Pub Photography & Dry Ice

[DiskoJoe]

WoW! FUNKMIKE2013, you have some great shots there! If the DJ world doesn't work out for you, you appear to have a backup career on the hook. Good for you! With that said, its obvious to me that the bar in which you take your photos has much brighter lighting that the bar in which I take mine while having far less dry ice. My scenario : Picture a small warehouse with the walls and ceiling painted black and all of the lights turned off except for one small stage area on one far end of that warehouse. The stage area is lit with flood lights and LED lighting and covered with dry ice fog... With the exception of the odd neon beer sign hanging on the wall, the rest of the place is pretty much pitch dark.

Ambient light is very difficult to work with in my situation because the ambient light is nearly all coming from the stage area and it is very, very dynamic. The colors are always changing and flashing on and off. Flash seems to be the only option for me at this point (I'm obviously not far along enough in my photography studies to understand how to use the dynamic ambient light in a way so that it works for me). Now, the flash bouncing off the dry ice fog is creating an issue. Its a stressful situation for me but I'm having fun and hopefully learning as I go along. The bar owners are happy because I am providing some quality work...Not A+ stuff but website worthy and that's what they're after. I just wish I could find a way to better control the flash bounce off that darned dry ice fog! I wish I could find a way to get richer colors without having to rely so much on post production.

If it matters, I probably should have mentioned that I'm working with a Canon 5D MKIII and a 600EX-RT and a 24-105mm L IS USM.

Cheers!
- Daniel

With some proper angling and flash power you can make it work. I took these at smart bar and the place is just a tiny black hole.


_DSC9472 by DiskoJoe, on Flickr

_DSC9383 by DiskoJoe, on Flickr

This is what the place really looks like if you were there......

Its DARK!!!!

_DSC9443 by DiskoJoe, on Flickr

 

[Olympus E300]

I shot Friday without a flash and Saturday with a flash... These are some of my favorites (after post production). Comments and critique is always welcome.

Cheers!
- Daniel

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