How To Take Rave Photos...

[B.Zar]

This may not belong here at all, but I figured I'd post it and see what happened.

I absolutely fail at taking pictures at raves. They never turn out. If I don't have the flash on, they are too dark to see anything, and if I have the flash on, the cool lighting effects at the raves are totally negated. So that brings me to my question... How do I take good rave pictures???

Any tips would be great, like what kind of camera (within a reasonable price range) to use, camera settings, just whatever. I'm not a skilled photographer by any means, but I would like to be able to at least have decent pictures.

[KA0S [Beyond!!]]

any digital srl camera would be fine.
i use a nikon d300 (about $2000) not including everything you have to get with it. but im really into photography so im willing to spend that kind of money.

use flash for regular pictures. if your trying to take pictures of lightshows you should turn off the flash.
(in extremely simple terms)

[Soo Different]

how to take rave photos find crazy looking people or attractive ladies run up to them and say smile FUCKERS pose next to em and SNAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fish .`, www.kandEkreations.com]

Originally Posted by Baked Again

how to take rave photos find crazy looking people or attractive ladies run up to them and say smile FUCKERS pose next to em and SNAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

haha that's the way to do it :]

[Chewtoy, The Cuddle Patch Kid{CC☣}]

Originally Posted by d[-_-]b

haha that's the way to do it :]

it is it is

[Seph]

One tip if you are using a digital SLR (expensive, but I'm sure some people use them), get a red filter. This brings out colors and can help in low light conditions to bring out detail.

If you just have a regular digital camera, a few tricks I've found is that you DON'T really need the flash for night shots. One really cool thing to do is find a light source (lasers or black light or disco ball or what have you)and frame moving subjects against that. The image will be both colorful and have a cool motion blur effect. In big crowds this looks really cool. If you are trying to capture a light show, hold down the button and try to get a long exposure to capture movement.

[ignite]

if your not using a dslr, but you have just a regular compact digital, there's usually a setting for night-portraits. it'll have a picture of a little man and a star or something like that. the flash goes off, which gets the people, but then the shutter stays open for a few seconds longer after that, which gets the lights.

[Hardcore Junky]

My camera is point-and-shoot but has a night scene setting, works wonders for raves.

My issue is getting it to focus on artists on stage from afar; usually it'll have the people close to me in focus and the DJ's all blurry, any way to fix?

[ignite]

the night setting on a point and shoot probly wont be able to get both your friends next you you and the dj far away. the only things in focus will be as far as the flash can reach, everything else, the dj and whatever, will br trippy lights blurry..thats what happens with no flash
but all cameras are different...try using those little blinking focus squares on the screen if you have em? sometimes you can change the settings to have more points of focus

mhmmm

[Hardcore Junky]

The fact that most DJ's are hidden behind a maze of flashy strobes and green lights makes the task a bit more challenging as well, lol.

I'll play around with the settings and see how things go next rave I'm at.

[Part-Time Raver]

most flashes are set to go off at the same time the shutter opens. most cameras have a setting where you can choose to have the flash go off just before it closes. This will give you time to get the ambient lighting in the background/subject, but still flash your main subject to highlight them in the frame as well. All digitial cameras, from point/shoot to DSLRs have this. Shooting with minimal light will also require you to have a steady hand. So practice. Good photographers can shoot at 1/60th without any blur. Like someone said earlier, all cameras are different. Learn your camera. Play with the ISO settings. Dont mess with the pre-programmed stuff, no good. Sometimes, you can get good tracing effects from light shows with an iso of 200 vs iso 800. depends on camera. Play with your exposure compensation settings too, you can lighten or darken. But In my opinion, no matter how much you spend, it comes down to a steady hand. I have even snapped nice shots with my little Nokia Music Xpress and was amazed. You can prop yourself up against a column or wall if you need to. Oh last thing..if you or anyone has read this far. Adjust your lighting settings. MOst cameras are set to auto, try to go manual as much as you can. YOu can choose the lighting for the area, flourescent, incandescent etc. Sounds like a lot to do, but once you learn your camera, its all a snap really. I uploaded some pics on here just to show what crappy pics i got with my crappy Nikon coolpix point and shoot. I would take my big rig to events, but going to EDCs and MMs and having to fight with security has just turned me off to taking it with me to any event. Maybe locally would not be a bad idea.

Hope this helped.

Peace.

[Daisy L]

^^ thanks for the pointers, im into photography and a lot of that is good to know!