a photo shoot at a rave

thenimirra · December 20, 2007

Hello all, I'm not sure if this is the right place to put this, but I need some shooting advice.

I will be shooting at a Rave on Saturday and I have no idea what to expect other than dark, dark, and more dark. What suggestions might you have for how I tackle this shoot?

I'm thinking my best external flash and a tripod for starters. I don't have any strobes...anything else I should do? Thank you!

leaforte · December 20, 2007

I think their will be plenty of strobes at the rave!

thenimirra · December 20, 2007

. Yep!

leaforte · December 20, 2007

I am no expert (by far), but if it was me up to that challenge, I think I would set up my tripod off to the side, use a wide angle lens, focus on a close non moving, inanimate object, something cool, and try to get the subjects dancing in the background, blurred to show the motion and energy. You have a tough project. I wish I could help with technical answers (I can't). You will also want to spend time on compositions of the DJ (he is in control of the energy), maybe motion blur on his turntables and such. Fortunately, the blur which undoubtedly will occur in many of your shots will be great for that energy vibe.

thenimirra · December 20, 2007

those are great ideas...just your ideas made images come into my mind. I don't know exactly what to expect, save for what I've seen and heard of raves on TV and from friends, but this will definitel be a good to try some motion blur! Thank you!

SloYerRoll · December 20, 2007

I was a full time party kid for almost 2 years. I didn't shoot the way I do now though so all my pictures are P&S of friends and things that happened. I've seen some club pictures in here, so I know there are active party kids in these forums. I hope they provide input as well since the party circuit changes so fast.
A couple quick questions:

Who is paying you to shoot the party? A certain DJ or club management? What do the people paying you want to walk away with when they see their images?
What kind of glass do you have? Do you have access to rent glass? If you can rent glass. I'm gonna have you rent a strobe as well. A strobe is vital to your success. It doesn't matter if you have f0.2 glass, your images will be lit buy dozens of different colors and will just look generally bad. (a few shots w/o strobe is great. Just not all of them)
Do you know what kind of music is going to be played? (I know it's all "techno" to non partiers. But there are major differences to types of DJ's and the music they spin. i.e. ambient, drum & bass, hardcore.. This effects the mood, how kids act and what kinds of images you want to walk away w/. (the name of the party or what night of the week is usually a good indicator of what type of party it is) i.e. Buzz was a venue that played at the Capitol Ballroom in Washington DC every Friday night. The name Buzz told you the party was D&B (Drum & Bass) and the fact that it was a Friday night party again, told you what kind of party it was. So even if Buzz shut down, you could be sure the capitol ballroom would still play D&B on Friday.
Are there any special events happening? i.e. Foam Party? This is where they dump piles of foam into the dance floor and it's total madness. i.e. white party? Everything in the place it white and lit by crazy lights. Pretty fun to check out, but a nightmare from the photog perspective. *these are stereotypical events that are just supposed to get you to ask questions. There are tons of different events that can happen during a party.
You mentioned you had your best flash but didn't have any strobes?

Now onto the tips:

NEVER NEVER NEVER leave your gear anywhere unless it's a secure location w/ security. i.e. up on stage out of the DJ's way. Even this is risky unless you have an agreement w/ security to pay attention to your gear. There are some good kids out there. But there is a high amount of the wrong crowd there that will steal it even if they have no idea what the value is.

Your tripod is only going to be useful for about 5 or 6 shots. Motion blur is cool. But all the management, DJ's & party kids have seen thousands of these shots. So while neat looking. It's pretty old stuff. When you do go for motion blurs. Don't go for ultra long exposures. Kids move so much in there you won't get a sense of motion. You'll just get a jumble of crap. keep exposures for blurs around 1/30ish. Motion blur in the background while the subject is "frozen" is the best way to go for a majority of your pictures. (this is why you need a strobe)

Don't go to the venue on a different night to scope out the action. If you go on a Thursday night vs. Friday. You may end up w/ some crazinesses like goth night or stuff I won't even tell you about since this is a nice forum.

To be honest. It's not a good idea to go into a venue like this as a photographer w/o ever having been to one. I can try my best to prepare you, but you bit off more than you could chew by saying you could do this. No offense intended. That's just the truth of it.

Answer those questions and I'll post some more for you.

Cheers,
-Jon

Chrissiebeez_NL · December 20, 2007

try to do a search on the forum, i remember a very usefull thread about shooting partyshots on raves/clubs filled with info.

thenimirra · December 20, 2007

Thank you! I've found several threads and you are right...they have great information. I should have done that first.

Art Scott · December 20, 2007

I'll give you my take of what I would do as a concert photog..many of the concerts were of the like of Metal Church, Testament, Queensryche, Sacred Reich.....the mosh pit scene,several pits going along with the more creative slammers and divers, not a rave but close in the fact that some of these were in old warehouses or large department stores converted for a 1 nite show.....my gear was relatively simple....camera on a bracket with flash attached....(at this time i used a stroboframe RL2000).....lens was a 70-200 zoom, yeah made some of the crowd group shops hard to get but I learned to cope....my flash was a Vivatar 285HV (still available for under $100 and is a fantastic semi-auto flash.....I shoot in manual mode setting camera to about f56 or 8 and setting flash for same on the power dial...if I want something a little more artsy I adjust my aperture (f stop).....my other choice for this type of GORILLA shooting is a potato masher type flash (Sunpak 555 or 622) camera mounted to the flashes bracket and using the same shooting as mentioned above....the potato masher flash comes with a flat bracket that mounts to bottom of camera and has a quick connect point for the flash to attach...this puts the flash to the left of the camera body and then you can use it as a handle...what I also liked about this set up was the fact that I could rest the flash head on my shoulder and use it to stabilize the camera for vertical shots......I was also known to show up for these events carrying a medium format camera set up in the exact same way...it just depended on the artist I was shooting, if they had more than just an EP out then I would consider the larger rig....I never lost any equipment but then all I had was what was mentioned above plus film out the WAAAAAAZOOOOOO....It all fit in a padded shoulder bag that was slung across me in a courier fashion so it could not be pulled off the shoulder and gone, make sure you have the flap against your body also.....do not get lost in your shooting, keep both eyes open, acknowledge everyone around you...if they know your conscious of them being there it discourages them from trying to grab and run....I actually had a person trying to lift my shot film from the camera bag and as I was shooting i just reached down and slapped the offending hand and that shocked this person so bad they actually peed their pants....they could not believe I could use my camera effectively with both eyes open.....I still do to this day...keeps me from stepping on small children when shooting weddings or when shooting out in public areas like parks and such.....it is something you need to train yourself to do.....it takes a bit of practice and thses cameras I was using were manual focus................

Good Luck and I hope this helps

SloYerRoll · December 20, 2007

Art Scott wrote:

I actually had a person trying to lift my shot film..

That's a really good tip Art! Thanks for that. I never thought of it, but it makes perfect sense.

One of the main differences nowdays is that these venues have dedicated buildings and have string after string of lights. So your ambient light is truly horrid.

rwells · December 20, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by Art Scott
I actually had a person trying to lift my shot film..

SloYerRoll wrote:

That's a really good tip Art! Thanks for that. I never thought of it, but it makes perfect sense.

Jon, your shooting digital - no film to get stolen

Carry on...

SloYerRoll · December 20, 2007

my film is memory cards!

Art Scott · December 20, 2007

rwells wrote:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Art Scott
I actually had a person trying to lift my shot film..

Jon, your shooting digital - no film to get stolen

Carry on...

I see your jest...but the idea was to bring his attention to the fact that in this situation a photog is vulnerable to a lot of different things, including pick bagging (pick pockets)

:D

rwells · December 20, 2007

Art Scott wrote:

I see your jest...but the idea was to bring his attention to the fact that in this situation a photog is vulnerable to a lot of different things, including pick bagging (pick pockets) :D

Just giving Jon a poke

I know what you meant.

SloYerRoll · December 21, 2007

Poke well taken.

Cheers,
-Jon

DeuceFour · December 21, 2007

Listen, all you need is a flash with a diffuser, like a Stofen Omni Bounce, set your cam up for about, f/5.6 and shutter at about 1 second or a little less depending on ambient lighting from the party lights, your flash will stop the action and capture your subject but the shutter will stay open long enough to get great visuals from the flashing lights and stuff, you can even twisted or move you camera to get light trails but your subject will stay frozen....also check out this site...its the best nightlife photog site Ive seen so far...
http://www.digitalfrog.nl/

thenimirra · December 21, 2007

DeuceFour wrote:

Listen, all you need is a flash with a diffuser, like a Stofen Omni Bounce, set your cam up for about, f/5.6 and shutter at about 1 second or a little less depending on ambient lighting from the party lights, your flash will stop the action and capture your subject but the shutter will stay open long enough to get great visuals from the flashing lights and stuff, you can even twisted or move you camera to get light trails but your subject will stay frozen....also check out this site...its the best nightlife photog site Ive seen so far...
http://www.digitalfrog.nl/

The Stofen Omni Bounce is what I've got over my 580EX II flash. I think I'm good to go. Thanks for the help guys. I can't wait to do this!

One last question: does the flash need to be aimed right at the subject or do I need to bounce it off the ceiling (if there is one)?

DeuceFour · December 22, 2007

Go for a 45 degree angle on your flash, that will work perfect, as long as your subject is no farther than about 6 feet.

Izpipo · December 22, 2007

Ive shot alot of clubs/events in the past 2 or 3 years.

Flash with diffuser is a must, although you can get some amazing pics without even using your flash, depends what you want to shoot.

For dancers in action I recommend f4.3 with a 0.3 exposition, you'll get great results

For light shows, try to keep your expo a bit longer and play with the depth depending if its a wide shot or more specific.

Don't forget to pump up your ISO, 400 / 800 / 1600... only problem with 800 or more is that noise will seem alot worse because of the smoke in the air (smoke machines are a cameraman's worse enemy!)

I'm sooting an event in montreal on the 28th, Ill show u a few, but if you want to get inspired:

http://www.indamix.ca/index.php?option=com_zoom&Itemid=116&catid=18

A few hundred shots I took last year @ a major event.

Art Scott · December 25, 2007

rwells wrote:

Just giving Jon a poke I know what you meant.

Actually the explanation wasn't fer you...it was fer any one else that might stumble upon this here thread.......:D

SloYerRoll · December 30, 2007

So it's after the rave. Let's see some shots!:D

Izpipo · January 3, 2008

SloYerRoll wrote:

So it's after the rave. Let's see some shots!:D

Promise you'll see some by the end of the week, Im sorry Im swomped!

SloYerRoll · January 3, 2008

Hey Iz. Sounds like you have some good shots. I'm looking forward to seeing them!

I was directing this post to "thenimirra" who had the event a few weeks ago. I'm interested in seeing how her shots turned out.

No worries though. Just get unswomped and post!

a photo shoot at a rave

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