How do you shoot a nightclub group picture at 1/8 ?

Maybe you'd be better off with a more up to date and specialised body? I hear the D810a is optimised for dark situations.

The short answer is that you don't.

You could boost your ISO, turn on you stabilization, lose a bit of ambient, use one or two off-camera slaved flashes boost the ambient...

If you do decide to do what you suggest then go for second curtain sync because you WILL get subject motion blur and it will look more natural with the flash-frozen image leading rather than trailing.

AbarthGT said:

My question is how do you shoot with 1/8 shutter speed and still get sharp pictures? I have tried at home with a can on my desk, focusing at the can at f4 ISO400 , the image really isn't sharp, let alone when I'll be shooting drunk people in a nightclub. I understand the flash should freeze the motion.

Am I doing something wrong (Oh by the way the stabilizer is off)

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I can't see why you would turn the stabiliser off.

The technique you are trying to use relies on the fact that the total light you collect from the can from the very short flash pulse is much greater than the total light you collect from the can due to the ambient light in the room added up over the much longer total time that the shutter is open.

Without seeing exactly what you are doing, if the can is blurred then the ambient light is likely dominating.

Alan

I have never done a nightclub shots, though I recommend to shoot how we usually shoot in dark areas such as Boost up ISO, maximum f#, high powered light sources etc.

In order for your speedlight to "freeze" the moment, the object you wish to shoot should dim out at the same exposure without the speedlight. Set to Manual Mode and find exposure when your can on the desk just dims out without the speedlight. Now with speedlight added, you will see your object solely lit up by the speedlight which is very fast flash. It will be more difficult to create sharper picture than shooting at faster shutter speed however, it will be worth a try to get the concept.

At a nightclub, I think you can use this trick when stagelighting that is bit far away only lighting up the background and the person you wish to shoot is dimmed out due to lack of ambient light that is close enough. The silhouettes will be in existence but the color data your camera accepts from the person will be the reflection of your flashlight.

Please be noted that I have never tried this method on situations like this and I am only going through this in my mind just as an idea. Though I sincerely hope it works.

AbarthGT said:

Hi all,

I've never done any nightclub photography before but will be helping a mate out next week.

I will be using a Nikon D800E + Tamron 27-70mm F2.8 + Yongnua 568EX Speelight

I have done a bit of research and I believe I'll need to shoot with a shutter speed 1/8 , ISO 400-800 and Flash 1/4 -1/64 in order to get a lot of ambient light and f4 or smaller apertube (5.6 for groups)

My question is how do you shoot with 1/8 shutter speed and still get sharp pictures? I have tried at home with a can on my desk, focusing at the can at f4 ISO400 , the image really isn't sharp, let alone when I'll be shooting drunk people in a nightclub. I understand the flash should freeze the motion.

Am I doing something wrong (Oh by the way the stabilizer is off)

Your help will be much appreciated.

Click to expand...

You need to shoot with a faster lens and a higher ISO. There's no reason why you can't go to 1600 or 3200 on the D810. Use a fast prime, ideally f1.4, and suddenly you can get up to sensible shutter speed for what you're doing. The shallower depth of field will give you some nice results, depending on the lights, etc. Also means you're less likely to see the drunk person vomiting in the background.

You're going to get motion blur / movement at 1/8 second. Especially if people are dancing, wobbling around, etc. etc.

If you want to capture nice motion, people dancing, etc. then you'll need to use a tripod, or a rest the camera on a table.

AbarthGT said:

Hi all,

I've never done any nightclub photography before but will be helping a mate out next week.

I will be using a Nikon D800E + Tamron 27-70mm F2.8 + Yongnua 568EX Speelight

I have done a bit of research and I believe I'll need to shoot with a shutter speed 1/8 , ISO 400-800 and Flash 1/4 -1/64 in order to get a lot of ambient light and f4 or smaller apertube (5.6 for groups)

My question is how do you shoot with 1/8 shutter speed and still get sharp pictures? I have tried at home with a can on my desk, focusing at the can at f4 ISO400 , the image really isn't sharp, let alone when I'll be shooting drunk people in a nightclub. I understand the flash should freeze the motion.

Click to expand...

Not a great idea

Yes your flash does freeze the motion but your subject is still letting in a lot of light during that exposure time. Which would result in a second soft moved image in the same image much like a dual exposure.

Better to cut down on the ambient light a little more

Some great answers and help here guys ! Thanks a lot! What a brilliant community!

Right so as far as I understand , shutter speed 1/8 will give me a motion blur. sacrificing a bit of ambient light for quick shutter speed is better to get sharp pictures.

Will 1/30 be more reasonable for group pictures (sharp) ?

I normally shoot at 1/125 for portrait and group in order to get sharp pictures (without flash)

AbarthGT said:

Some great answers and help here guys ! Thanks a lot! What a brilliant community!

Click to expand...

You're welcome.

AbarthGT said:

Right so as far as I understand , shutter speed 1/8 will give me a motion blur. sacrificing a bit of ambient light for quick shutter speed is better to get sharp pictures.

Click to expand...

No, you overlooked what I said about the high-speed flash burst.


(C) Aleksandar Carevic

Note how the slow shutter speed has blurred all the ambient lights but the movement of the girl is frozen by the flash-burst.

At the end of the day it's down to whether you want to be creative with the dynamic effect or concentrate on more formal portraits. It will also depend on the club lighting and the distance you'll be shooting your subjects from.

Turn the stabilizer on. Shoot in shutter priority at a shutter speed you can hold. Forget low ISO - a little grain is better than a little blur. If the light is not changing much, you can also shoot in manual wide open at a shutter speed you can hold and adjust exposure with ISO.

Either experiment with high ISO that sets the aperture wide open at the shutter speed you can hold, or set the camera to Auto ISO. I know no one that can hold 1/8 second to get consistently sharp picts. Unless you have OK from both club and performers, forget flash - It is a major distraction to one and all, and they didn't pay money to see your flashes. Be considerate. Oh, yes. Use your fastest lens - or buy/rent one.

Peace. ...and Best Wishes.

John

kcdogger said:

Turn the stabilizer on. Shoot in shutter priority at a shutter speed you can hold. Forget low ISO - a little grain is better than a little blur. If the light is not changing much, you can also shoot in manual wide open at a shutter speed you can hold and adjust exposure with ISO.

Either experiment with high ISO that sets the aperture wide open at the shutter speed you can hold, or set the camera to Auto ISO. I know no one that can hold 1/8 second to get consistently sharp picts. Unless you have OK from both club and performers, forget flash - It is a major distraction to one and all, and they didn't pay money to see your flashes. Be considerate. Oh, yes. Use your fastest lens - or buy/rent one.

Peace. ...and Best Wishes.

John

Click to expand...

Are you sure these tips will work John? I foresee very heavy, impossible to correct, color casts and an awful lot of grain.

Maybe it's down to different interpretations of a nightclub?
Admittedly my tips were assuming the sort of nightclubs where the light is changing (a lot), and the punters did pay money to see a lot of strobes (albeit disco strobes, but where the occasional camera flash would blend in and not be found inconsiderate). I don't know of any nightclub photographers who don't use flash the vast majority of the time.

Well, I'm sure there lots of ways to do it. Try them all and see what you feel comfortable with.

Peace

John