Night life photography

[hurleyint1386]

Ive got a friend of mine that asked me to do some photography at a club thats going to be opening up soon. Any tips? I'm going to need to pick up a flash, ive got a 5D2 with 17-40mm, 70-200 2.8 and 85mm, I've been told I should look into the 16-35mm. What would you bring with you if you were doing this kind of job? Anything would be very beneficial. Thanks

[cinemafia]

Since you're mostly shooting in close quarters and big crowds, the wide angle is excellent for this kinda stuff. The 16-35 would be great, but since you already have the 17-40, just get a good flash to pair with it. You want the 550/580 series because you'll really appreciate the bigger guide and faster recycle times.
Start practicing with shutter-drags once you get the flash, people who don't understand how simple they are to do are always impressed by them, and they seem to be really popular for nightlife shooting. The 85 could go along with you, too, but probably only for select moments/later in the night when things get a little sparse and you have more time to pick people out.
Oh, and you're not really going to want to use the 70-200 at all, unless you want to be taken for a papparazzo.

[hurleyint1386]

Since you're mostly shooting in close quarters and big crowds, the wide angle is excellent for this kinda stuff. The 16-35 would be great, but since you already have the 17-40, just get a good flash to pair with it. You want the 550/580 series because you'll really appreciate the bigger guide and faster recycle times.
Start practicing with shutter-drags once you get the flash, people who don't understand how simple they are to do are always impressed by them, and they seem to be really popular for nightlife shooting. The 85 could go along with you, too, but probably only for select moments/later in the night when things get a little sparse and you have more time to pick people out.
Oh, and you're not really going to want to use the 70-200 at all, unless you want to be taken for a papparazzo.

I definitely wasn't thinking about using the 70-200. I use that for portraits and weddings. I figured the 17-40 would do well. Do you have any examples of the shutter-drags you were referring it? And could you give any tips?

[cinemafia]

This is kind of small, I know, but it's the only example I have handy at the moment:

http://cinemafia.net/files/gimgs/46_9.jpg

Basically I was shooting on manual at f8, I think 1/15 or 1/8 and about 400 ISO (you could actually use a lower ISO with a better flash, the one I was using here was kind of weak). You start with the camera in one place, and then quickly move it in one direction immediately after firing. It's really easy once you practice for a while, seeing how background lights drag nicely is what you're going after. You can use different approaches, like following the line of action or cutting across it.

[hurleyint1386]

Hmmm, Ive tried something like this before (kinda)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3447/3370707556_fbeef36182.jpg

This was on a tripod, but it seems like a similar idea. If you're moving the camera, I'd expect everything to be blurry, but using the image you posted, the guy is in focus, but the woman has some blur to her.