Club Lighting and Getting the best pictures

[57photography]

Hi all, Im very new to the whole realm of taking portraits that should be regarded by anyone other than myself. Ive been sort of thrust into helping friends take photos of nightclub promotions, so I find myself constantly in the dark, literally and figuratively speaking, when it comes to taking pictures.

Some photos I take come out clear and very well done while others have light streaks and other various issues, such as blurriness, etc. Im truly not sure what to do.

I have only invested, thusfar, in a Canon EOS Digital Rebel. Im not sure if the problem is my flash, my lighting, or a combination of both. Does anyone have any helpful tricks or suggestion when shooting in clublike atmospheres?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Scott

[DavidW]

A lot of the issue is going to be shutter speed if the problem is streaking. Flash will also be an issue - are you trying to preserve the ambience of the club? If so, you want fill flash at most, and maybe no flash at all.

It's going to help a lot if you can post resized images with the EXIF intact, so we can see what you've got. Essentially, though, it's probably a case of high ISO, wide aperture, fairly fast lens and watching the shutter speed.

If you don't have any fast lenses (large maximum aperture - that's small f/number) consider picking up an inexpensive EF 50mm f/1.8 II "nifty fifty" and seeing what you can do. What lens or lenses do you have right now? If it's just the kit lens (EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6) you really will struggle.

You're going to have to get out of the 'icon' modes to do this, as they usually limit you to ISO 400 or lower. Instead, you'll have to use the 'creative zone' modes - Av would probably be a good start.


Click here (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=81761) for the thread about event photography with Dwight McCann. There's a lot of good advice in that thread.



David

[57photography]

David,

Thanks for your response. I went out and shelled out 500 bucks for a better flash and actually read my camera manual. I moved the fstop back to 5 and played with the exposure and ended up getting great shots.

I also checked out this website:
http://85.144.128.139/blog/?p=30

It made a big difference in the quality of shots I took between Wednesday (crap) and Saturday (great).

Cheers, and thanks for responding

Scott

[coreypolis]

i wouldn't use flash, I would buy the fastest lens available, crankk up the iso and have fun. you'll get better colors and more natural lighting, or atleast mix your flash with ambient lighting to get some movement feel and put gels over the flash

[PhotosGuy]

Talk to Dwight!
Sticky: Question and Answer Sessions with some noteable POTN Members (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=178946)