How I shot a 21st in a nightclub... low light event photography!

[@MarzMunRogue]

This was amazing subscribed !

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Thank you so much, I really appreciate that!

[@GetBusyLiving]

OMG where do I start. Awesome video mate that really showcases your talent and keen eye for a great shot. Love the description of how you 'work' the venue. Still can't help getting freaked out at having the responsibility to deliver, I'd be much more comfortable just doing it for fun, but that's just me I'll put my big girl's panties on one day ha ha. Some awesome awesome shots there. I obviously wasn't at the event but I can 'feel' it through your images. Love the mix of B&W and colour too. Would love to see another, more technical video of some of the shots at the same event and the camera/lens/settings. Great stuff Corey - always look forward to your videos mate. Mike

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Hey thanks a lot for the comment Mike. I’m trying to add a bit more real life value to these vids and this is one way to do it I guess, thanks for the suggestion too, I really brushed over the technical stuff in this one but I will expand on that, gives me something else to film haha cheers!

[@GetBusyLiving]

@@TheOtherPhotoGuy Hey no worries mate you're welcome - ha ha yep any ideas for a new video welcome right!? 👍

[@CynthiaHuynh]

This was super helpful. Thank you for sharing!

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Oh hey thanks so much for that, if I made it again I might be a bit more chill, but it was good fun and I’m glad you found it helpful! Ha e a great week!

[@James-ee1pk]

UNREAL skills!

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Hey James, thanks a lot for that.... sorry for the late reply I just picked this up! Hope all is well for you right now and thanks again!

[@newyorkjoseph101]

Great video mate. Cool style.

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Hey cheers Joseph, appreciate that! Looking back at videos even just a couple months old make me cringe haha. Have a good one and catch you again!

[@Rosenbane]

Great video! I loved that you were able to take us through the "behind the scenes" view via the gopro to get a better understanding of how you execute on the night. I've got a 21st to shoot myself, and just wondering what your advice would be for shooting outdoors, at night time? I do have a speedlight, but there won't be many walls or ceilings to bounce off. Cheers, Tony.

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Hey! Thanks a lot for the comment and for watching.... hmm for outdoors, you could use a bounce card on a speedlite to cast some light forward while throwing most of it straight up - you can rubber band an index card to the top of the flash, that would leave it a bit softer on nearby subjects, and also trees overhead, vehicles or even other people nearby can be used to throw some indirect light around... or use something else to diffuse the speedlite like an improvised softbox. Would be interesting to hear how you get on, let me know!

[@Rosenbane]

@@TheOtherPhotoGuy thanks for the advice, will give it a go and let you know the results!

[@nkau7788]

great work, great video

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Hey cheers for that! Appreciated!

[@JIMN26]

What type of lens focal length and aperature are you using? What lens would you recommend for a birthday party in a low light restaurant? Wide angle, zoom, or prime? Are you shooting shutter speed priority mode or manual? Do you use your Flash TTL for all your shots? Thanks!

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Hey there, for these jobs I use a 35mm f/1.8 prime on a full frame and an 85mm f/1.8 on a crop sensor. No need for faster aperture as depth of field is very narrow at wide aperture. I would recommend prime lens as they are generally faster on the aperture. In lowlight I set my exposure based on the highest ISO I will go to, and the widest aperture and aim to stay faster than 1/60 or 1/100 on the shutter to keep images as sharp as poss. Please check out my most recent video “EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY // Tay Tay Party” (linked at end of this reply) for more info on why I set my exposure from the ISO which may seem weird but works for me for lowlight as it never really gets brighter…. For the flash I always use TTL and then flash exp compensation within about -1.7 to +1.7 to keep exposure in the range if shutter is too slow. I also use an LED panel on my main camera for additional subject lighting but a speedlite will be sufficient. I like to ensure I get a nice mix of wide shots, medium shots and also tight shots like portraits. I hope this helps and thanks for commenting. Have a great day! kzbin.info/www/bejne/hmPCZWdvhZyBa5I

[@JIMN26]

@@TheOtherPhotoGuy Thanks for the detailed reply. I am considering bringing my 80-200mm zoom lens. That way I don't have to be on top of people at the b-day party, like you would with a prime lens, and can snap some natural candid moments without people knowing it.

[@clintwood1983]

Nice video. What is the flash setup you use? Ie TTL, pointing at the ceiling? Thanks.

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Thank you for the comment and the feedback and sorry I missed including that info in the video.. the flash I used was the TT350C mini speedlite. Quite low power but sufficient for smaller venues like this one... I would like to buy a Godox V1 sometime soon to improve the flash performance. Cheers and have a great day!

[@davidallaband7094]

Good character and good content! Do interviews at an event with you on camera. Good for the client, and I want to see you host spot interviews :)

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Hey David, thanks for the feedback and the encouragement, and hey that's a good idea, I'll try and get up the gumption to do that! Thanks again and have an awesome day!

[@fionarofl]

I shot photos at a bar with low lights. ISO around 400 and 1/32 power. The subjects were lit but the photo had a lot of noise and the subjects weren’t crisp. What could have went wrong?

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Hey there, thanks for the info and that is interesting, approximately how fast was your shutter?

[@vatsk]

could I ask, what is your settings process. Do you use TTL, Manual or auto... Also how do you calibrate the iso, apeture shutterspeed and flash power.

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Hey Vatsk. Yeah no worries I use TTL for speedlite and then +/- until I can try and avoid hotspots. I dial in my LED panel to the ambient light. For exposure I set my predicted ISO, open aperture right up and then set shutter before final adjustment ISO, then I use both shutter and ISO for exposure only stopping down aperture for multiple subject in different focus planes. Hope that helps a bit more and let me know if you need any other info.

[@vatsk]

@@TheOtherPhotoGuy thanks a bunch will use the tips :)

[@thomashemingson2639]

Great tips on how to work the crowd. I noticed a lot of the shots the people grouped together and posed. I am assuming you asked them for a photo. Also, confidence building. If you are supposed to be there taking pictures, be bold!

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Hey Thomas, thanks for the comment and encouragement! I find mostly people see me coming or nearby and throw themselves into a pose, I barely do anything other than maybe encourage them to get in a bit tighter and otherwise while they’re doing that over a second or two I just make sure of the framing and keep an eye on the plane of focus, like if there’s a couple of rows of people stop down the aperture a bit to keep everyone in focus. Hope that helps and sing out if you have any other questions! Cheers mate

[@sidknee4975]

Posing and candid shots is the way to go as almost everyone likes both. Even the people that say they only like candida will point to a set up shot and say that’s my favourite without knowing you had set it up.

[@ralphfrank1984]

Do people get tired of the flash going off all the time? Is there a way to cover the flash with something?

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Nope, never heard anyone ever say anything about it, probably hard to notice I think

[@geraldbellacaza]

Thanks for the mojo !

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Hey hey not a worry, thank you!

[@theivantang]

What settings do you use on the flash?

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Hey Ivan. I usually have it on TTL with flash exposure compensation about +1 stop, because it doesn’t go directly on subject I power it up a bit more, but this being said I do change it between -1 and + 3 frequently. Have a great day and hope that helps

[@pallasade1807]

I'd love to know what settings you used and how you got your camera to focus in the dark

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Hey there, thanks for the comment... for settings I shoot RAW in AV mode or M. I set ISO to somewhere like 1600 or 3200, aperture wide open, then set shutter speed no slower than say 1/125 or 1/100 sometimes okay to go to 1/60 if you really need light, then I use speedlight TTL - 1 stop to reduce glare. For focus I use single point focus at centre of frame as that is where the lens gets the most light and then focus - recompose for framing. Hope that helps and please ask any more info you might like. Have a great day!

[@asimgeekhan]

@@TheOtherPhotoGuy thank you for this! And also the video as well! Really enjoyed the tips. Far more informative, entertaining and inspiring to watch and learn from than many other videos out there. I picked up photography last year thanks to the pandemic, working so much and needing new hobbies. Started out with astrophotography and landscape/cityscape photos but am slowly moving towards lowlights club and concert photos now that things are slowly opening back up. I'm planning on putting these tips to use as soon as I can. I'm curious to know (mostly because I've not looked yet) but whatre some tips on on flashes and flash photography types and settings? So far I've just been using the built in flash on my Sony a6400 but aim it upward to the ceiling and bounce the light. Any tips on external flashes and different ones to use?

[@turnmeupchrizzy]

In what direction did you have your speedlight for this shoot?

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Hey there, I used speedlite for bounce flash and an LED panel to add ambient light onto the subjects.

[@turnmeupchrizzy]

@@TheOtherPhotoGuy Did you have it directly on the subject?

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

@@turnmeupchrizzy Hey, the speedlite no, the LED yes!

[@douglasheller1260]

That was such an awesome video! EXACTLY what I was looking for. I'm a very amateur photographer (with fairly decent equipment). A member of our photography club's FB page posted that she couldn't do a shoot at a niteclub event and was looking for volunteers. I explained that I've never done it before but would be willing to give it a try. I went to the niteclub the next evening and took some photos of patrons. The family I talked into it was great. They posed and had a great time! I sent them the pics the next day. I also sent the pics to the event organizer and she like them as well. I decided to youtube "low light event photography" and this is the first one that popped up! Wow, some great ideas. This is a no-pay gig for me, but I'm excited about doing it. Who knows, maybe I'll make a few bucks in the future! Thanks for the tips! (I especially like the "I'm the photographer. I go where I want to go." tip!)

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Hey Douglas, thanks so much for watching and secondly for leaving such a great comment and feedback, I really appreciate that because it makes the whole idea of posting this video worth it, I’m really stoked you got some good tips out of it and Im positive if you already got shots that people are happy with that you can do it for payment, especially if you can encourage people to pose and have fun doing it already - of course that means there is an expectation for you to deliver but by then you will know you can do it so you’ll have the confidence AND the ability to get great photos, I wish you all the fun and success along the way! Have a great day & thanks again!

[@castlesky8673]

I really want to know what focus area mode would you recommend.

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Hey mate! I use single focus point mode at the centre of the frame, because being in the centre of the lens there is the most light and it helps to overcome the dim, and single point because when there is a lot of activity and dim light the camera can get mixed up where to focus. Hope this helps and have a great day!

[@castlesky8673]

@@TheOtherPhotoGuy Thanks for the reply, really appreciate you for sharing your time and it's of great help. 👍👍

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

@@castlesky8673 you’re very welcome, I appreciate your comment and hope to hear from you again. Have a good one!

[@arturoavalos5939]

Good tips, but I find it over expose and too many red eyes.

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Hey mate, cheers for the comment - with both the overexposure and red eyes, is this with bounce flash or direct flash? If you might be sending the flash directly onto the subject perhaps try bouncing off the ceiling or off a nearby wall so it does not hit the eye straight on and cause red eye. Let me know your thoughts or how you get on? Thanks again

[@sanjudaniel6257]

Is there constant settings i can use?? Not a helpful video? You just saying story not the technical part??

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

Oh hey there, thanks for that feedback much appreciated. Yep for sure if the light isn’t going to change but it is dark you can use any of your settings as a constant. I generally use my ISO as constant to make sure it doesn’t go too high… check out this more recent video where I cover settings more closely kzbin.info/www/bejne/ip3OnnSDZtlglZY or this one also kzbin.info/www/bejne/hmPCZWdvhZyBa5I have a good one and thanks again!

[@shabreahclark5837]

Your not even showing the equipment you used

[@apocryphal_man]

Nothing more annoying than a guy with a flash

[@TheOtherPhotoGuy]

All depends on the point of view of the person being annoyed I guess.