Nightclub photography novice

IanTurner

IanTurner

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Ian Turner
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Hey guys
Been on here a while, not really posted but I'm after a little advice if i may?

Might have a job soon photographing People in nightclubs aka A nightclub photographer

anyway my question is what sort of settings would i need I will be shooting in full manual with an ISO around 400-800 depending on lighting etc a aperture of around F4.5 or as low as my lens will go and a shutter speed of 1/60th-1/125th second as i'll be hand holding

whats peoples opinions on this
thanks in advance

Ian

P.s Hope this is in the right section, appologies if it's not.
 
flash, second curtain flash, and flash is my advice having shot in bars and clubs for 6 months

Charlie
 
I would probably whip the ISO all the way up to 1600, just to ensure good shutter speed (you're going to have to freeze fast moving dancers). Then do some noise reduction in PP. I don't think that 1/60th is ever going to come out sharp in those conditions. You might also want to get yourself a flashgun, because sometimes it will be too dark and you wont be able to get the shots.

Good look and hope that you get the job!
 
thanks guys have got a small flsh gun, but nothing compared to a modern decent one but its bright an works ok just slow recyle time, will keep it on 1/125th and then adjust the flash to the compensation/strongest or second curtain possibly,
they only want face shots with little background so shouldn't be to hard i, famous last words though!
thanks guys
Ian
 
You may find you are told what settings to use and have little say in it.

But yeah, a job is a job and they all seem to advertise up to £7 odd an hour + portfolio work :)

Good luck with it and keep us all informed of how it goes as there have been a few threads on this recently.
 
i got asked to work for I am Vip.

they tell you what settings to use on your camera... make sure you insure it as they dont.

also it only works out that your making anything if you take the picture, sell it, print it, find the customer every 4 minutes for 6 hours to even make anything worth having.

but then again its all upto the individual if your just going to do it for your portfolio etc go for it :)
 
Thanks, guys just got back in from the interview, seemed to go ok the girl/lady interviewing me had clearly had a very busy day bless her lol

seemed to go ok just have to wait and see, Andiphoto - she did mention insurance on my gear! also i could use there camera which is essentialy a bridge camera, she said its quicker and other wise you don't want to be messing about with settings etc to get it right.

its from 10-30 untill around 2-30 to 3am longer than i thought but money is money.

need to get myself a decent flash gun i think, and will keep you guys informed.

Thanks for all advice tips guys.

Ian
 
Hi Ian,

I shoot in the clubs in Brighton most weekends working freelance. I have to say there is very little money in it and I primarily do it for the love of it. I love clubbing and adore electronic music so it works for me. It's alot of fun too.

The most I've ever received is £50 for a nights work. The promoters use my shots for promotional purposes on their websites, facebook etc... The problem is there is always someone willing to do it for nothing which sadly devalues the service we provide. There's alot of photographers in Brighton too so competition is fierce.

Regarding settings - for shooting portraits and group shots of the punters I use iso800, F4-5.6 with the shutter set to 0.3 second and the flash on second curtain. The slower shutter speed and high ISO enable you to soak up all the ambient light etc in the background while the second curtain flash ensures you get a well illuminated, sharp image of your subjects. For best results I use the flash hand held off camera.

For dancers and Dj's as a rule of thumb I just speed the shutter up a little. It's venue dependant and the lighting plays a big part in shutter speed selection - Trial and error at venue is the best way to get this right. Still use second curtain flash and the high iso as obtaining a balanced exposure between background and subject is critical to getting a good, sharp image.

You can shoot at 1/60 second plus if you wish and you will get good sharp images for sure but they will be with a dark background (much like a point and shoot camera) as the sensor has not had time to soak up the ambient light. By using the longer shutter speeds, high ISO and second curtain flash your shots will convey the atmosphere of the club better by showing all the colourful lights etc...

The brighter the environment in which you are shooting the faster your shutter speed can be. Every venue is different so the above is a rule of thumb which works for me. the clubs I mostly work in a fairly dark with lots of lights, lasers and strobes etc..

Hope this is of some help, any questions then fire away.

Heres a link to a shoot i did last weekend:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/samwadman/sets/72157624276383464/
 
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Ian....

My apologies, having re-read the thread I originally missed the fact that you're just doing face shots for keyrings so my advice probably wont apply much for what your doing.

For close up face shots of posed subjects in a club then I would go for 1/50th shutter (minimum), ISO400, F5-5.6 in manual mode. If they're not interested in the background and just want tightly framed headshots it 'should' be easy. Good luck with it and keep us posted.
 
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The shutter speed will matter not much for the subject, i.e. faces, because the flash will take care of that.

For shooting in clubs, I have a default set-up on my camera which is ISO 800, 1/50th sec, f/5.6. You can take all shots using those settings, or throw in a few creative shots by using a slower shutter speed to burn in the background lights, etc.

Also, I mostly use a white stofen diffuser over the end of a 580EX II flash. That helps to reduce the risk of over flashing someone's face.

Don't be afraid to use high ISO, because the flash will kill much of the noise.
 
Sorry to bring this back from the dead, but its something that i need to do in the very near future, so was just doing some research....

Did you get the job in the end Ian? If so, what settings did you go for in the end?
 
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