bass_junkie83
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- Dave
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I have put this guide together because lately i have been getting more and more requests from people, on here and elsewhere asking for advice and tips on this topic. I have picked up a lot from this forum, and it will be good to be able to give a little back that may help someone else.
I have made some minor updates and additions to this guide. At the time, I could not edit this post, so if you want to read the most current version, it is up on my blog as linked below.
http://www.photographerinessex.com/blog/a-guide-to-nightclub-photography/
Introduction
Firstly, a little background to myself. I have been doing club work for a little over a year now. It all started at a vintage VW show up at Santa Pod Raceway where in the evenings there were a couple of marquees for night time entertainment. After far too many beers round the bbq, it seems like a great idea to take an expensive camera into what was essentially a rave and carry on partying. :bonk:
Fortunately i walked away from that without anything expensive damaged, but also a load of shots i was rather happy with.
From there i got into a few small bars, working for mates (not to be paid) etc to build up experience. Eventually i had the opportunity to get into a club working as their resident tog.
I have now been there for 11 months, working a basic three nights a week and have built up a good rapport with the staff and regular punters. My photos are used for the clubs website, their facebook page and for general advertising.
This is going to be pretty much just a technical article. I'm not going to go into the business side of things, who you should or shouldn't work for, how much you should charge etc. That's entirely down to you.
I am simply going to go through everything that i think is relevant, based on things i have learnt and picked up to date myself. Some of it may be teaching you to suck eggs, some may not so take from it what you will.
There is nothing new or different to how you would set up for a shot anywhere else, you just tend to take things to extremes a bit more inside a club which i find actually makes life easier.
Different people have their own take and opinion on how it should be done. Most will use flash, some prefer not to.
All my stuff is done with flash, so if that's not your bag this may not be much use to you.
The essential kit you are going to need is this.
The main thing to keep in your head is that decent nightclub shots are all about capturing atmosphere. And for me, that means ambient light, and lots of it.
There are two shots below, neither particularly special, one without and one with ambient light in the background. But which one makes you feel you are in a club?
I have made some minor updates and additions to this guide. At the time, I could not edit this post, so if you want to read the most current version, it is up on my blog as linked below.
http://www.photographerinessex.com/blog/a-guide-to-nightclub-photography/
Introduction
Firstly, a little background to myself. I have been doing club work for a little over a year now. It all started at a vintage VW show up at Santa Pod Raceway where in the evenings there were a couple of marquees for night time entertainment. After far too many beers round the bbq, it seems like a great idea to take an expensive camera into what was essentially a rave and carry on partying. :bonk:
Fortunately i walked away from that without anything expensive damaged, but also a load of shots i was rather happy with.
From there i got into a few small bars, working for mates (not to be paid) etc to build up experience. Eventually i had the opportunity to get into a club working as their resident tog.
I have now been there for 11 months, working a basic three nights a week and have built up a good rapport with the staff and regular punters. My photos are used for the clubs website, their facebook page and for general advertising.
This is going to be pretty much just a technical article. I'm not going to go into the business side of things, who you should or shouldn't work for, how much you should charge etc. That's entirely down to you.
I am simply going to go through everything that i think is relevant, based on things i have learnt and picked up to date myself. Some of it may be teaching you to suck eggs, some may not so take from it what you will.
There is nothing new or different to how you would set up for a shot anywhere else, you just tend to take things to extremes a bit more inside a club which i find actually makes life easier.
Different people have their own take and opinion on how it should be done. Most will use flash, some prefer not to.
All my stuff is done with flash, so if that's not your bag this may not be much use to you.
The essential kit you are going to need is this.
- A camera (i did say i may teach you to suck eggs. :nuts: ) Any camera will do, i started off with a 400D myslef. But as you will see later, the better the iso handling of your body, the easier things become.
- A lens. Something in the standard kit range, 18-50mm ish is fine. Personally i prefer to go wide, the 10-20mm range is great. My reasons for this is a) because in a busy club you cant always step back to capture all you want in one frame, and b) smoke. Smoke is made up of solid particle floating in the air. The more of this dirty air between the lens and the subject, the more it impacts on image quality.
- A flash gun.
- A uv filter. Sod any possibility of it impairing image quality, at some point someone WILL grab it/hit it/spill beer on it.
The main thing to keep in your head is that decent nightclub shots are all about capturing atmosphere. And for me, that means ambient light, and lots of it.
There are two shots below, neither particularly special, one without and one with ambient light in the background. But which one makes you feel you are in a club?
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