need help with some lighting settings.

[tarionyx]

Hello!

I'm new here, but I've been reading for a while. :)

I'm shooting for a friend who is a promoter at local bars and nightclubs, and he wants me to take pictures of people at his places. I tried to shoot this past wed with my 10d and 580ex, but I couldn't seem to get the settings right to save my life. Can someone please help!!!

They pictures were definitely underexposed, and when I lowered the shutter speed to get exposure, the picture would be blurred because of people dancing, etc. I can't seem to find my manual for the 580ex to re-read what the settings are and everything, but I thought I'd ask for some help here.

Thanks so much in advance! :)

-Mike-

[robertwgross]

I'm shooting for a friend who is a promoter at local bars and nightclubs, and he wants me to take pictures of people at his places. I tried to shoot this past wed with my 10d and 580ex, but I couldn't seem to get the settings right to save my life. Can someone please help!!!

They pictures were definitely underexposed, and when I lowered the shutter speed to get exposure, the picture would be blurred because of people dancing, etc. I can't seem to find my manual for the 580ex to re-read what the settings are and everything, but I thought I'd ask for some help here.

Let's sort this out somewhat. It will be helpful if you tell us the details of your shots. For example, what exposure mode is the camera in? How is the flash set up? The camera/flash will operate differently depending on the mode.

You can let the flash dominate the lighting, or you can switch off the flash and let the ambient light dominate. Or, you can cautiously mix the two.

In a nightclub, I would not expect ambient light to be very bright. So, if you are trying to go on ambient light alone, you will end up with long shutter speeds and some motion blur. If you go with flash alone, you will tend to freeze the subject motion, and that may or may not be what you want, but it is a little more predictable. Like I said, mixing the two light sources is the trick of the whole thing.

You have read the EOS Flash Sticky, haven't you?

---Bob Gross---