Posts Tagged club

Ed Hardy Swimwear Fashion Show

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On Tuesday night I photographed an Ed Hardy swimwear fashion show at Karma Lounge in Oshawa, Ontario. Using the Nikon D700, I shot almost everything at ISO 6400 and f/1.4 due to the very low lighting in the club.

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I also experimented with the Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 DX lens on the D700, which is a full-frame (FX) body:

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There’s never a shortage of interesting people to shoot at a club:

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And that brings us to the swimwear models. You might be wondering, “Ryan, why did you make all these photos blue?” Answer after these:

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One major issue with club photography is the very, very strange patterns, colours, and colour temperatures of lights that are used. This is one of the major reasons I shoot raw-format photos (instead of JPEG) — so that I have full control over white balance after the photos are taken. White balancing via the auto function of the camera, or trying to do it manually at the club is an exercise in frustration. Check out the example below of Ashley.

The photo on the left is what the camera decided the correct white balance should be in automatic mode (4450 degrees kelvin). The photo on the right is after correcting the white balance in Lightroom to the maximum allowed setting of 50,000 degrees kelvin (and also setting the tint to negative 150 to combat some of the pink hue). So now instead of looking purple, Ashley looks closer to a regular human again. The problem, if there is one, is that both versions look kinda cool. So rather than trying to pick one, I compromised and just tossed out all the colour and made the selenium toned versions you see above.

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Frozen & Broken

Saturday night was one of those times that I really wish I owned a Nikon D700 due to its mind-blowing performance in low-light. I photographed a small performance of electronic music at Toronto’s Rivoli where the lighting was abysmal. I had to push my poor Nikon D200 to the Hi-1.0 setting (equivalent to ISO 3200) and shoot at f/1.8 just to squeak by. Even then, my exposure times were long but I made the best of it.

The back room of the Rivoli is small and loud; the performances bass-heavy like you can’t fathom; and the crowd reaction suitably restrained.

I sat next to an extraordinarily loud speaker to get most of the shots, so I hope the temporary hearing damage was worth it.

Check out the flickr slideshow below!

Performers: Lowfish, Naw, Sales Department

DJs: … and Solvent

Your soundtrack to this slideshow should be samples from Lowfish on iTunes.

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D700 Test at Luxy Club

1/10 sec, f2.8, ISO 3200, 17mm

This past weekend I was able to put the Nikon D700 through its paces in a challenging environment: Luxy Club in Woodbridge. The event was City Gala, which featured a fashion show and live musical performances in a very, very dark club, peppered with the usual assortment of coloured spotlights, seizure-inducing strobes, and other flashing nonsense typical of clubs everywhere.

1/4 sec, f4, ISO 1600, 17mm w/flash

1/4 sec, f4, ISO 1600, 17mm w/flash

Six hundred exposures later, I can tell you the camera performed extremely well. It focused quickly and without trouble in the dim light and I was able to fire off multiple bursts with ease, which is how I captured the above shot of Ashley and her friend dancing.

1/400 sec, f1.8, ISO 3200, 85mm

1/400 sec, f1.8, ISO 3200, 85mm

Most of my shots were done at ISO 1600 and 3200, although I also tried a few at ISO 6400 and was amazed at the results. The photos looked better than my Nikon D200 produces at ISO 1600. The D700 paired with the 85mm f/1.4 basically creates light where there is none. Scenes that were exceptionally dark to my eyes came alive on the LCD screen, bringing out detail that I couldn’t even see in the dark club. Amazing!

Model above is my fabulous sister Kirsten Visima, doing what she does best.

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