Club/Gig Photography

[sam_justice]

I'm going to a few big shows coming up the next couple weeks, I'm taking my panasonic lumix dmc-g1 with the standard lens it comes with.
Just wondering on some decent settings you guys find for it? I want some nice shots that aren't blurred too badly with people moving. So I'm going to use the highest fstop (3.5).
What iso settings/general settings (white bal so on) would you guys suggest for some killer snaps?

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Hi, im a beginner too and i recommend you to read the book understanding exposure by Bryan Peterson, it helped me a lot!

:thumbup:

 

[shortpballer]

my roomate does club photography he uses iso400-600 depending on lighting. Because in general club photography is really dark and you can't be sitting there with a tripod with 1/5 sec shutter speeds.

 

[Gaerek]

I'm going to a few big shows coming up the next couple weeks, I'm taking my panasonic lumix dmc-g1 with the standard lens it comes with.
Just wondering on some decent settings you guys find for it? I want some nice shots that aren't blurred too badly with people moving. So I'm going to use the highest fstop (3.5).
What iso settings/general settings (white bal so on) would you guys suggest for some killer snaps?

See what Bitter said...honestly.

You're going to want to use the biggest aperture possible, and the lowest ISO that let's you use hand-holdable shutter speeds, and very likely, your highest ISO setting might not even be enough. There's no right answer that anyone can give you.

 

[KmH]

Though your camera has a setting for ISO 3200 the image quality at ISO 400 is going to be about the best you can hope for.

That's one of the draw backs of the 4/3 system. The sensor is just to small to perform well at high ISO. Shoot in RAW mode.

 

[sam_justice]

Another quickie, flash. I don't have an external unit to sit on top of the camera (nor the money for one at the moment) so just have the flash that comes with the camera. Do you use flash in these situations? I don't really want to as I enjoy capturing the light created from the lasers and club lighting, and think that flash will ruin it. Unless I'm mistaken?

 

[MelissaMarieImagery]

It may be too dark to not use a flash. Have you been to the club you'll be shooting at before? Do you know anything about the lighting? If you use your on camera flash then try diffusing the light somehow because it can be pretty harsh.

 

[shortpballer]

Like i said try is600....it should be good

 

[ANDS!]

I'm going to a few big shows coming up the next couple weeks, I'm taking my panasonic lumix dmc-g1 with the standard lens it comes with.
Just wondering on some decent settings you guys find for it? I want some nice shots that aren't blurred too badly with people moving. So I'm going to use the highest fstop (3.5).
What iso settings/general settings (white bal so on) would you guys suggest for some killer snaps?

Do you know the lighting setup that is going to be utilized? You may be worrying over nothing. If there is going to be a continuous source of light, you should be fine.

If its the dodgy multicolored light bull**** - then you might have to think on your feet with this one, as its going to be tough for your camera to track focus with the contrast constantly changing.

 

[Anesthetize]

Humm... I do mainly concert photography and I rarely use anything below ISO 800 and an apperture smaller than f/2.2. And that's when the lighting is any good. Also, I almost never use flash.

Having a tripod is irrelevant, in my opinion. A concert is a very dynamic setting and your subjects won't be stopping to pose for your picture, so a speed of 1/5 is veeeeeeeeeery far from fast enough. Try 1/50.

So... bottom line is: Crank up the ISO, open up the lens and go for the fastest you can shoot. You can check out my flickr for examples. A huge improvement is noticeable when I started using a fast prime lens instead of the kit lens.

 

[a_spaceman]

snapping at a gig with a dark stage can be very hard. firstly, you don't want the shutter to slow down too much as musicians, to different degrees, tend to move quite a bit.
shooting at iso800 with a f/3.5 lens could still be not fast enough.
being a musician before im a photographer, and not being able to stay still on a stage, i haven't seen many decent photos on me taken with such lenses.
as a photographer, i shoot at iso800 with an f/1.7 lens in a club and still got underexposure. still, i used an analog camera, which makes it harder to pp as the grain in dark and underexposed photos is quite merciless on film while is not that bad if you shoot digital.
try beginning with at least 1/60 or 1/50 on shutter priority mode (without zooming too much) and see what happens iso wise. the lower the better but still, with a 3.5 lens that's as good as it can get i guess.
good luck!

 

[Anesthetize]

I can't see ISO800 and f/3.5 being anywhere close to enough for a club gig. On a real stage it's manageable, but the again, lighting is a lot better on big stages.

 

[shortpballer]

In club photography you always use a very powerful flash. My roomate uses a canon speedlite 580 ex. It is a must for club photography. The point is for the people to be the center of focus not really anything else in the background. Its not the same as concert photography where like you said, you hardly use flash.

 

[Anesthetize]

Humm... I may be mistaken, but from what I gather, the OP is talking about club photography as in a concert in a small venue and not a club as in a "night club" with strobes and dance music.

 

[shortpballer]

Humm... I may be mistaken, but from what I gather, the OP is talking about club photography as in a concert in a small venue and not a club as in a "night club" with strobes and dance music.

O WOW... MY bad i figured club as in night club with girls dancing and dudes sitting around watching and wishing lol...

Completely miss understood sorry...