night club photos (NWS) (2)

DrewTheShooter wrote in post #12159715
SC, I'm really diggin' your shots. I'll be working on getting my Ambient photos on point on my next event shoot. I will be sure to post them here. I'm about to hit the sack but next time I'm on I'll put some older photos up.

Thanks man Just one more which I couldn't fit in the previous post!

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Hey, I need some advice from all you club experts

I'm pretty new to this genre, but lately some friends have asked me to shoot some clubs they're either dj'ing at or promoting. When the club has lasers, light walls, plenty of crowd movement, costumes and lots of scantily clad hot chicks, I have a pretty easy time.

However the other night I found myself in a small venue surrounded by all black walls & ceilings, a FEW cheap dj hot lights and the standard crowd. Thank god it was 80's night and the band was in costume, which made for more interesting shots. I used the 35L (don't have anything wider right now) and the 430exII with a stofen @ 45 degrees. Most of the night my settings were M, ettl flash, 1/25 @3.5, ISO 400 ... some I took without flash using ISO @ 2500... and then some were a 1 sec exposure to get light trails.

Anyway, how do you guys deal with a venue like that? Do you have any particular techniques you use to bring out the best in a club where the lighting and ambient are minimal? Should I definitely invest in a wider lens and what kind of shots could I have taken to make for a better variety set?

Any critique is welcome!

The shoot here: http://www.kellisweet.​com …61_g74Bi#123927​5560_8noB2

Cheers!
Kelli

If I need to suck light into a shot I up my ISO and drag my shutter, 0.5s is totally normal for me - I've dragged it out to 1.3 before.

Well getting enough light wasn't really the issue. It's that there wasn't enough stagelights to make light trails out of, and most of the time they were disco lights that just make the room one solid color. So, when I'd go to make long exposures there was just a wash out of pink or blue or whatever. I spent alot of time waiting for the right light sequence to take a good shot. Ughh.

Besides the wider lens, I'm thinking of bringing more speedlites to use off camera with my radio poppers. Anyone do this?..

pixelmorph wrote in post #12164371
Besides the wider lens, I'm thinking of bringing more speedlites to use off camera with my radio poppers. Anyone do this?..

I've done it before and was quite succesful and was really happy with the results. It's a rarity I bring out my lightstands though.

Here's a few examples

Next weekend I'm doing a remote trigger with my flash. No way I'm taking my lights with me!

pancake. wrote in post #12190114

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I tried more ambient since it was a glow stick party haha

These are great! Did you use 1st or 2nd curtain? What was your flash exposure?

pixelmorph wrote in post #12190250
These are great! Did you use 1st or 2nd curtain? What was your flash exposure?

Thanks! My flash was on 1/16th manual, dont really understand the terms 1st and 2nd curtain, ??

Looks like rear curtain sync to me.

pancake. wrote in post #12190722
Thanks! My flash was on 1/16th manual, dont really understand the terms 1st and 2nd curtain, ??

Ok thanks! ... those are settings in your MkII under external speedlight/flash function settings. 1st curtain is when the flash fires first and then the shutter drags, leaving a trail in front. 2nd curtain will fire the flash at the end of the shutter drag, leaving a trail behind.

Since you haven't messed with your settings yet, I'll just assume you used 1st curtain

Anyway, great job.


~Kelli