club photographers, need some C&C!

hey guys,

i shot a show on friday, but i had a really hard time trying to balance out the ambient light with the flash. i was shooting with a 430ex and i mostly used my tokina 12-24.

i initially had the flash on ettl, but that ended up producing images that were too flash overpowered. i ended up putting the flash on manual at 1/8 the power, wide open at f4, and used a shutter speed of 0''3 - 0''5 with the flash at second curtain sync to get the light trails.

the pics i got werent TOO bad, but i think they could have been a bit better.
what metering mode should i be using when shooting indoors?

#1's good lighting a composition wide, and #2's pretty cool. #3 doesn't grab me, mainly because it's a boring subject, same with #4. I can't suggest better settings, really just play and see what you like

thanks, any one else with suggestions with settings?

I think your shots are great and your technique is working well. I will admit though that I don't like soht #3, because the guys clothes are crap; he is looking away from the camera and there's nothing much in the scene to grab your attention.

Would metering mode did you use? I would use evaluative or spot, but with spot you need to be careful were you meter from. I would normally have the camera in full manual though. I would also have the flash in manual, are you using a stofen diffuser or other diffuser? it would be better.

I think you've done well.

thanks adamlc, i believe i used center weighted metering, and i was shooting in manual with the flash at 1/8th power.

the only diffuser i was using was a index card taped to the flash which was pointed straight up.

The exposure and lighting looks good; however the club looks abslolutely dead with all those people with thier hands at thier sides.

Next time try and get the wallflowers out of the picture by using a longer focal length, creative shooting angle, or shallow depth of field.  When I think of nightclubs words like crazy,out of controll, hot, cramped, and sexy come to mind. Think about what types of themes come to your mind when you think about nightclubs and then go back out and try and isolate those themes in you photography.

I think you could of got a better shot of the girl by moving in closer and letting her know that you were there so that she cuold have shown off a little.
You also may want to think about keeping the bottles of Budwiser out of the shot.

The shot of the DJ is nice, but it would be better if he was mixing and the zombie wasn't standing next to him.

All in all nice show, keep up the good work.

It is all a matter of taste, but for me, there is no magic setting for club photography.

I always shoot ETTL, and keep my aperture between 5.6 and 16 (depending on DOF desired) I MAY go to f/4 but that is rare. ISO400 is standard for me.

My shutter speed varies from 1/60 to 2 sec. depending on background lights. (not ambient light) I nearly always have my speedlight in my left hand while my camera is in my right. This allows for creative lighting on the fly.

My flash zoom is usually set to 50-105mm depending on how much of a spotlight I want. Directional lighting can add MUCH atmosphere to club/dance images.

Here is one taken at 5.6 1/60 (ISO400) with my speedlight at 70mm ETTL

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