How can I shoot and edit a nightclub portrait with sharp people, colorful light, and smooth skin?
Asked 2/9/2016
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I'm trying to understand the likely camera settings and lighting behind a nightclub portrait where the main subject is sharp, the dancers in the background don't show obvious motion blur, and the image has strong vibrant color with smooth but still detailed skin. What aperture, shutter speed, and ISO would typically be used for this look, and what kind of lighting is likely involved? Also, what basic post-processing would help achieve this kind of nightclub image?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
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It is obvious there is a strong light source illuminating the subject, possibly a flash shining through a medium sized modifier above and to the right of the camera.
A moderately wide aperture was used, probably somewhere around f/4 or so. If f/2.8 or wider had been used, the background would have been much blurrier. And I would guess the shutter speed was also significantly shorter than 1/15 or there would be a lot of motion blur apparent on the dance floor. Without knowing the level of the ambient lighting in the room and the type and amount of noise reduction applied it is difficult to hazard a guess as to ISO used, but in such environments ISOs ranging from 3200 to 6400 are not uncommon to get reasonably fast shutter times, say 1/60 to 1/100 seconds at f/4 or so.
It appears the white balance has been adjusted based on the blown highlights in the white shirts in the background. Fully saturated areas will look white regardless of the WB used, so they are not the best spots to select for using the WB clicker or similar tools. Doing so can get some strange effects at times. If you use the midtones on the shirts, you get a white balance something such as this:

Notice the change in WB also increases the apparent contrast. This is because the colors of ambient light most predominate in the scene are being reduced in intensity while the colors opposite them on the color wheel are being increased. This makes the background look darker.
If you adjust white balance based on the foreground subject (specifically, assume the brightest spot of his most illuminated tooth is white), you get a white balance more like this:

Notice the skin tones in the areas that show the most light from the light source above and to the right of the camera look most natural. Skin illuminated more by the club's pink/blue led lights show the typical purplish pink cast of that type of lighting.
Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user15871
10y ago
0
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The key is probably strong added light on the main subject, most likely flash or a bright lamp, possibly from above and to the right of the camera. That extra light lets the photographer use a faster shutter speed than 1/15s, which helps keep both the subject and background people from showing obvious motion blur.
Based on the amount of background blur, the aperture was likely moderately wide rather than extremely wide—around f/4 is a reasonable guess. A much wider aperture such as f/2.8 or wider would likely blur the background more. In a dark club, a typical range might be about 1/60 to 1/100s at around f/4, with ISO often somewhere in the 3200-6400 range depending on ambient light.
For the color and skin look, white balance correction is important because club lighting often has a strong pink or magenta cast. In post, the look likely comes from careful white balance, contrast, color tuning, and some noise reduction or skin smoothing while preserving detail. Good lighting is doing a lot of the work here; the edit is likely enhancing that rather than creating it from nothing.
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