Flash advice please for use in a night-club...

[chloe]

Hi- i'm a very amateur photographer with only a v.basic knowledge of my EOS 300.

I'm trying to get into club photography at London music venues and have myself a couple of events lined-up.

I need some advice as to what kind of film i should use and whether using a flash gun is going to be a good idea. i don't want the shots to come out looking like everyone is dancing at home, but i also don't want under-exposed shots.

Please help! I'm very new, so please excuse me if this is a really obvious question! :rolleyes:

Thanks- chloe

[pjd83]

I'd imagine some nice primes would be benificial. Something with an f/1.0 or something. A good light sucking lens.

Flash doesn't need to be front on. You could bounce it of ceilings or walls to partly illuminate the frame.

[bauerman]

If you are going to use a 420EX or similar flash head that tilts - I would recommend a trick that I learned on this board a while back - especially if the ceiling in the club is not going to work for bounced flash (which I doubt it will) - point the flash head straight up and use a rubber band to connect a 3 X 5 index card to the outside of the flash head so that it extends beyond the top of the flash by about 2-3 inches. Then take some test shots - the index card re-directs some of the flash towards your subjects - but not enough to overexpose them or give your shots that indoor flash "look". Give that a try - I have had some success with it and it costs about 10 cents!

[EricKonieczny]

This is just one point of view. It really dpends on what you will be doing with these shots. But if you are going to take pictures of the patrons and people in the clubs, they will want to see it right away. People have already been acustomed to digital so much. So a DRebel or above is my recommendation.

but as for flash, you can use any compatibale flash like a Canon 420, 550, or 580.

I have a 580 set to ETTL , Curtain , and bounce flash at different angles. It is very experimentation the first shots of each night. If I am in a new club with crazy lights. I take about 20-30 shots just to get a feel of the place. I have close to 1000 photos on my site and 90% of them are from nightclubs. http://www.ekreating.com/


look here I have responded and gave a few suggestions below
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=62296&highlight=nightclub



Also just do a search with the function above " nightlcub"


Here is a website with a friends work. http://www.cooljunkie.com/galleries/miami.html He is one of the best in the country for nightlclub photography. He currently uses a 10D and a 580 EX with a remote ST-E2 transmitter for different angles.



hope that helps