SLR camera settings for nightclubs and low light venues
Posted on Aug 27, 2009 by
Paul WhiteEvery photographer eventually finds themselves in a dark place (nightclub, concert, bar ) trying to get some cool photos. But we gethome only to find all our shots were under exposed or over exposed. This isthe time when you realize that you didn't spend grands on your camerabody to take pictures in AUTO mode. After trial and error and readingmultiple blogs, and forums, I have found the perfect settings for greatnightclubs photos from your SLR camera.
The camera I am using is a Sony A700. Any Sony Alpha Camera should be able to do this, so even if you have an A100 you will be fine. However the higher end
models A700, A900 will handle higher ISO a little better. Here are the settings you need
Turn your dial to Shutter Speed Mode "
S
"
Next we manually set your
Shutter Speed to 1/10
second
Manually adjust your ISO to a comfortable level. In my case I went with
ISO 800
Make sure your
flash is on ( either the built in one, or an external
flash )
Why these settings?
One of the biggest problems with shooting in nightclubs, is the lack of light, and your subject matter is not usually still. This makes it hard for your camera to detect how much light is available and how far you are from your subject. So we lock in Shutter Speed and ISO values. Now the only thing the camera needs to detect is how wide to set your aperature.
Why the long Shutter Speed if we are using a flash?
The problem when you use a
flash in auto mode, is your camera will use a faster shutter speed. This causes your subject to be almost over exposed, and your background ambient lighting will be dark. By using a longer shutter speed it will soften our subject matter, and bring out the ambient light more. Remember the goal when shooting nightclubs is to capture the ambiance of the club.
Examples
I will try some real nightclub shots at a later date, but for now I used Pepe in the kitchen.
The Lens I am using for both shots is a fixed Sigma 30mm F1.4
This first photo shows how my Sony A700 reacts when I put it in auto mode with an Sony HVL-F56AM
flashThe camera auto set itself to 1/60 second, F2.8, ISO 800, notice how the background is all dark. This was taken in my kitchen with the lights off. The only lights were from my office down the hall.
The second shot is when I use "S" mode and manually set 1/13 second and ISO 800 with the same
flash. The camera then auto set the aperture to F1.4.
In this one notice how the background is blurred from the wider aperture, and the light from my office can now be seen reflecting on the tile floor. This is what it looked like to my eye as well. This technique is also called dragging the shutter. The
flash will freeze the action ( Pepe ) while the longer shutter speed will let all the ambient light in
Summary
Next time you are having trouble taking nightclub photos, try these settings. Or experiment on your own. I am still amazed by the number of photographers who are scarred to make a mistake. Its not like the camera uses film, and your Memory card can probably store over 1000 photos.
Article Update 2/27/2010
Why use Pre-Flash TTL and not ADI Flash for better photos
After a few rounds with my Sony Alpha 700, I noticed something else in the camera settings that was causing bad photos. If you goto the menu, there is a section where you can adjust
Flash Control. The two options are ADI
Flash, and Pre-
flash TTL. These are both Autoflash options. What you want 95% of the time will be Pre-
Flash TTL. ADI
Flash is only good for situations where you have lots of reflections. Naturally any reflections are going to throw off the light sensor. Unfortunately when I turn my camera on ADI seems to be the default, and I always have to manually set it to Pre-
Flash TTL.
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Great and helpful article!