NightLife

Photograph 1-Taken on a 

Nikon D7000 with an 18-200 lens

   Photograph 2-Taken on a 

Nikon D7000 with an 18-200 lens

Photograph 3-Taken on a 

Nikon D7000 with an 18-200 lens

There are many different types of photography. In this blog I am going to mainly focus on the one I have been putting a lot of my time towards lately, club photography. What is club photography? Club photography for me is capturing the dedication, hardwork, and enjoyment that goes into the DJ's work. When people think of club photography they right away think of individuals who go to their local bars to get intoxicated and have their photo taken. Yes, this is one aspect of club photography but I prefer to capture the behind the scenes that not many people get to see or hear about. Recently, I have been given the opportunity to meet some really great DJ's and have gotten to learn about all the hard work they put into their music.

The most recent event I have been given the oppurtunity to photograph was the Niagaras Favorite DJ. This event consisted of 10 DJ's who were given 20 minute intervals to play their sets where at the end of the night 2 judges eliminated 7 of them. A couple weeks later the final 3 Djs were to play an hour set each where the Favorite DJ would then be determined.

Now I want to tell you how I produced the final images in the 3 examples I have provided for you.

Photograph 1- In this photo, my main focus was to capture the DJ, Jordan and his equipment. I angled my self so I was lower then where he was standing on the stage to make the perspective more interesting. When taking this photograph it was originally in colour. The reason I switched the image to black and white was to help create the “nightlife” image and to give it a more artistic look to it. After the colour had been adjusted, I added a vingette to the borders to help circle in on the main focus of the image, the DJ himself.

Photograph 2- In this image of this DJ, Jenn, my main focus was to capture the fun that these DJ's experience every night when they are on stage. I took this image at a slightly higher angle then Jenn ensuring I captured her hands in the air as well as her equipment. When I brought this image into Photoshop, I as well turned it to black and white because I felt it had more of an emotional and journalistic impact on the overall image compared to in colour.

Photograph 3- When I am at a club, I love to take creative shots as well. I took this particular image because when the DJs are creating music, the lights on these boards are really neat in the dark. This image was also originally in colour but was edited by a desaturated blue tone from the original image.

I have developed a huge liking towards club photography. Although sometimes challenging, you really get to learn how well you actually know your camera. Club photography looks very simple but there is actually a lot more to it. The main things you have to pay the closest attention to are ISO, Shutter and Aperture. If any of these settings are off, it can affect the entire image. The higher the ISO, the more grain. The slower the Shutter, the more blur. The shallower the depth of field, the less sharp. I have played around with my settings on multiple occasions at the club specifically to achieve a very grainy look or a very blurred motion. In order to achieve the look successfully, you have to know your camera extremly well and you have to be able to compose your own photograph.