Advice on taking pictures in a NightClub

[Kent Frost]

It looks like the only thing I would change about the portraits is the fog. That's the biggest culprit when shooting in a club; smoke and fog. The best way around that is to bounce your flash in some way. The fog becomes more apparent when you use your flash straight on, because the fog acts like a diffuser, therefore bouncing the light right back into the lens. You don't have to bounce the flash off of a ceiling, and in fact I would suggest against it because it makes the place look lit up by ceiling lights. Instead, be sure to wear a white or grey shirt, and bounce off of that. Of course, you'll need a flash that has a swiveling head so you can point it in different directions, but it will make an entirely different dynamic to ALL your club shots, not just your portraits. The less the lights look like they're coming from above the camera, the more "club-like" they will appear.

Bounced off the wall to my left:

Also, post processing can eliminate fog, specifically by using the levels adjustment.

 

[Kent Frost]

Also, I agree with bigfatbadger about using the largest F-Stop you can, and set your ISO to at least 800.

Here's one of your shots after a bit of post processing using Levels (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels):

 

[bigfatbadger]

So, not much of a difference then!

 

[loopguru]

I'll post my technique and you guys can shoot it down or offer some alternatives

ISO: 400-1600

f# : between 5 - 8 depending on if I can focus or not. If I can't focus I'll just remove as much dof as I can

Shutter: I play with depending on the situation. Example: Portrait vs Action shot. For Portraits I use 10-30ISO and action shots I will do at 1 second - 0.5 - 0.8 seconds.

Flash: SB-600 with Omnibounce @ 45 degree from the horizontal plane.

 

[loopguru]

It looks like the only thing I would change about the portraits is the fog. That's the biggest culprit when shooting in a club; smoke and fog. The best way around that is to bounce your flash in some way. The fog becomes more apparent when you use your flash straight on, because the fog acts like a diffuser, therefore bouncing the light right back into the lens. You don't have to bounce the flash off of a ceiling, and in fact I would suggest against it because it makes the place look lit up by ceiling lights. Instead, be sure to wear a white or grey shirt, and bounce off of that. Of course, you'll need a flash that has a swiveling head so you can point it in different directions, but it will make an entirely different dynamic to ALL your club shots, not just your portraits. The less the lights look like they're coming from above the camera, the more "club-like" they will appear.

I didn't think I had whole lots of fog in the examples I posted. Damn

 

[Kent Frost]

These are the two images I was referring to specifically. Post processing can correct a lot of it though.

 

[Kent Frost]

Here's another example of what I mean:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

 

[loopguru]

I see your point.

What do you set your WB to: Auto or Incandecent?

 

[Kent Frost]

I think auto works best considering how many different colored lights you deal with in the typical club setting. Or you could set it for the only light that you have control over: The flash.