night club photos (NWS)

Hi Everyone,

I'm pretty new to this, and I'm wondering if someone could explain to me how to get those segmented light trails. Like these:

http://farm3.static.fl​ickr.com …4439005899_6980​ae23a4.jpg
http://farm5.static.fl​ickr.com …4439006051_d1fd​e0682d.jpg
http://a.myclubcity.co​m/original/107996_trys​t.jpg

I can't seem to grasp how some lights streak and others make defined trails with points...

the lights streak cause they are continuously on. and the others make trails with points because they're actually strobing.

you would get those by having longer shutter speeds when you take your photo.

^ Long shutter speeds, high ISO to capture the ambient, which is the tiny LEDs on the equipment, then the technique of twirling your camera, twisting it, zooming the lens in and out, to drag light.

Dragging light is how you get "camera shake".
Technically these light trails is "camera shake", used towards your advantage.

SquareOne wrote in post #10048296
Very nice Chris. Makes me miss shooting nightlife! I think I'm going to dust it off in a REALLY small bar/club that my brother is DJ'ing at this next week. Going to give a buddy of mine some pointers. Hope you all have been well!

Rob

That would be me

mizouse wrote in post #10048858
the lights streak cause they are continuously on. and the others make trails with points because they're actually strobing.

you would get those by having longer shutter speeds when you take your photo.

I knew it! My photographer friend said the lights aren't constantly flashing, but physically I thought there was no other way. Those pieces of equipment must have a dimmer switch for the boards to strobe like that. IIRC house lighting with dimmers act the same way.

kay188 wrote in post #10048860
^ Long shutter speeds, high ISO to capture the ambient, which is the tiny LEDs on the equipment, then the technique of twirling your camera, twisting it, zooming the lens in and out, to drag light.

Dragging light is how you get "camera shake".
Technically these light trails is "camera shake", used towards your advantage.

Thanks for your help . I've been doing these kinds of shots with a single flash and bulb exposure, but I'm beginning to see why controlling the shutter speed is important. Especially with high ISO, I'd end up saturating the sensor if I didn't control the amount of light. That and controlling the length of the streaks, so I don't have too muddled of a picture.

The red light on an SL-1200 turntable is actually strobing. It strobes at a pre-set rate so the dots on the rim of the platter seemingly stay stationary on one of the rows, which is useful for determining the pitch, and so on. The dots aren't just a pretty grip.

Looking for some tips here, at one of the the clubs I snap at, they have this section with a uber strong red light filling the place.

I end up with pics like this:

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

stuart_hatch wrote in post #10050043
Looking for some tips here, at one of the the clubs I snap at, they have this section with a uber strong red light filling the place.

It drives me mental, I have tried playing with shutter speeds but have no luck at all, any ideas?

there's an area like that at the club where I shot at a lot... I try to stay away from it, and when I have to shoot there, I just use a faster shutter speed so that the flash overpowers the red light a bit more than for your normal shots

If the light is that strong, it's a perfect opportunity to not use flash.

red alot of the times the only issue is its not the nicest on skin tones, ie not very flattering.

Although depends on the type of red light.

one of the clubs I shoot in edinburgh has red walls, a red ceiling and red lights everywhere, so its impossible to bounce without getting an orange/red tone on the skin, but over a while I've worked out a technique,

shooting on a faster shutter speed, a lot of the time 2nd curtain sync, but depends how strong the red is, and use a bounce card ,

occasionally if I dont get it I just do a bit of colour correction in LR, changing the hue of the red to compliment the photo

shot this with a slower shutter speed, but with quite some flash to get rid of the red on them:

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Anyone here shot in SF?

itsafastworld85 wrote in post #10053144
red alot of the times the only issue is its not the nicest on skin tones, ie not very flattering.

Although depends on the type of red light.

Depends on your goals. You can work that red.

another thing would be to get the subject to move so that the red light is behind them, and them position yourself so the light is blocked out by the head of the subject,