nightime street photography (flash blur)

[james_chance1]

I am planning to take some lively city nightime shots- markets, bars

etc. i'm interested in using rear curtain sync to get some flash blur

and create atmosphere and movement within the image. Does anyone have

any good tips on the best shutter speeds to use and how to get the

best results etc. I will be using Velvia or Provia.

 

Thanks for any help,

 

James

[william_vragovic]

My starting point would be something like f/5.6 or f/8 and about a 1/4 or 1/2sec shutter speed, flash on 2nd curtain sync. Then just play around with it. Well, actually it would probably be better to take an ambient light reading, then select an equivalant exposure similar to what I suggested (ie: slowish shutter) then bracket around that. If you have lights in the backround (point sources, like a streetlight or neon sign or something) think about the direction you want them to blur and do a quasi sort of panning thing to get the lights to swirl like you want (probably better to have the flash on normal sync for this). Expiriment, take some notes, or good mental ones, bracket. Have fun!