Nightclub Photography

mteicher

I am particularly interested in other dgrinners out there who take pictures at nightclubs. When I take photographs at nightclubs, I record what settings worked, battery life, lens, what worked, what didn't worked, how one goes about getting clear in focus shots and appearing not to have the picture resulting in looking it was taken in a nightclub.

Anyone else out there willing to share their notes and observations

you can check out some of my pictures at
www.body-bumpers.com/rockbands
http://www.body-bumpers.com/Events/446655
or www.downtownafterdark.com

/mark

Mnemosyne

The Arts is my beat at the school paper. This includes Bars and Bands in town.

I've learned to shoot to the right. I meter off the brightest points, and expose from there. Usually trying to keep a shutter speed between 320 and 200 (depending on the lighting, more light, faster shutter speed).

Aperture wise I try to go 2.8 or wider. Sometimes I might do 3.5, but generally no wider.

ISO I keep it below 800 if I can (having a 50 f1.4 and a 135 f2 helps ). I try to only use 1600 in extreme situations, but then again, shooting to the right alleviates a little of the noise/color saturation problems of higher ISOs.

As for focus, look for a point that has high contrast (ie: where a shadow falls). This helps with auto focus.

Although I've never done the Nighclub aspect of it, so maybe my suggestions wouldn't help, since I prefer to shoots sans flash in bars (plus many bands hate it, so shooting without flash helps me to be allowed back into the bars).

mteicher

[Nightclub reply]
if you check out my photos on www.body-bumpers.com/rockbands. I think you can clearly see that lighting is not an issue, I used a soft diffuser to prevent the blinding of the public. I always obtain written permission from the venue, and the band prior to the event, in some cases weeks in advance, but that is a different issue entirely.

I get invited back every week when I don't have another event scheduled.
I have shot in Las Vegas, and other clubs with ok success.

A majority of the pictures I don't photoshop, since the majority of them are pretty clear to begin with..

/cheers

/mark

Mnemosyne wrote:

The Arts is my beat at the school paper. This includes Bars and Bands in town.

I've learned to shoot to the right. I meter off the brightest points, and expose from there. Usually trying to keep a shutter speed between 320 and 200 (depending on the lighting, more light, faster shutter speed).

Aperture wise I try to go 2.8 or wider. Sometimes I might do 3.5, but generally no wider.

ISO I keep it below 800 if I can (having a 50 f1.4 and a 135 f2 helps ). I try to only use 1600 in extreme situations, but then again, shooting to the right alleviates a little of the noise/color saturation problems of higher ISOs.

As for focus, look for a point that has high contrast (ie: where a shadow falls). This helps with auto focus.

Although I've never done the Nighclub aspect of it, so maybe my suggestions wouldn't help, since I prefer to shoots sans flash in bars (plus many bands hate it, so shooting without flash helps me to be allowed back into the bars).

Mnemosyne

Cool beans. Personally, I just don't like bands and flash. I prefer the natural stage lighting. Makes for some great silhouettes sometimes and what not. But that's just me.

mteicher

[nightclub pic perfection]
Here is the issue with natural stage lighting, unless the bar or venue has money for good lighting, natural stage lighting will not occur, results end up having lots of red, due to the plastic film they put over the lights in the bar, or greenish tint, as I have noticed in some of my pictures until I switched back to the soft box diffuser. silhouettes are interesting but when it comes to selling pictures, blurry, weird lighting photos just don't sell as well as crystal clear photos..

Mnemosyne wrote:

Cool beans. Personally, I just don't like bands and flash. I prefer the natural stage lighting. Makes for some great silhouettes sometimes and what not. But that's just me.

Mnemosyne

Depends on who you're trying to sell it to

Venues want photos that say "Come to my place with your friends, you'll have fun"

Bands want "Look at me, I'm mysterious, and I look great with a green rim light"

But you're right, I've photographed at places with some bad lights. Like I said though, It's just my preference. And many of the bands I have photographed have been bigger names. I remember when I photographed Hanson, they had security guys with flashlights to ruin the photos. One guy looked at me after he did that to someone and I smiled and shrugged. He just laughed. Good times!!!

TexPhotog

My personal experience...

Clubs - full auto. Too much to deal with to be messing around with settings: drunk people, bar staff trying to move around the club to make their money...

Bands/concerts - manual, as fast as you can go on your lens (if you're poor like me, 3.5 will have to do until I can get me a 2.8 or faster lens), with ISO 800 or 1600; shoot raw if you can, but fine jpg should also work fine.

I don't have too much of my club photography on my site yet, but you can check this website http://www.inthe915.com/gallery for which I used to shoot. Most of the photography in the site up to July 2007 is mine... and not to toot my own horn, but what they have now looks pretty crappy compared to my work.

I'll try to add newer stuff as soon as I have it...

gus

mteicher wrote:

When I take photographs at nightclubs, I record what settings worked, battery life, lens, what worked, what didn't worked, how one goes about getting clear in focus shots and appearing not to have the picture resulting in looking it was taken in a nightclub.

/mark

I dont know how you do all this in such vastly differing lighting environments of different clubs. Ive done a fair bit & things change by the second.

How do you work out light ? Do you use a meter in a certain spot ?

Mnemosyne

gus wrote:

I dont know how you do all this in such vastly differing lighting environments of different clubs. Ive done a fair bit & things change by the second.

How do you work out light ? Do you use a meter in a certain spot ?

Metadata

gus

Mnemosyne wrote:

Metadata

No...what im asking is that the lights in a club are not something to use as a reconer. What is bright on min is dull the next. To record all that info & then move half an inch or wait 3 seconds to have it all change is not something i understand.

Mnemosyne

gus wrote:

No...what im asking is that the lights in a club are not something to use as a reconer. What is bright on min is dull the next. To record all that info & then move half an inch or wait 3 seconds to have it all change is not something i understand.

That's true. My rule of thumb is if they aren't in light, don't photograph. They do so much moving around, make them do your work for you. Wait for them to move into a light, and take your shot. But I shoot candid shots of bands in bars, so using flash doesn't work for me. Doing the candid party nightclub photos would be different.

StylusFunk

Great thread!



I have different settings for different situations programmed into my 40d. When I first get to a club, I'll test what the best settings seem to be, then lock them in my custom modes on the dial. But you can still adjust in manual, if I need to. I never pay attention to my light meter in clubs.

My main situations are:

DJ/GoGo Dancers
Couple's portrait
Crowd

Usually DJs, performers, and dancers have strong lights pointed at them. With flash, I'll use lower ISOs (400) and a little faster shutter to freeze them in motion (but not too frozen, a blurred hand working the decks is nice).

Couples will pose, so I slow the shutter speed to around .3 sec, up the ISO (800) for background lighting, and use 2nd curtain sync for my flash to freeze them but get great background lighting.

Crowd has medium aperture to keep more people in focus (maybe f6) and an ISO around 1000. Crowd shots are still my weakness, I really want a 5D Mark II for it's ISO power. I try to time crowd shots with what the light tech is doing.

Qarik

I took a look at your shots from several different bands..the flash is over powering. The light on the subject is often very harsh and shadows they cast very distracting. You menationed you are diffusing? Is it an stofen omni bounce pointed straight at the subject?

I think you need to at least bounce the flash if you can or find another diffuser.

JDEORTA

I have been shooting nightclub photos for almost a year and when I first started i had a hard time getting the lighting right for the different clubs. I also use Gary Fong' s clear light sphere and set my flash 580EXII to manual @ 1/4 +.7 and it seems to make the batteries last longer. I shot at iso at 400 5.6 1/80 like i did here.

stephand

Hopefully this gets the thread going....






I shoot w/a Canon XSI...All of these images I used my sigma 18-50 2.8 except for the crowd shot, I recently purchased the canon 17-55mm 2.8, still trying to get use to it. I shoot wireless via ste2 & 430exII. I use a stofen diffuser...800iso 5.0-6.3, 1/3....crowd shots i bump to 1600 1/10

Stephan

Tim Kamppinen

Why not try to mimic stage lights with your flash(es)? Set them up bare and put colored gels on them, and it will look pretty close to the typical "rock band" lighting that most nicer venues have. You'll have more atmospheric lighting, it will still be sharp and blur free, and you can fully control it to get whatever look you want. Cross light with a red gelled flash from behind and a blue one in front, etc. Go crazy. As long as the venue/band is ok with you using flash in the first place, you might as well make the most of it.

Toshido

These were bare flash, bounced or direct, kinda all over the place. Small club.

More can be found here

http://tag-photos.smugmug.com/gallery/8363473_m9r5G#550466109_a2JMK

Art Scott

Tim Kamppinen wrote:

Why not try to mimic stage lights with your flash(es)? Set them up bare and put colored gels on them, and it will look pretty close to the typical "rock band" lighting that most nicer venues have. You'll have more atmospheric lighting, it will still be sharp and blur free, and you can fully control it to get whatever look you want. Cross light with a red gelled flash from behind and a blue one in front, etc. Go crazy. As long as the venue/band is ok with you using flash in the first place, you might as well make the most of it.

I tried doing that waaaaaay back in the ages of TROGLODYTES.....the problem arises from the light temp of the flash being dang near that of the sun and the duration of the flash in a clug scene......it just takes too long to get the flash regulated for one color of house lights.....I also played with it for the 5 hears I was Performance Faciklites Manager at Wichtia State U......remeber club and concert lights are changing all the time so if you gelled for one color of blue and then they spend then and it only comes around 1 every 15 minutes it is just a waste........I just prefer to shoot with out a flash and go for it just lioke I did in the fylm dayes.......so long ago..........

Tim Kamppinen

Art Scott wrote:

I tried doing that waaaaaay back in the ages of TROGLODYTES.....the problem arises from the light temp of the flash being dang near that of the sun and the duration of the flash in a clug scene......it just takes too long to get the flash regulated for one color of house lights.....I also played with it for the 5 hears I was Performance Faciklites Manager at Wichtia State U......remeber club and concert lights are changing all the time so if you gelled for one color of blue and then they spend then and it only comes around 1 every 15 minutes it is just a waste........I just prefer to shoot with out a flash and go for it just lioke I did in the fylm dayes.......so long ago..........

I was thinking more for venues without colored stage lights. In effect you would just be killing the ambient as much as possible and using your own flashes to simulate more upscale concert lighting... so matching the color to anything wouldn't be an issue. I agree that if there is good professional gelled hotlights that I'd rather just shoot with those sans flash.

Photog4Christ

Mnemosyne wrote:

The Arts is my beat at the school paper. This includes Bars and Bands in town.

I've learned to shoot to the right. I meter off the brightest points, and expose from there. Usually trying to keep a shutter speed between 320 and 200 (depending on the lighting, more light, faster shutter speed).

Aperture wise I try to go 2.8 or wider. Sometimes I might do 3.5, but generally no wider.

ISO I keep it below 800 if I can (having a 50 f1.4 and a 135 f2 helps ). I try to only use 1600 in extreme situations, but then again, shooting to the right alleviates a little of the noise/color saturation problems of higher ISOs.

As for focus, look for a point that has high contrast (ie: where a shadow falls). This helps with auto focus.

Although I've never done the Nighclub aspect of it, so maybe my suggestions wouldn't help, since I prefer to shoots sans flash in bars (plus many bands hate it, so shooting without flash helps me to be allowed back into the bars).

Ditto to everything.

I have never shot in bars, but I have done concerts. I shot everything with either a 17-55 2.8 or 70-200 2.8. ISO 800. Everything at f/2.8. NO FLASH

Ed Michaels

gus wrote:

No...what im asking is that the lights in a club are not something to use as a reconer. What is bright on min is dull the next. To record all that info & then move half an inch or wait 3 seconds to have it all change is not something i understand.

AS AN ASIDE: I was shooting my nephew's band Drop Dead Sexy at a crowded club and a bottle of beer wavpoured on my new 14-24/2.8. D700 survived, lens total loss without 41,000.00 loss, was not added to my insurance rider and homeowners' claims pro gear so must bee pro use and will not pay!!!

Jathnael

I have a friend of mine that does promotion work.
It gets me into clubs for free, cheep drinks and some other bennies
I shoot with a D200 nikon, 17-50 Sigma F2.8 and an SB600.
This gallery is from Friday night at 1015 Folsom
http://www.bigshelfmedia.com/gallery/8953321_c6tva#594710748_meKQF

I go through the exif data to see what worked and what didn't and go from there.

But I am mostly doing it for fun, and to help my friend.

stephand

stephand

Photog4Christ wrote:

Ditto to everything.

I have never shot in bars, but I have done concerts. I shot everything with either a 17-55 2.8 or 70-200 2.8. ISO 800. Everything at f/2.8. NO FLASH

Some of my favorite pics when it came to performances came without using a flash but when it comes to working the crowd for individual "potraits" a flash is 100% necessary in bar and clubs. slow shutter speeds helps out alot with giving you a nice combo of a well lit subject w/amb. light still there.
Man im jelous of that 70-200 2.8. I bought the Canon 17-55 2.8 & the tamron 28-300 5.6-6.3. The tamron is kinda ok in the club for performers. i get the light techs to light up the stage a bit brighter for me which helps.


1)example of no flash

2) Flash w/slow shutter speed. using the amb. light

ashton25

mteicher wrote:

I am particularly interested in other dgrinners out there who take pictures at nightclubs. When I take photographs at nightclubs, I record what settings worked, battery life, lens, what worked, what didn't worked, how one goes about getting clear in focus shots and appearing not to have the picture resulting in looking it was taken in a nightclub.

Anyone else out there willing to share their notes and observations

you can check out some of my pictures at
www.body-bumpers.com/rockbands
http://www.body-bumpers.com/Events/446655
or www.downtownafterdark.com

/mark

There's some good advice here and some bad. See there work if you like it listen if you don't move on. I've shot NC, concerts, and music festivals for almost 5 years know here's some of my work http://www.1crazynite.com/gallery/5971515_q5jRe#P-1-15
And, when smugmug recently featured my work http://blogs.smugmug.com/found-on-smugmug/2008/11/12/oontz-oontz/

Here are 3 tips;
1. Get paid before you shot anything.
2. Don't drink while your working
3. Focus on varity because no one wants to see the S**T over and over again.

Ashton
1crazynite.com

stephand

ashton25 wrote:

There's some good advice here and some bad. See there work if you like it listen if you don't move on. I've shot NC, concerts, and music festivals for almost 5 years know here's some of my work http://www.1crazynite.com/gallery/5971515_q5jRe#P-1-15
And, when smugmug recently featured my work http://blogs.smugmug.com/found-on-smugmug/2008/11/12/oontz-oontz/

Here are 3 tips;
1. Get paid before you shot anything.
2. Don't drink while your working
3. Focus on varity because no one wants to see the S**T over and over again.

Ashton
1crazynite.com

OK YOUR WORK IS UNBELIEVABLE!

MJRPHOTO

Here are some from my first bar show.
I had set up two sb-900 with pocket wizards at the front of the stage pointing strait up bouncing off the black ceiling. The flashs were set to 1/8 power. I was useing a D3 and a 70-200 f2.8 or a 24-70 f2.8.

























Here is one without the flash