need some help with clubbing photography....sort of :)

[bellatrix]

Hey guys...my name is Bella...and I'm new here...
Long story short, i need some advice. I'm in Rotterdam, in college, some friends really liked my photos and want me to be a photographer for the parties that a certain frat house organizes...The thing is, i don't really have the greatest gear...or..none at all, except for my Nikon D90..and I really don't have a budget for a an external flash yet ....so...my question is ...how can i set up my camera for optimal party shots?... And ...for the future, what flash should i acquire, is the SB-700 okay ? I know i sounds stupid and needy, but if i get this job i'll get a minimum of 100/ party ...so ..yeah ....Please help !

 

[sdrphotography]

If you're not going to use flash you have to get a fast lens - f1.2 or f1.4 what ever your budget allows.

 

[Bingo]

As someone who does mostly concert photography - which involves lots of crowd/people shots - I'll tell you my experience.

First off, I'm guessing you'll be in a LOT of low-light situations. Unfortunately, for situations like that there is simply no really cheap way to solve the problem. Cheaper flashes just don't throw out enough light to overcome cheaper lenses in those low-light, spur-of-the-moment party pics.

Basically, you'll need either a flash or a really fast lens as mentioned above. However, even then if your camera body isn't good at very quickly focusing in you'll still have a hard time with the shots. I use a Canon Rebel XT - it's an older Canon unit. I have a very nice ($400) 50mm 1.4 lens. This is an extremely fast lens. However I find that the sensor in the body isn't good enough to lock in focus in the short time the flash strobes before taking the shot.

I would first suggest trying a quality external flash. See if you can borrow or rent one and try it out. Your camera body may be good enough to nail the shots. If so, problem solved.

If that doesn't work right out of the gate, then also try borrowing or renting a good "fast" lens. Something around 1.8mm at a minimum and 1.4 if you can get it.

All that being said, what I've ended up doing a lot of the time for crowd and people shots is just carrying around a decent point-and-shoot (I picked up a Nikon Coolpix L20 for 50 bucks on Craigslist). It actually works great for exactly that.

Hope that helps -

Bingo