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Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast!
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PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records!
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A long overdue catch up with JourneyOM ahead of his next Tribal Village party this Friday 14th January 2022 at the Steelyard, London!

Clubbers Guide to Photography: Part Two

Reported by Steve Milton / Submitted 05-08-09 10:56

Continuing our special feature on club photography, this week Steve Milton and Daf talk about actually taking the photos! So, camera’s at the ready? Then we’ll begin.

Photography in the club

OK so we’re going to assume you’ve got the camera now and had a bit of time to familiarise yourself with the various options and settings and you’re starting to get some decent results. As you’ve probably guessed by now taking photographs in a club can offer a very specific range of challenges. Clubs tend to be dark places with huge variations in light and clarity however with a little knowledge you can get some good and creative results.



Clearly you’ll need to make as much of the ambient light as possible so this means a high ISO setting but as already mentioned this will have the negative effect of creating a noisy (grainy) shot. A quick bit of experimentation will give you an idea of what you can get away with although for most D-SLRs this seems to be around ISO 800 so a setting below of 640 or 500 will probably be about right. As technology advances the newer breed of cameras are reducing noise even at higher ISO settings so you may be able to go higher if your chosen camera is a new model.

The shutter speed/aperture combination in a club is an area where settings can vary hugely however in principal the choices will ultimately be the same. Ideally the subject matter will need to be in light but you‘ll also want to catch some of the background and lighting. This is possible through what is called Slow-Flash sync. Using the flash to illuminate your subject will usually have the effect of underexposing the background and thus losing all the light and detail behind the subject matter however using a longer than average shutter speed will allow some of that light to reach your cameras sensor and so be recorded in the shot. How long will take some experimentation and will be affected by the ambient light in the club (and ISO choice).

A dark club is likely to need from 1/5 to 1/15 sec shutter speed although if it’s lighter you may be able to get away with 1/15 to 1/30 sec. However a word of warning, in lighter clubs excessively slow shutter speeds should be avoided. Although your flash will expose the subject, the stronger ambient light may overexpose them and there’s also the risk of blur and colour cast. For simplicity many cameras will have a night portrait mode already programmed in which will automatically do all of the above and on many occasions this will be sufficient, however the manual settings will give you more scope for adjustment.



The section above is pretty much applied to portraits (clubbers and DJ’s) so if you’re after some lighting and general ambience of course the flash can be left alone. Experiment with various speeds, aperture and ISO settings for those artistic laser and light shots and don’t forget to have fun.

In the world of lighting (studio, clubs - anything) a small light source is usually bad and a big light source good. This is because the smaller the light source in relation to the subject (plus distance), the harsher the shadows will be and having a larger light source means the light will be "softer" with no or minimal shadows. This is why studios use big soft boxes or umbrellas in front of their lights. So if you’re buying more equipment for the purpose of nightclub photography then a flashgun should be close to top of the list of things to get.

There are ways to modify flashes to make the light sources appear larger or softer. Flashguns have all kinds of attachments that are available - from standard diffusers (omnibounce being the main make) to more complex ones (look up Lumiquest if interested). A definite tip on this front is if using an omnibounce - Gaffer the thing on else it WILL go missing. [I've lost 4! - Daf]

Smoke and flash are a combination that aren’t the best of mates. If you're using direct flash (rather than a fancy off camera flash) the light will bounce straight back off the smoke and into the camera, in effect making it look like you're stood in the middle of a thick fog bank. Some of this can be fixed in editing by making the black-end of levels darker, but in reality if the smoke is really thick then it's best just not to bother - try another area or room.



Daf’s top clubbing photography tips:

Tape diffusers onto the flash else it will go missing.

Give DJ's 10 minutes or so to settle into their set before bothering them with photos and avoid taking their photos if you can see they're in the middle of a tricky mix.

Take spare batteries. Especially if using on-board flash as this will suck life out of them.

Check your kit before leaving the house – Getting to the club only to find out your memory card is in the PC card reader is quite annoying.

If going to a club with an SLR make sure that it's OK. There will be some venues that won't allow it without prior agreement (Heaven, Matter). Also some venues (Pacha) have a policy that you shouldn't take photos of their staff - so check before taking a staff members picture.

If it's winter then chances are your camera may be cold. If it's a hot club then it's almost certain that your camera will mist up. Just give it time to warm up to the club's temperature.

If there's lots of smoke just move on.

Light levels in different parts of the club will vary. Don't be afraid to change and experiment with your settings.

Enjoy yourself.

Hopefully we’ll have given you enough here to get you started and have some fun with your camera. Thanks to Daf for his help with the feature and if you have further questions then feel free to post on the forums as HarderFaster has several experienced photographers always willing to help with advice and tips.

See you (and your camera) on the dancefloor.


Photos courtesy of Daf and the HarderFaster archive. Not to be reproduced without permission.
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Other Features By Steve Milton:
The Final Zoo
The Death of Clubland?
Trousers, Caps and Trance Anthems - It's Dave Pearce!
Boom Box, Bulldog Breaks and V1 - It's Time to Reload with DJ-X(lab4)
Clubbers Guide to Photography: Part One
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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