Nightclub/Party Photography

[nick s]

Hi guys, had a party a few months ago in a marquee in the back garden, no natural light as it was at night, so was using my Canon EOS1000d with the built in flash. Some of the shots in lesser lit areas didn't come out as well. So i've just purchased a Jessops 280D flash. It's pretty big! I have anothe rmarquee party this weekend, and was wondering if this flash should help things out a bit, and if anyone has any tips? it will be portrait and group photo stuff. Pretty standard. Is it best to bounce it off the ceiling or directly at the subjects etc? Thanks.

[CivicMan]

Stofen is good.

http://www.stofen.com/

[Shoot Blair]

I tend to find that a steady hand helps

[Ed_P]

Shoot Blair said:

I tend to find that a steady hand helps

Don't think I can really add much to that!

Seriously though, light falloff in a large marquee is always going to be a problem. For "crowd" shots, I would suggest pointing the flash-head towards a point about halfway into the crowd at the "wall/ceiling" junction area (if you see what I mean). If the Jessop's flash supports TTL metering, use that. For small groups and individuals, I would direct the flash behind me over my right or left shoulder and pointing up at an angle of about 45 degrees. This will illuminate the subjects with a nice soft diagonal light and avoid the "caught in the headlights" look. Again, use TTL metering if available.

If you're confident doing it, first put the camera in Manual mode and adjust the "ambient" light to minus 1-2 stops. I'd start at 1/125 second at around F4 initially and adjust ISO and shutter speed if necessary until you get the required settings. This, with the bounced flash, should give nicely illuminated subjects against a well-balanced background. If you're not that confident, you're probably better off with the camera in Full Auto mode. Have a practice anywhere indoors prior to the event.

[size13]

I've got some from a black-tie do all using SB600 with Stofen and either 50mm 1.8 or 18-70 kit lens.

If you look at the image info, you might get an idea of the differences in setting, but I think I shot them all at ISO 400.

http://my-photo.co.uk/zenphoto/index.php?album=200...

You can see in the first picture that the flash wasn't right.

Edited by size13 on Tuesday 27th October 11:48

[nick s]

Some quality advice there, thanks guys! will check all that out and have a play tonight!

[Ed_P]

size13 said:

http://my-photo.co.uk/zenphoto/index.php?album=200...

You can see in the first picture that the flash wasn't right.

Edited by size13 on Tuesday 27th October 11:48

Yes, this shows light falloff nicely. I think it might have been improved by pointing the speedlite at the ceiling, about halfway down the table. The Stofen diffuser would have directed plenty of light towards the near subjects too.