Niteclub Shoot

dirtydress

I have a kit Canon 400d and im taking some promotional shots for a club night soon. Can anyone recommend some good settings to capture the scene in a club? I'm aware I dont have too sophisticated equipment for this but im hoping i'll be lucky and get a couple of good shots. This is my first shoot and im still quite new at using a dslr so any help would be greatly appreciated before i venture out on my own!

Cabaal

what equipment do you have, what len's, any flash's etc?

dirtydress

I just have the kit lens and flash for the 400d...only got it a few weeks ago.

Fajitas!

How soon is soon for the club, and how much money do you have to spare?

dirtydress

Its next wednesday and not an awful lot...am i dreaming to think i would get some decent shots with the equipment i have? How much do you think i would need to spend? :S

schqually

Dirtydress, Hall's on Talbot St sell a Soligor flash for about €95 that is compatible with your 400D - I was in a similar situation recently for indoor shots at a wedding and a gig. I picked up one of these and it worked great for the price.
It is ETTL (evaluative through the lens) and although you will have to manually adjust the zoom and it only rotates upwards 90 degrees, it still produces strong light and is very handy for bouncing off the ceiling.
Having said all that, I find that it's not all that consistent, so definitely worth taking extra shots and make sure to shoot in RAW. One other disadvantage is that you cannot get a wide angle diffuser for this flash, so it won't be great with your kit lens at 18mm.
Dirtydress, if you've got the cash, a Sigma 17-35mm F2.8 could be the other solution. Pricey enough, but not bad in low light situations. Pity you don't have more time or you could save a lot of money by buying on eBay.
All the best,
Anthony

pete4130

Try some shots on aperture priority mode with the largest aperture you have (smallest f number eg 3.5, with the lens as wide as possible for faster shutter speeds and a reasonable ISO that will give you reasonable shutter speeds without making the images too noisy (800 ISO max I imagine, I don't shoot canon so can't comment on their noise?). Try to time your shots with any bright lights that going off (hopefully with the beat of songs so you can time them somewhat). If your shots are being fooled by the changing lights switch it to manual mode and use the widest aperture again and see what shutter speeds are giving good results with regards to your exposure and the amount of motion blur.

When shooting flash, if you can manually set the power of your flash, then set it to a low output so you don't blast nearby objects with it. Again try this on aperture priority for a while using the lens at is widest and with the aperture at its widest as well. Switch to manual and adjust the shutter speeds and the flash output a little to see what is working in the environment (I'm afraid there is no definitive answer to how to shoot gigs/clubs, its knowing what things to try and seeing what works best!)

Remember if you use really slow shutter speeds (say 1 second) with using flash, Increase the output of the flash to "burn" the highlighted image and let the movement/ambient light do the rest. Try shots from over your head looking down, tilted agles, shots looking up, pannig shots, rotating shots etc....Try getting the brightest light/most colourful lights in thebackground and use fill flash to highlight your foreground.

Sorry if this seems like "try a bit of everything". It sort of is It's no harm going to the club a night or two beforehand with your camera and familiarise yourself with it and see what works best so you have more time to concentrate on the night.

Pete.

EDIT: What club is it to get an idea of how dark/what lighting they have?

PopeBuckfastXVI

try the slow curtain and rear synch settings on your camera.

Slow curtain will make the shutter speed a little slower to capture the ambient lighting... you don't want to just illuminate the subjects right in front of you and have a pitch black background.

If you are shooting with a low aperature the background figures will be outside your DOF anyway, so it doesn't matter if they are a bit blurred or shakey. Use rear synch to keep the foreground figures crisp.

Rear synch will set the flash off just before the shutter closes which means that you freeze the action just in front of you, and if there is any blur it will be as if the characters are in motion (leaving motion trails) rather than being overdrawn with the blur.

Anyone with a little more expertise please feel free to correct any mistakes I've made. This is what I think is right, and I'm intending to do this myself at an upcoming wedding, so I'd appreciate any corrections myself!

pete4130

Thanks Pope, I forgot to mention rear sync! I think rear sync would work better for the circumstances.

Ricky91t

Hey
How did you actually manage to get this?
Im very interested in photography like this
Thanks

Borderfox

Check here too, might give you some ideas..

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=415099

Fenster

I've shot clubs a fair bit both here and in Ireland and an external flashgun is essential if you can get hold of one. It doesn't particularly matter what lens you use, although a wide-angle would be an ideal choice - this isn't a gig; people are going to be right in your face wanting snappy snappy.

The results can be a little hit and miss, depending on your settings. Here are two of my personal favourites, one with a Canon EF f/2.8 28mm and one with a Canon EF-S f/4-5.6 17-85mm IS USM. One is a straight snap, and the second is slow-sync:



And for the love of god, wear earplugs!

dirtydress

Thanks so much everyone for the tips...ive had some time today (away from my regular job!) to play around a bit with the camera. Like i said im still quite the newbie and I love that this has given me an oppertunity to learn something specific! I'll try remember all the different bits of advice everyone gave me on the night and hopefully it'll all go well but I do appreciate everyone taking time to help out. I think i'm going to refrain from buying any new equipment for now because when i do get some more lenses etc I want to research them thoroughly first and it seems like I might do ok with this for now.

To Ricky91t...I got this through a friend, its not paid or anything its more an oppertunity and if it goes well the pics will be used, if not its no big deal. If you want to get into it im sure if you just went out some night and took some shots and then gave them to the promoters of the club you might get lucky and have them used, its all about being cheeky!

Thirdfox

Make sure you get your model release forms ready if the promoter intends to use the images commerically afterwards. Don't want to be sued for copyright infringement!

sineadw

I'm assuming you're using the pop-up flash on the camera? You'll have to get in close to the subjects (a few feet away at most) and reset the flash exposure compensation in your camera's menu. I think you need to set it to a - number? Someone will correct me there I'm sure. If you stick a bit of paper over the flash to diffuse it too you might get better results... I've heard a business card, rizla paper... Play around. And yes! go to the club beforehand! And bring lots of memory cards. AV mode at lowest value and a bit of luck

And/or if you have time, you honest to god can never go wrong with the nifty fifty. Its a no-brainer, especially as it'll only cost you 80 quid or so. Best money I EVER spent!

Placebo

u shud run to some other club/local gig and test it out,

obviously low aperture , test different shutter speeds for desired results.