How to Shoot Great Nightlife Photography Using Slow Sync
Drag your shutter speed to slow the exposure rate down., Use your manual flash setting., Use a wide-angle lens to shoot wide-angle photography., Use native ISO feature that can be found on some cameras., Adjust your aperture., Take your photos in...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Drag your shutter speed to slow the exposure rate down.
Depending on the ambient light, between 1” and 2 ½ “ should get you some nice slow motion looking blur.
You’ll fully capture the ambience of the atmosphere and stage lights paint your frame with great colors. -
Step 2: Use your manual flash setting.
If you’re using Canon’s Speedlite 580EX II, zoom it to between 70 and 105mm.
Zooming the flash will concentrate the light towards the center of your frame.
It will allow ambient light to vignette your frame while still freezing the motion at the center.
Power setting will vary depending on zoom, so try a few different manual power settings and see what works best for you, each time. , Go wide.
Wide-angle lenses work the best for this type of shot.
It will allow you to capture more of the room and more of the mood.
Canon’s EF 17-40mm f4.0 L lens is a safe bet every time.
If you don’t have anything wider than the 24-70mm, use it at 24mm and you can compensate by zooming your flash a bit further (105mm, probably.) A 17-40 will let you grab some really awesome overhead shots that almost look aerial. , The Canon 5d has a native ISO of
200.
Whatever your body’s native ISO, leave your camera at this ISO.
It will significantly reduce grain.
It’s pretty likely that you are shooting in low light.
You are probably thinking that a lower ISO will make your pictures underexposed.
It won’t, for two reasons.
First, you are dragging the shutter already.
If it’s too dark and not capturing ambiance, mood, and movement, then drag it s’more.
You’re flash frozen subject should be appropriately lit by your on-camera flash.
If they’re too dark, add power, duh.
If for some reason you can’t make sense out of the low ISO, then bump it up.
Most of your event photographs will only ever be digitally reproduced, so ISO isn’t as crucial. , If it’s a party or music you’re shooting, the stage lights will often create a very different ambient light levels on your crowd and your artist.
Most of the time, you can adjust your aperture to compensate for the difference.
Usually, this translates into a higher aperture when shooting your artists.
Remember, you have total control over exposure here.
It's recommended to use a starting aperture of about
6.3-8.0, adjusting a couple of stops up for brighter areas. , The effect can be created with either rear-curtain or front-curtain sync.
Essentially, your exposure will be the same.
For beginners, the difference between the two is pretty simple:
Rear curtain sync fires the flash the moment before the curtain closes, at the end of the exposure.
Front curtain sync fires the flash the moment the curtain opens, at the beginning of the exposure.
Unless you’re shooting sports and panning all the time, you probably won’t notice much of a difference in the photos, either way.
Basically it breaks down like this, front-curtain sync shows where the subject is going, and rear curtain sync shows where the subject came from.
Sometimes, you get a clearer freeze with rear-curtain since no ambient light is recorded after the flash. , Not only will it keep the picture steady.
Don’t use a tripod; shoot handheld.
Everything you’ve been told says to use a tripod for slow shutter speeds to reduce movement.
Ignore it: we want the movement.
Shake things up a bit, literally, by moving your camera during exposures.
This works best with front curtain sync. , If there is too much blur and movement, speed up the shutter.
If you’re event is huge and depth of field is too short, increase aperture, slow down the shutter, increase flash power, and back flash zoom to 70mm.
If the ambience is right, but the subject is too dark or light, adjust flash power. , Work the photos.
Use a batch edit or Light room to figure out a nice baseline edit that you can streamline.
Most of the time, you can ignore dirt on your sensors picked up at higher apertures.
It will only add to the “grit” of these images.
Experiment to find a unique style of editing these images that sets you apart from everyone else that read this tutorial. , Consider a tighter frame.
Using a wide-angle lens often leaves a lot of dead space creeping around the edges of your frame.
Try cropping in different aspect ratios to see if they enhance the images.
Don’t be afraid to crop some and leave others.
An image will look best one way or the other; exploit that. -
Step 3: Use a wide-angle lens to shoot wide-angle photography.
-
Step 4: Use native ISO feature that can be found on some cameras.
-
Step 5: Adjust your aperture.
-
Step 6: Take your photos in the rear
-
Step 7: or from the front.
-
Step 8: Hand-hold the camera.
-
Step 9: Make all the adjustments you'll think you'll need to make
-
Step 10: before taking the picture.
-
Step 11: Post it.
-
Step 12: Crop the picture
-
Step 13: if you'd like.
Detailed Guide
Depending on the ambient light, between 1” and 2 ½ “ should get you some nice slow motion looking blur.
You’ll fully capture the ambience of the atmosphere and stage lights paint your frame with great colors.
If you’re using Canon’s Speedlite 580EX II, zoom it to between 70 and 105mm.
Zooming the flash will concentrate the light towards the center of your frame.
It will allow ambient light to vignette your frame while still freezing the motion at the center.
Power setting will vary depending on zoom, so try a few different manual power settings and see what works best for you, each time. , Go wide.
Wide-angle lenses work the best for this type of shot.
It will allow you to capture more of the room and more of the mood.
Canon’s EF 17-40mm f4.0 L lens is a safe bet every time.
If you don’t have anything wider than the 24-70mm, use it at 24mm and you can compensate by zooming your flash a bit further (105mm, probably.) A 17-40 will let you grab some really awesome overhead shots that almost look aerial. , The Canon 5d has a native ISO of
200.
Whatever your body’s native ISO, leave your camera at this ISO.
It will significantly reduce grain.
It’s pretty likely that you are shooting in low light.
You are probably thinking that a lower ISO will make your pictures underexposed.
It won’t, for two reasons.
First, you are dragging the shutter already.
If it’s too dark and not capturing ambiance, mood, and movement, then drag it s’more.
You’re flash frozen subject should be appropriately lit by your on-camera flash.
If they’re too dark, add power, duh.
If for some reason you can’t make sense out of the low ISO, then bump it up.
Most of your event photographs will only ever be digitally reproduced, so ISO isn’t as crucial. , If it’s a party or music you’re shooting, the stage lights will often create a very different ambient light levels on your crowd and your artist.
Most of the time, you can adjust your aperture to compensate for the difference.
Usually, this translates into a higher aperture when shooting your artists.
Remember, you have total control over exposure here.
It's recommended to use a starting aperture of about
6.3-8.0, adjusting a couple of stops up for brighter areas. , The effect can be created with either rear-curtain or front-curtain sync.
Essentially, your exposure will be the same.
For beginners, the difference between the two is pretty simple:
Rear curtain sync fires the flash the moment before the curtain closes, at the end of the exposure.
Front curtain sync fires the flash the moment the curtain opens, at the beginning of the exposure.
Unless you’re shooting sports and panning all the time, you probably won’t notice much of a difference in the photos, either way.
Basically it breaks down like this, front-curtain sync shows where the subject is going, and rear curtain sync shows where the subject came from.
Sometimes, you get a clearer freeze with rear-curtain since no ambient light is recorded after the flash. , Not only will it keep the picture steady.
Don’t use a tripod; shoot handheld.
Everything you’ve been told says to use a tripod for slow shutter speeds to reduce movement.
Ignore it: we want the movement.
Shake things up a bit, literally, by moving your camera during exposures.
This works best with front curtain sync. , If there is too much blur and movement, speed up the shutter.
If you’re event is huge and depth of field is too short, increase aperture, slow down the shutter, increase flash power, and back flash zoom to 70mm.
If the ambience is right, but the subject is too dark or light, adjust flash power. , Work the photos.
Use a batch edit or Light room to figure out a nice baseline edit that you can streamline.
Most of the time, you can ignore dirt on your sensors picked up at higher apertures.
It will only add to the “grit” of these images.
Experiment to find a unique style of editing these images that sets you apart from everyone else that read this tutorial. , Consider a tighter frame.
Using a wide-angle lens often leaves a lot of dead space creeping around the edges of your frame.
Try cropping in different aspect ratios to see if they enhance the images.
Don’t be afraid to crop some and leave others.
An image will look best one way or the other; exploit that.
About the Author
Logan Cox
With a background in education and learning, Logan Cox brings 10 years of hands-on experience to every article. Logan believes in making complex topics accessible to everyone.
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