Flashes

[asr84]

Whats the most suited kind of flash to use for nightlife social events(clubbing, etc)??¡ I had never before considered that kind of photography until I had the proposal right before me.
I have a Nikon D50 and I plan on using a 55mm 1.8 and a 18-55mm 3.5.
thx in advance.

 

[Big Mike]

It depends on the look that you want your shots to have. Shooting in clubs will probably mean that it will be fairly dark, so do you want to capture just your subjects or would you rather get more of the background to show up?
That will depend more on your technique than the type of flash.

You will want to avoid the use of the on-camera flash...it will probably result in red-eye and a flat look. Even a hot-shoe mounted flash can make for flat lighting if shot directly at the subjects. However, if you can bounce the light, it will look better....but clubs may not be the easiest places to bounce the flash.

The best look will probably come from off camera flash...however, a club isn't the best place to be setting up off camera lights. Maybe you could use a hot shoe flash with a cord and just hold it in your other hand...but again, maybe not the best idea in a busy club.

 

[asr84]

I guess the first time I'll just have to experiment and then see what to improve. For my subjects, using a hot shoe flash with a cord seems to be the most apropiate way to get a photo there but it's kinda hard if it's just me, maybe if get someone else to go but that's another story.
Thx for advice Big Mike.

 

[Garbz]

I just recently returned from Austria where this was common practice in nightclubs. Generally the camera did not matter. I saw D40s, D50s, D100s, D2Xes just like I saw Canon 350Ds all the way up to 5Ds, heck a few people were shooting with little point and shoot cams.

The thing they all had in common was big flashes. Pretty much all Nikon flashes I saw were top of the line SB-800s, the canon's looked equally expensive.

A lot of people were also using very fast lenses. Even the D40 I saw had a 17-55mm f2.8 lens on it and many of the photographers from the looks of their pictures were using this fast aperature, bumping up the ISO to 400-800 and slow-syncing.

The other thing they had in common was I didn't see a single direct flash. The SB-800s were usually used with diffusers bounced off the ceiling, and those with flash cards used their flashcards and still bounced off the ceiling. Those without, made some. Some guy had a small tupperware container on his flash litterally held on by tape, and another used a few rubber bands and some white ID cards or business cards as a flash card, again indirectly bouncing from the ceiling.

Good luck.