Night Club Photography

[Gary Horne]

I have been asked to photograph a drum n bass night and need to some advice....

I have recently purchased a Nikon D90 and was wondering to photograph in the club, what Iso would I use, would I use a shautter and if so what speed and would I use a flash.

Would a flash make it too bright...
Would upping the iso assist in not using the flash.
The photos need to be a little dark and moody, but not too dark.

What are the general guide lines to photographing in clubs and getting great results.

Thanking you in advance....

[OldBoy]

You don't say what lenses you have? In night clubs it can be a bit dark, so lenses like a F2.8 or F1.8 could be ideal. Most night-clubs don't allow flash so, that may be a no no. Need to check with the venue first. If you use a high ISO then you will get gritty images but you need to keep your shutter speed up to at least 1/250s unless you want a motion blur. If you have time to visit the venue before the shoot, it may give you an idea where to position yourself for the event.

If you do have problems with the light, wait until the artist is lite by a spot before taking the shot as you will get better results. Otherwise, it a case of taking shots and check the histogram for each one to see it you have to make changes to shutter speed/ ISO.

[Gary Horne]

Thanks for your thoughts and guidance.

I was just going to use the lens that came with the camera, 18-105mm vr.

Sorry to be thick as all new too me, but F2.8 or F1.8, is that a 50mm wide angle..... What lens would you suggest, thinking of money....

The shutter cool at 1/250s as I want to create that darkness/mood.

Thanks

[dan123]

firstly make sure you and your gear is insured, drunks and cameras not i good mix,club i was in at the weekend had thier own photographer, only using a point and squirt bridge camera, the pic i got was actally really good, so i dont think you need a lot,ive never nown a club not to allow flash so i think you should be fine using a flassh, so thatl make life easier,

dan

[negative_optimist]

I use a 35mm Nikon DX on my D90 for low light without a flash. I like the results and the camera is much lighter than using the 18-105 lens. Technically it's not the sharpest lens used wide open and maybe other people here use other lenses that produce better quality at around the same price. You'll find that the 18-105 doesnt let in as much light and you'll be shooting at high isos of around 1000 to eliminate blur from movement and camera shake.
If you go with the 18-105 then try some shots with center weight the exposure, stick to wide aperatures and check your images by zooming in on the preview and looking for any blurring. If you get blur then get the shutter speed up with the iso or wait for shots in better lighting.

[Jake151]

Hey,

I do quite a bit of nightclub photography and the use of a flashgun is paramount! The photos will otherwise be dark or incredibly blurred, you will find taking photos of large groups with the aperture wide open causes many of the people to be out of focus and you wont have the shots you want.

With the flash gun I use it in the bounce position with a piece of white card acting as a bounce card to project more light onto the subjects giving a nice even tone, the aperture I keep at around 5.6 and the shutter speed at /25 and below going down as far as 1 second at times, really its about experimentation rather than people telling you what to do you will generate you own style.

You can see a set of my photos shot in a nightclub with hardly any light here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...5106997&type=3 to give you an idea of what the settings give you,

Any questions drop me a message and I will gladly assist


Jake

[jet_kit]

Hi Gary,
If you're there in an official capacity you should be able to call the shots. Be a bit dictatorial and select your spots and ensuring there are kept clear for you and you can move from one to the other.
Depending on where you're shooting from will dictate the focal length of the lens you'll need. It's likely that the 18-105 spread will be more than enough, but I recall it's not very fast (large aperture). This will present you with two problems; it will restrict your shutter speed if you're using available light, and will slow down the auto-focus. If you've got the means to switch off AF and focus manually you may find that quicker. Make sure your WB is set to Tungsten.
If you can check out the venue beforehand, see if they'll switch the lights on for you and have someone stand in the spotlight - try a couple of test shots to give you an idea of what you're likely to get. Try not to use an ISO higher than 1600 and lower if you can.
The in-built flash is not very powerful so you will need a supplementary flash, the most powerful you can afford with iTTL capability. The Nikon SB900 is a lot of money and you may get better value going for another brand.