I took some shots at a club/bar of DJ's for the first time. I tried a lot of different techniques, and I can't figure out how to better my flash shots.
These were some of my worst shots, because I think I must be using the flash poorly in this environment. The goal was to throw more light on the subject so they were captured sharply with the 2nd curtain. What happened was that I lit up the ugly ceiling in a round bright shape. I used a flash off the camera with a cord, bounced off the ceiling, on 2nd curtain sync. What can I do to use a flash more effectively in this environment?
.6sec, ISO 400, f/5.6, 16mm(35mm eqiv.)
.6sec, ISO 400, f/5, 16mm(35mm eqiv.)
Answer
Shooting in a nightclub is one of the situations where I wouldn't bounce. Bouncing works great when you have a nice high white ceiling, white walls and you want a soft flattering light.
In a club setting you often have uneven low ceilings with strange colours. Instead I use a direct flash approach, usually with a ringlight adaptor such as the Orbis. This produces a really crisp look without the hard shadows you get with on camera lighting. Here are a few examples of this setup:
Also, instead of using a long exposure to burn in the ambient I would up the ISO and switch to a fast lens, or abandon ambient and use the flash. With a 0.6sec exposure you'll always get weird ghosting effects around lightsources, even with second curtain sync.
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