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I've had an interest in photographing some of the club scene around sydney, but I wasn't sure how the big guys on the door would react if I just turned up with my camera...

At the mini-meet Wendell suggested just saying I was from some magazine and they would let me in - and he was right.

I went to a couple of clubs on Sat night - people who are off their heads seem to love being photographed. I had numerous people getting me to take photos of them, although I am more interested in trying to capture the feel of the whole scene rather than happy snaps.

This is a first attempt of shooting in low and variable light, and also of using my external canon flash - so I would really like some suggestions, and criticism so I can improve next time.

All shots are candid, ISO400, with curves adjustment.

#2 seperate curves adj for girl in the white dress - she seemed a bit flat
#3 had a light cloned out (I found framing hard in such low light)


#1


#2


#3


#4


#5

Nice work Mitchell, like the first

the 2nd last one is good for available light sharp and lovely tones

did you use the rear flash setting over a slower shutter speed?

you will actually work out that when people pose for you you can get a better shot, especially if you break them down with a quirky remark or just say they look great or beautiful, some girls kiss each other, i think i said enough

good stuff

The girl at the bottom looks familiar.

I like #4 and #5, mostly #4 though.

Mitch - I like #4 and #5 the most too.

There's a little too much motion blur in the first few for my preference however it does 'set the mood' for the given environment.

What shutter speed did you have on the first 3 images? The first one seems a tad on the noisey side (especially for ISO 400). Look forward to your response.

Yeah, no. 4 is nice, no. 5 is my favourite of the lot. Well done. Nice and sharp, the only thing is I would crop no. 5 at the top a bit more.

Alex

#1 is really the only one that appeals to me, the last two are just standard flash portraits that you could do at home I think. I like the vignetting effect and to me it has a sort of 60's feel. I would have been tempted to crop the light out, maybe climb a bit higher if you really wanted the mirrorball. With #3 I would have been tempted to aim the flash higher so that the DJ gets a bit of spill and the crowd gets only ambient (plus a bit of bounce if you're lucky).

Thanks for the comments -

Wendell - I had quite a few attempts at the long shutter speed then rear curtain flash technique, but the light streaks tended to overexpose. (the intermittent lights in this club tended to be infrequent and very bright). I am going to give it another go in a club with softer, coloured more roving lights - hopefully a more colourful effect.

Geoff - shutter speeds were 5s, hence the blur. I was worried that freezing the scene with a faster shutter speed would lose some of the atmosphere. I guess I can still get that moving feel with faster s/speeds...

Moz - thanks for the flash idea, I'm still learning where to point it (some of my shots came out as just a horizontal rectangle of light - I didn't point it high enough to bounce.

Thanks again for the tips - I am keen for people to tell me if they think something just plain doesn't work (and why).