Some night club concert shots.

[Wrench]

Hello all. I'm looking for some critiques on these photos. I know they're a bit out of focus, this was my second shot at shooting in such low light conditions. This is my buddy's band Vertigo. I'm trying to get some good shots for their website and album. I was shooting with a 10d and a Canon 50mm 1.8. Most shots were taken at 1/10 or 1/15 @ 1.8. I used autofocus on most of the shots but unfortunately in the low light that lense likes to search alot. Is there something in PS that I can use to sharpen up the images? Also any tips on better focusing? Thanks.

http://community.webshots.com/album/263610477oLhDHF

[[blur]]

You'll only be able to sharpen them to a degree using the unsharp mask. That won't get rid of the blur, only sharpen the edges.
These shots are pretty good all things considered. You can't expect too much more under the circumstances. I like your angles and the saturation is good.
You're handholding a bit below what I'd consider the minimum for a 50mm lens (1/30th).
You didn't mention the ISO.
I suppose you could try the follow-focus(AI I believe) focus under these conditions. They're moving around a lot so it could come in handy.

[Wrench]

Thanks for the reply. ISO was set at 800, I used the flash for a couple shots of the drummer who was in the back corner in the dark and bumped the ISO down to 200 for them and they turned out ok. What should I have the ISO set at without the flash? It is hard to handhold at 1/10, but if I sped it up at all the shots were too dark. If I set the ISO higher would that let me slow the shutter down enough to freeze the action but not be too dark?

[[blur]]

If you're using ISO800 and you're already shooting wide open at those slow shutter speeds your only option is flash or a higher ISO.
I don't know if I'd recommend a higher ISO on the 10D. It may be too noisy, but give it a go and see how it works out.
Have you been using the shutter drag technique with your flash shots.?

'Dragging' the shutter
Having lights glowing in the background generally looks better than a black background or flash shadow. If you are doing groups and excluding daylight from the windows; set camera aperture to say, f8, and allow the shutter to drag. (Typically 1/15 to 1/8 of a second is about right). NB Use the tripod and expose with the flash.
NB The flash helps to keep the foreground sharp of you're hand holding the camera - so you can drop the shutter speed on a standard lens to1/30 of a second if you're of a fairly steady hand, to help provide a warm flattering background effect with the lights 'switched on'.
You might get something interesting that way. Gives a kind of ghosting effect to anything that moves after the flash fires while giving a sharp image at the same time. Don't use program mode. Use AV or manual.

Blur in these kind of shots adds to the feel IMO.
Here's an example of shutter drag. Flash fired wwhile the shutter stayed open for a few more seconds.

[langer]

hi Wrench, I am doing quiet a bit of low light photography in the clubs as well. I experience similar problem as u. If anything a bit more severe. The band I shoot have much higher stage dynamics, they move a lot. Rarely would I get a second of them standing still.

I tried all sorts of combination of settings etc and currently I am using:

300D + hand grip (essential for balancing rather than vertical shots) 20-35 Tokina lens, 540ez Flash (used on manual)

I set the camera on manual from 125/sec downwards to even 2secs for shutter drag effect [blur] mentioned above. apreture usually is 3.5 or 2.8 I tried using 50mm 1.8 but at full open, the depth of field is too shallow. Rarely could I shoot with availible light.

Some clubs have better lit back grounds than others, majority are all jet black. Smoke machine can save the day tho. giving the background some texture and light.

I agree with [blur] that u should not use 1600 iso. I tried and it is horrible. too noisy. 400, 800 is the highest I use.

some of my recent fotos:

http://www.ivoryonline.net/ivorysite/photo-archive/20050311_fabric/images/IMG_1195.jpg

http://www.ivoryonline.net/ivorysite/photo-archive/20050311_fabric/images/IMG_1225.jpg