Hi there -- i've been covering club events and nightclubs for awhile now and have been had decent success at it. I shoot with a 580ex pointed up with a bounce card and drag the shutter for a .4 sec to get a nice 'aura' going on with the club.

i've been pretty happy about the results but i want to step it up and try to get some more unique effects such as side lighting.

I've tried using a 580ex with a tether to my hotshoe but in a night time situation, it is impossible to aim the 580ex's IR and aim the camera in the 'heat of the moment' - the result is my camera cannot focus in the dark.

with that said, what is a good alternative for off to the side lighting or some unique ways to take more advanced nightclub photos? i will need to retain some sort of IR to help focusing though

one thing to note is clubs have high cielings and are almost always painted black or some color other than white so bounce is not an option!

-I was thikning a flashbracket? but do the results look good or unique or any different?
-pocket wizard? but i lose my IR capabilities

post up your nightclub examples!


(mine are at www.88beluga.com in case you want to see)

..

I'm not a Canon shooter but Nikon has a cord (SC29) that has the IR where it attaches to the hotshoe so if you hold the flash off to the side it will still focus on the lens axis.

Dave

hmm

cool, does anyone know if canon has one?? i dont believe so..

The Nikon commander unit would seem to be the answer, with a unit(s) placed as you see fit.

Sorry, don't know what to do for Canon.....

oc-e3 cable and a bracket would help with flash placement for vertical/horizontal images and be slightly easier to hold than the camera/flash all night long.