..) and will bring one of my SB-600s.

What kind of settings are a good benchmark to getting guaranteed good photos?

I'm thinking just a simple burst of flash on about 1/2 power tops and a SS of about 1/60th to get the lights from the club to have a little movement. Should the ISO be about 400/800?

Any help is much appreciated :)

I'm not going to mention that I am doing a wedding soon too ;)
 
Here's some reading! It's a question that gets asked quite a lot, so these threads should help a bit!

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=180940&highlight=nightclub+photography
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=141426&highlight=nightclub+photography
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=115435&highlight=nightclub+photography
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=145219&highlight=nightclub+photography
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=145995&highlight=nightclub+photography

Basically don't use rear curtain flash regardless of what people say, experiment with shutter speeds of up to around a second depending on how much ambient light and/or trails you want, and you'll soon see what works and what doesn't!
 
Haha, no worries, it's what we're here for! :thumbs:

Chris
 
D90 is more than up to the job but to capture the moment in those conditions you'll have to think on your feet. Make sure you're familiar with the camera to be able to change settings quickly and in the dark. Take a small torch - to find the right buttons but also to guarantee you're able to focus when it comes to posed shots (shine it at your subject) What glass you planning on using? Even if you don't use the wide aperture, you'll want something fast to make focusing easier. The lowest light I've shot people in w/ out flash metered at ISO4000, f/2.8, 1/80th (needed to minimise motion blur) so be prepared to push everything to get the shot.

Chris above gives a good pointer about shutter speed, with flash I'd go a second or maybe slightly longer and still be happy to hand hold. Interested to know why you urge against rear curtain; it's horses for courses and of course I can think of occasions when it's not relevant (you end up not capturing the moment you thought you would) but I can think of situations where it'll improve the shot (mostly images with motion).

George, if you want to drop me a PM or text with specific queries I'd be happy to answer.
 
Good advice there :thumbs:


AndWhyNot said:
Interested to know why you urge against rear curtain; it's horses for courses and of course I can think of occasions when it's not relevant (you end up not capturing the moment you thought you would) but I can think of situations where it'll improve the shot (mostly images with motion).
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It's a bit of a pet hate of mine! As soon as anyone mentions 'nightclub', you generally get a fair few replies saying "You must use rear curtain flash". I understand the point of it, and I agree that it's a very useful tool in some situations, but nightclubs sure aren't one of them!

Rear curtain sync is only really of any use when the movement in question is predictable. A member (CT I think?) wrote up an excellent tutorial on it a while ago, but I can't find it. The example was a girl walking along in a straight line, holding a sparker. The effect of rear curtain was the girl was captured at the end of the exposure, and the sparker trail was across the picture. Very nice. Had the flash gone off at the beginning of the exposure, it would look like the girl had moved backwards. If I can find the tutorial you'll see what I mean.

In a nightclub, for starters the motion is going to be almost completely erratic. This means whether the flash fires at the beginning or end of the exposure, the result is almost certainly going to be the same. Worst of all is the pre-flash though, which in a loud crowded club you aren't going to be able to explain, So the pre-flash will go off, your subjects will move, and you'll be left with a lovely shot of some blank space, some other people, or the backs of their heads! :D

Chris
 
Settings you use will differ from venue to venue depending on their lighting set up, the amount of ambient light and also the effect you are trying to achieve. Even inside moving around the venue you will likely find you need to keep changing settings.
 
F4 (f2.8 doesn't give enough dof for groups), usually pretty wide (think 20mmish), iso 1600 (you can happily push the d90 to this), 1/40th (just enough to burn in the background lights etc), sb600 on ttl, FeV - 1.3, stofen on the sb600, angled *very* slightly up, pointing forwards as normal. Centre focussing point, single focus mode (AF-S) so you get the af-illuminator from the sb600.

don't do the whole 'dontstayin' look of rear curtain sync and 3 second exposure and wave the camera about for a load first, overused and kinda naff looking effect imo.
 
chris321 said:
Good advice there :thumbs:

Rear curtain sync is only really of any use when the movement in question is predictable. A member (CT I think?) wrote up an excellent tutorial on it a while ago, but I can't find it. The example was a girl walking along in a straight line, holding a sparker. The effect of rear curtain was the girl was captured at the end of the exposure, and the sparker trail was across the picture. Very nice. Had the flash gone off at the beginning of the exposure, it would look like the girl had moved backwards. If I can find the tutorial you'll see what I mean.
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Don't search on my account, you'd be preaching to the converted ;) I do 90% of my hobby stuff and >50% of my pro stuff in the dark or at night.

Agree entirely what you're saying in this most recent post, just curious why in your first post you were so blanket "don't do it"; struck me as oddly akin to those who say you *must* shoot rear-curtain. Cheers for clearing it up
 
chris321 said:
Here's some reading! It's a question that gets asked quite a lot, so these threads should help a bit!

Basically don't use rear curtain flash regardless of what people say, experiment with shutter speeds of up to around a second depending on how much ambient light and/or trails you want, and you'll soon see what works and what doesn't!
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more.

People who shoot club photography *regularly* confuse rear shutter sync with slow shutter sync, citing you cannot get the trailing lights look. You can. And with much better predictability. They are both THE SAME in terms of exposure.
 
There is a second side to nightclub photography that is important to remember, it is your job to portray the club in a good light, not simply produce technically good photos.

Make sure you have a good check through the shots before you submit them to the club. They aren't going to use photos of girls with their love spuds out, blokes with eyes like dinner plates chewing their own faces off or anything else that might be dodgy or does not show the sort of atmosphere they want to advertise. So take these out yourself, it will make you look better if the club don't have to do much in the way of vetting your photos.

Another thing the management will hate is any photos that show the club to be, or appear to be empty. No matter how good your shots are, if there is a load of empty space* in the background the shot will not likely be used as it does not portray the club positively.
If it is a quiet night i often drop the iso right down and accept the black ground. It might not be as exciting a shot, but it is better than something that will never be used.

*EDIT: By empty space, i mean being able to see an area of the club with no people. A plain but colourful background generated by the disco lights is fine.
 
chris321 said:
It's a bit of a pet hate of mine!
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Good man :thumbs:

I disagree with Dave though, about the movement and lights thing being overdone. That's one of the great things about a nightclub - a bit of colour and lively fun. You don't want people looking like they're standing at a bus stop.

So, if there's a reasonably low ceiling, fit a Stofen or similar to the flash and set a long shutter speed. Get people to wave some lights around or if that's not happening, move the camera so that background lights blur across the frame. At least give it a try.
 
it all depends on the light in the club and the effect you are going for.

I shoot with both 1st and 2nd curtain flash depending on the scene and shutter speed I'm using. flash is ETTL with a stofen, iso 400-3200, 0.3-1/60s f2.8-f8 (manual exposure) adjust according to light

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3524658869a11527705829o.jpg


GFWilliams said:
I been asked (forced) to photograph 2 events in London in mid feb, so thought that I would come on here and ask for some advice :help:

I will be using a Nikon D90 (I normally use a D300..) and will bring one of my SB-600s.

What kind of settings are a good benchmark to getting guaranteed good photos?

I'm thinking just a simple burst of flash on about 1/2 power tops and a SS of about 1/60th to get the lights from the club to have a little movement. Should the ISO be about 400/800?

Any help is much appreciated :)

I'm not going to mention that I am doing a wedding soon too ;)
Click to expand...
 
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