I'm not saying the way I do it is right, and by no means am I saying the way you do it is wrong. By the look of those sites you've got a fair amount of decent shots. What I'm saying is the techniques that we use work best for us. There's nothing stopping us from using manual focus, manual flash...but why would we when AF and TTL are easier?
Yes I understand TTL can be fooled easily by very bright or very dark clothing - believe me this probably affects at least 10% of our photos each night! However it's a limitation to the system that we can't avoid (without using FEL or manual flash) so we learn to live with it, at the end of the day the other 90% or so of the nights shots will be correct. The same thing with AF, sometimes it's not perfect and you'll get the odd out of focus shots here and there.
I'm just saying this is what works for me and it should be a good starting point for another person who is just entering the world of nightclub photography.
I accept that people prefer old fashioned methods of doing things, don't get me wrong I don't hate manual focus at all (I use it all the time for video), however it's just not feisable to use it in this situation (at least for me). Some people prefer shooting on film, with manual focus, manual flash etc. Doing this sort of job where you are taking potentially 2000 shots in one night, for two nights in a row and each time where you aim to deliver them to the web within 12 hours, it is obviously out of the question as we need the quickest workflow. Digital is a god send for that...without it our website would not exist. The same goes for manual focus, TTL etc. Without them we would not be able to work as productively as we do.
Re. having white walls in clubs, I know a lot don't but there are a few which do and those are easily the ones you get the best light in. Bouncing flash outside also works well depending on the colour of the building that you are stood next to.
And finally on the subject of manual flash...a lot of the time the people we photograph will literally just jump out on us wanting to get their photo taken (the website is very well known in the city) and sometimes we'll have multiple people waiting around us for their turn, some people will stop you in the hallway of a club or as you're making your way down a staircase and want their photo there and then, and a lot won't want to stick around as you're messing about trying to set your flash up properly. Some people get frustrated if you have to retake the shot a couple of times because of bad framing, out of focus, someone has walked into the shot and ****ed it up etc. There's a whole host of things which can happen, eg random people putting their hand in the way of someone's face, a drunk **** pouring a pint of beer over your lens (it has happened) etc, using all these things helps to make us easier and quicker and ensure maximum productivity.
Hope you understand where I'm coming from.
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