Night Club Photography
In this article I am going to talk about the camera settings and how they affect your work, I work with a Canon 30D with a variety of camera lenses that give me focal lengths ranging from 18mm to 200mm.
This is all that is required; You will find that 200mm is extreme and you will certainly require an IS lens.
In the night clubs of Manchester, where I take pictures, there is a wide range of night clubs to visit.
Although I prefer Indie music and bands, to take the largest variety of photos I need go in as many night clubs as possible.
This is easier than it sounds as most night club owners and promoters love photographers to come into their clubs as they act as a form of free promotion; Myself and the photographers that I employ (voluntarily) are able to get into most night clubs in Manchester by using my company name, xoog, which is a known name in the local night club industry.
Using a promotional site like xoog isn't required however it always serves as a backup; There should be a similar company in your area that will be guaranteed to be looking for more photographers, however if there aren't feel free to get in touch and you could take pictures yourself under the name.
Shutter Priority Tv Mode on Canon cameras, Shutter priority allows you to manually select your camera's shutter speed.
It is best to use this mode in night club photos because a trained photographer will know that Aperture priority (Av mode on Canon cameras) will hold the shutter open for too long and your photos will result in lens shake.
Hand shake will be an issue with night club photography as you are unable to use a tripod.
However the traditional rule (on non-IS lenses) is that your shutter speed should be close to that of your focal length.
For example if i was taking a picture at 18mm then my shutter speed should be about 1/20s.
I beg to differ.
I feel that the minimum shutter speed for a camera is 1/8s , yes...
that slow.
I tend to range my shutter speeds between 1/4 and 1/8, very rarely venturing as fast as 1/30s or even 1/60s for dancers, etc.
ISO Dependant on your camera, and I am lucky enough to have a Digital lens without too much problems, the ISO rating you use should be set as high as possible.
Trial and error is important because if you set the ISO too high, not only do you get a large amount of noise, but undesired lighting seems to 'leak' onto your subjects.
I personally stay around the ISO 400 mark however ISO 800 is generally feasible, although skin tones degrade, I reserve ISO 1600 for pictures of the general crowd to make the scene more vibrant.
I believe the ISO is heavily dependent on the camera and lens though as my good friend has a Canon 5D accompanied with an L glass lens, he prefers to shoot at ISO 100 (which would be near-impossible for me in low light conditions).
ISO, Shutter Speed and FEC should be taken into consideration in all photos.
Each one compromising for the inability of another in certain situations, however that is another article about night club photography in itself.
This is all that is required; You will find that 200mm is extreme and you will certainly require an IS lens.
In the night clubs of Manchester, where I take pictures, there is a wide range of night clubs to visit.
Although I prefer Indie music and bands, to take the largest variety of photos I need go in as many night clubs as possible.
This is easier than it sounds as most night club owners and promoters love photographers to come into their clubs as they act as a form of free promotion; Myself and the photographers that I employ (voluntarily) are able to get into most night clubs in Manchester by using my company name, xoog, which is a known name in the local night club industry.
Using a promotional site like xoog isn't required however it always serves as a backup; There should be a similar company in your area that will be guaranteed to be looking for more photographers, however if there aren't feel free to get in touch and you could take pictures yourself under the name.
Shutter Priority Tv Mode on Canon cameras, Shutter priority allows you to manually select your camera's shutter speed.
It is best to use this mode in night club photos because a trained photographer will know that Aperture priority (Av mode on Canon cameras) will hold the shutter open for too long and your photos will result in lens shake.
Hand shake will be an issue with night club photography as you are unable to use a tripod.
However the traditional rule (on non-IS lenses) is that your shutter speed should be close to that of your focal length.
For example if i was taking a picture at 18mm then my shutter speed should be about 1/20s.
I beg to differ.
I feel that the minimum shutter speed for a camera is 1/8s , yes...
that slow.
I tend to range my shutter speeds between 1/4 and 1/8, very rarely venturing as fast as 1/30s or even 1/60s for dancers, etc.
ISO Dependant on your camera, and I am lucky enough to have a Digital lens without too much problems, the ISO rating you use should be set as high as possible.
Trial and error is important because if you set the ISO too high, not only do you get a large amount of noise, but undesired lighting seems to 'leak' onto your subjects.
I personally stay around the ISO 400 mark however ISO 800 is generally feasible, although skin tones degrade, I reserve ISO 1600 for pictures of the general crowd to make the scene more vibrant.
I believe the ISO is heavily dependent on the camera and lens though as my good friend has a Canon 5D accompanied with an L glass lens, he prefers to shoot at ISO 100 (which would be near-impossible for me in low light conditions).
ISO, Shutter Speed and FEC should be taken into consideration in all photos.
Each one compromising for the inability of another in certain situations, however that is another article about night club photography in itself.
Source...