Taking photos of bands in nightclubs

Does anyone here have experience taking photos of bands in nightclubs? If so, does the contrast between the bright stage lights, and the resulting dark shadows they can create, require any particular settings in regards to the shutter speed and aperture?

Ephrum said:

Does anyone here have experience taking photos of bands in nightclubs? If so, does the contrast between the bright stage lights, and the resulting dark shadows they can create, require any particular settings in regards to the shutter speed and aperture?

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You will have to be careful to get your readings from just the stage area otherwise they will be overexposed. Try spot metering and then look at it to see how it looks. Once you get a great exposure you might try setting it to manual with those settings and shooting the rest of the set at that exposure.

Tracsoft - Don Kuykendall said:

You will have to be careful to get your readings from just the stage area otherwise they will be overexposed. Try spot metering and then look at it to see how it looks. Once you get a great exposure you might try setting it to manual with those settings and shooting the rest of the set at that exposure.

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I wouldn't have thought of that, but I'll certainly try it. Thank you.

Ephrum said:

I wouldn't have thought of that, but I'll certainly try it. Thank you.

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That knowledge comes from screwing it up myself a number of times and finally figuring it out.

I have a ton of experience doing this. The most important thing to know is that EVERY SINGLE CLUB is different.

And be careful in places with low ceilings, because you'll end up with harsh shadows on faces from microphones. If the lights are high above, it's not really bad, but when they're low, they tend to create a more head-on shadow and you'll end up with black spots around mouths.