photographing in real low light

[deni]

Hello,

I have not been on here in awhile. I will be photographing a party at a night club with

very low light. I have photographed plays in low light before, but, they had stage

lighting. There may not be stage lighting at the club. It is just going to be a birthday

party for a 16 year old, with alot of friends. I have a canon 20D and I do have a canon

lens EF 85mm 1.8 It works awesome for me when I photograph the plays. I have a

430EX speedlite also. I don;t want my photos to look like bright blasted shots. I would

love to be more creative. Should I get a diffuser to add to the speedlite to spread the

light? Any suggestions on how to be more creative?

Thanks a bunch!

Denise

[mendonphoto]

I don't know what to tell you about being more creative, but I have a couple suggestions for better lighting.

 

First thing - snap on diffusers are almost worthless. You want a large light source, not just light that spreads everywhere.

 

You might try a bounce diffuser - the bigger the better. I have the Lumiquest "Big Bounce". It does a pretty nice job.

 

If the ceiling is low and white, you can bounce off of it, too.

[rainer_t]

Without knowing the location I might be wrong ... but the 85/1.8 might be too long.

[mohammed_abidally]

Hi, I only speak from experience shooting teenage my kids parties etc.

 

Suggest you do use a diffuser and point it upwards at about 45deg angle. If you go AV the shutter speeds will be way too low and give blurry pics. Suggest you select a high ISO say 400 and go manual with a shutter speed as low as you dare, say 1/15 or 1/30, an aperture of about f2.8, with the flash on ETTL2. This should capture the ambience, yet give you sharp images.

 

If there are disco lights etc try some slow sync flash with very slow shutter speed of say 3 secs with small aperture of f16 for some nice special effects with sharp eyes/faces.

[mohammed_abidally]

Ya, one more thng, I agree with Rainer - the 85 is a bit long, perhaps better off with about a 17-55, but then again keeping a distance may get you better candids.

[robert lee]

"I will be photographing a party at a night club with very low light."

 

See if you can pick up a 35mm f2 prime. Shoot at 1600ISO. Even if you do use flash, this will pick up much more of the background. This gets you away from that deer in the headlight, direct flash look.

 

Try slow/2nd curtain sync with the flash. You'll get nicely blurred background from subject and camera movement, and a sharply defined foreground.

[brucecahn]

I used to shoot in a blues club. The lighting was one 100 watt bulb. Plenty. I used a Leica M6 with a 50mm f2 wide open. Obviously a slow shutter speed. No flash. Great results. Robert Lee's comment above about avoiding direct flash is good advice.

[lilly_w]

While your 85/1.8 is a fast lens, the focal length requires a faster shutter speed for handholding as compared to a wideangle or normal lens. I think you'd be better served by a fast 35 or 50 to capture the ambiance. Consider an even wider lens as you'll be right in the mix...which means even slower shutter speed for more ambiant light.

[deni]

Cool!

Thanks everyone for your answers. I do shoot with my 85 for the plays at 1600 ISO no flash, and get great results. I use the TV mode and it helps to freeze the action. I will look up some of these other lenses too. Thanks, again!

[brian_schiel]

After too darn many blurry shots, I'm of the mind that without shutter speed you have anything. I have the 30D and 1600 ISO gets pretty sketchy. I've rented the 5D for more agreeable results at 1600. I've rented the Mark III if I'm getting paid and gotta nail it. With that beast, I'm happy to run at 3200 ISO but rental price is a hard swallow! I have the Gary Fong (sp) defuser. I dig it but it's overpriced and a big object to top-off the camera. If people are posing for me, I'll run the shutter at 1/60. Anything less than people saying cheese, I won't run at less than 160....for wine drinkers. Nothing less than 250 for people in causual motion. Remember, if you're running wide open on a 1-point-something lens, you'll only be able to capture one person in proper focus. My two cents.

[emmajanefalconer]

Also try getting some coloured gel sheets to tape over your flash for some fun, unusual looking shots. Coloured flash often looks good in a nightclub setting, and super-saturated colours are popular with the age group the party's for. I find that light purples, greens oranges and yellows work well, esp if you arrange them in stripes across the flash. You can just tape them on around the edges with black electrical tape.

 

Also try using a long exposure with flash, and move the camera in the long exposure. The long exposure gives a bright light streaked backdrop, and the flash fixes a sharp image of the people. I find around 2-3 seconds at 80 asa works well, the 80 asa gives you very bold colours. The technique doesn't seem to work so well with more subtle colours.

 

<a href=" title="midi 6.JPG by emmajanefalconer, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3191/2305170393_9425007bdf_o.jpg" width="606" height="456" alt="midi 6.JPG" /></a>

 

Here's a music picture I took with my simple canon ixus and a handheld flash. The only lighting at the venue was a tiny light in the corner, some UV and glowsticks strung everywhere- atmospheric but completely unideal for photography!

[emmajanefalconer]

<a href=" title="midi 6.JPG by emmajanefalconer, on Flickr" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3191/2305170393_9425007bdf_o.jpg" width="606" "" alt="midi 6.JPG" /></a>

 

That was meant to be (chose wrong text type)

[deni]

Hi Robert Lee,

I'm rather new at my flash, 430EX. Please tell me what slow/2nd curtain sync is?

[emmajanefalconer]

From your message Denise

"I have my a 85mm 1.8 lens to use for low light. But, I would be too close, unless I could back up more. It might be a tight situation. There should be about 100 kids there. I do have a 28-135mm IS lens 3.5-5.6. Would either of those work good for this situation? I really like the idea with the gel paper. Where would I find that? "

 

I have a wide angle 28mm f2.8 that is good for that king of thing. A wide angle lens is great for crowd scenes, as it makes the room look giant and full of activity, but it's not so good for closer to people's faces as it can make their nose look huge and their hairline recede! It's always flattering to back away from people a bit and let the lens get closer, as if you are right up in their face it can distort features and be less flattering.

 

I got my pack of gels as the "Cokin Creative set" basically a load of gels with a silly plastic holder, it was from ebay for ﾣ2, they are on ebay all the time. Another good way to get bits of gel is to contact Roscolux who manufacture them, they have sample swatches for photographers and theatre people, and the sample is about the right size for flash purposes.

[robert lee]

With 2nd curtain sync, the flash fires right before the shutter closes; the shutter itself remains open for an arbitrary amount of time. Essentially you get a double exposure, the effect of which Emma illustrates so well in the image above.

 

I don't have a 430EX so I can't give you specific settings. A google for "430ex 20d second curtain sync" will return lots of hits.

[emmajanefalconer]

just checked- the cokin set is no 375

(Cokin number all their filters to make it easier to sell internationally)

[deni]

Wow! Thanks guys for all your help. I love this site! I actually am going to the place today to shoot off a couple of shots to see how it will be for me. It is supposed to be on June 12th. If I get a really awesome shot, I will show you. Wish me luck!?