Club Pictures???

Cloudkicker

Hey guys im going to start shooting at some mainstream clubs and I need some help on what settings to shoot at? The clubs have very little lighting. Im using the 30D, 24-70, and the 580EX. Thanks in advance.

mmroden

Cloudkicker wrote:

Hey guys im going to start shooting at some mainstream clubs and I need some help on what settings to shoot at? The clubs have very little lighting. Im using the 30D, 24-70, and the 580EX. Thanks in advance.

You're going to want a fast prime. I'd be willing to bet that the flash will be frowned on, and even if it wasn't, it will mess up the ambiance of the shot you're trying to take.

Go with a 50 1.4 or similar (at least 1.8), and practice a bit beforehand so you don't get the problem of focusing on someone's nose with their eyes out of focus due to the small DOF.

mr peas

oh man a question i can finally answer!

haha.

you could use a fast prime, but if you need to shoot big groups, you better have a wide-angle handy.

i use my sony f828 28-200mm camera for night clubs, it works perfect.
i also use a canon speedlight on full manual. depending on the venue, if i need shots done quick ill have my flash attached to the camera, if i have extra time ill have it attached via flash cord to make some nicer lighting.

my advice to you is, bring something like a mid 20smm lens to at the least 50 to 75mm. to cover enough space. you do not want to shoot with a 50mm prime and move back just to get a group in a shot, a club is usually going to be so full you'll want to have to worry less about moving around.

also, flash is no problem at a nightclub. people LOVE getting their photos taken. when they see a flash, they will most likely come to YOU.

also, make sure you bring extra batteries for your flash and camera and a water bottle in the car so you dont have to buy water from the bar, which can be very expensive.

lastly, on settings, you really have to test this out yourself. i shoot on my camera @ F2.2 at 1/3 of a second with the flash set @ 28mm, 1/8 or 1/4 or 1/2s depending on how close I am to my subjects. I like to drag the shutter longer depending on the bg, to really blur out the bg while keeping my subjects sharp. that will depend on your vision and how you want the photos to come out.

understand I shoot mainly the people in the club and these are the things that work well for me.

thats pretty much it. its a cool job, so try to have fun haha. always dress to impress and have a really positive attitude; yet you should direct your subjects, dont let them direct you. be in control!

if you want samples of some photos i took before, look in my gallery under 'nightlife'. i can provide more if you need more examples. i have tons, lol.

good luck

Cloudkicker

mr peas wrote:

oh man a question i can finally answer!

haha.

you could use a fast prime, but if you need to shoot big groups, you better have a wide-angle handy.

i use my sony f828 28-200mm camera for night clubs, it works perfect.
i also use a canon speedlight on full manual. depending on the venue, if i need shots done quick ill have my flash attached to the camera, if i have extra time ill have it attached via flash cord to make some nicer lighting.

my advice to you is, bring something like a mid 20smm lens to at the least 50 to 75mm. to cover enough space. you do not want to shoot with a 50mm prime and move back just to get a group in a shot, a club is usually going to be so full you'll want to have to worry less about moving around.

also, flash is no problem at a nightclub. people LOVE getting their photos taken. when they see a flash, they will most likely come to YOU.

also, make sure you bring extra batteries for your flash and camera and a water bottle in the car so you dont have to buy water from the bar, which can be very expensive.

lastly, on settings, you really have to test this out yourself. i shoot on my camera @ F2.2 at 1/3 of a second with the flash set @ 28mm, 1/8 or 1/4 or 1/2s depending on how close I am to my subjects. I like to drag the shutter longer depending on the bg, to really blur out the bg while keeping my subjects sharp. that will depend on your vision and how you want the photos to come out.

understand I shoot mainly the people in the club and these are the things that work well for me.

thats pretty much it. its a cool job, so try to have fun haha. always dress to impress and have a really positive attitude; yet you should direct your subjects, dont let them direct you. be in control!

if you want samples of some photos i took before, look in my gallery under 'nightlife'. i can provide more if you need more examples. i have tons, lol.

good luck

Thanks man!!!

mr peas

no problem!

DKwan

I generally shoot at ISO 1600, f/4. I choose f/4 because oftentimes I'd be shooting a group of people. At f/3.5 or bigger, people get out of focus too easily. And you don't have time to play with your settings when people are going wild and waiting for you to shoot. Shutter speed at something like 1/15 s, depending on what the ambient light is like. Let Flash TTL handle the rest. And yeah, wide angle is good.

Here's one from a fairly recent club event.



I got a bunch more in my site if you want more examples. Hope that helped.

mr peas

Hey you from the B.A. too huh? I grew up in San Josie.
Good to see more people from the bay in here, haha.

oh back to the topic..
yeah, its good to have a flashgun that mates with the camera.
my flash doesnt mate with my sony, well it doesnt communicate with my new canon body either (its A-TTL, very ancient), but it still hasnt broken on me!

another cool thing to do is bring a hot-shoe adapter and cords for your flash or go wireless via PocketWizard or any other radio-gizmo (ebay ones for $30 work great with Nikon flash units, not so much for Canon ones though) and use non-direct flash. not a lot of photogs do that because it takes more time. but photos turn out really well and its lots of fun to use.

i dunno what else.. bring gum? lol

DKwan

Yup, Bay Area. Yeee! Haha...

Ya, here's one shot with a remote flash unit.


Go-go dancer Jeri Lee

I only did that for one event because it took so much time to set up and adjust. And when I'm set to use the remote flash, I can't shoot the people constantly coming to me wanting me to take pictures of them. But yeah, the photos do look different from typical club photos. It's just kind of difficult to do in a club setting.

mr peas

Yeah I try to stay straight forward too. Its just easier and thats what most places want, just people. Plus it gets you through the venue really quick. The quicker I get what I need, the better. But off-camera flash, as in you yourself holding it comes out really well. I didnt mean having it mounted across the room, lol. I wouldnt want that new 580ex getting jacked!

What company do you work for over there in the Bay (for the club gigs)? I've only heard of 123out. I'm sure there's more.

DKwan

Oh, holding the flash... Duh. . Didn't think of that, and never tried it cuz I imagine it being very tiring. I shot for ovahere.com a few times. Generally I shoot for the promoters.

mr peas

Cool. I've never been to that one before. I gotta' go clubbing more in the bay. I havent been to many there.

sorry to thread jack btw! i hope you're still learning from our conversations. haha

digitalfrog

The show:


The Crowd:


The DJ:

LuisX

I am nowhere near as good as the grand master DigitalFrog, but I'll share what I have:

Random guy:


Dj Chris Craze and one of the new Go-Go dancers



Go-Go dancer El:



Some girl whose name I forgot :



If for some reason you guys think these are any good, I can post a few more favs...

digitalfrog

I love them !!

LuisX

digitalfrog wrote:

I love them !!

Hey, those are words of encouragement right there
My next stop is to get a fisheye as big as yours (whichever is the Canon version). And a full frame body... Your club and model photography are an inspiration to me and many others, keep it up

LuisX

Another night at the same club: