We’d love to present ourselves as the cool kids that spend so much time in da club that we’re authorities on the subject, but we can’t. We’re nerds and, frankly, crowded nightclubs send our anxiety levels to heights only a photography drone could capture. Being a nerd does have its advantages, though. While we may not spend our nights taking hundreds of pictures in nightclubs, we DO spend them reading about light levels, camera speed, and composition.
So for you night owls out there (which I think we can all agree are just owls), here are some tips that will help you take amazing nightclub photography the next time you’re out on the town.
Be Prepared For Low Light Conditions Or Worse - Strobes
Low light means high ISO. You’ll want a camera body that’s prepared for it. In general, you’ll want to be around 1600 – 3200. If your nightclub has a bit better light, you can get away with less but an ISO of around 1600 is a good starting point.
You’ll also want to have a wide angle lens so you can take everything in. The whole club vibe is what makes these photographs so enticing and it takes a wide angle lens to get that shot. An f2.8 will help, too.
Your Nightclub photography setup also needs an external flash unit. All of that smoke and fog makes backscatter a pain to deal with. An external flash unit with a diffuser will set you up to take amazing photos. Just be sure you don’t point the flash directly at your subject unless you love dark backgrounds and harsh shadows.
As far as strobes go – they exist solely to screw up your shot. You can’t plan for it with settings. The only thing you can do is take your shot when the light isn’t blinding. Unless you’re a superhero with the ability to slow down time, the only way you’re going to do that is with a camera that can take photos in bursts. Just delete the shots that are washed out and keep the good ones.
Be Ready For Action
Part of the allure of nightclub photography is the dynamic nature of it. It’s a chaotic scene full of color and motion. You need a lens fast enough to capture it. We’ve already mentioned using a wide-angle lens. Your lens should have a maximum f-stop of 2.8. If you have one that can go down to an f-stop of 1.8, that’s even better.
Your memory card matters too. You’re going to be taking burst photos to try to get your shot while the lighting condition is sheer madness. That means you need a card that can write high-quality RAW files quickly. Get a card that can write at least 95 mb/second. A card that can write 150 mb/second or more would be even better.
Capture The Chaos With Composition
Pay close attention to the lights and where they’re coming from. What angle would show them off the best? Play around with your exposure to see if you can get some images that capture the motion and make sure to use RAW files so you can play with your images in post-production.
The lights and colors for the nightclub might be your primary reason for taking nightclub photography, but the juxtaposition of using black and white photography to depict a colorful scene can add drama to your photographs. Change your perspective to see if there are any opportunities to leverage black and white composition to get a better photo
Final Thoughts
The last feature you should look for in the camera you choose for nightclub photography is portability. Get the most compact body you can and still get the shots you want. A large professional camera is a great way to meet the club bouncers right before they show you the door. Mirrorless digital cameras will pack all the power you need to take amazing nightclub photography without attracting too much attention.