concert photography tips

[leigh]

Hi all,
I'm new here and reasonably new to photography. You all seem a pretty friendly bunch so hopefully I'll be able to stick around and learn stuff
Hope I have the right forum for my question.

I have a D70 and will mainly use it for concert photography. I am wondering if anyone can offer up some suggestions of settings I should use or just general tips..

The conditions I will normally be shooting in will be pretty low light , and using flash will be a no no. I have a lot of friends in various bands so usually I will have pretty good access and be close to the stage etc.....
The lenses I have are the one that came with the D70 kit, as well as a Tamron 70-300mm 4-5.6 LD.

I have taken a few photos already with varying degrees of success but would just like to hear peoples opinions on some good starting points with settings etc....

One particular thing I have so far left on Auto is White Balance. Should I change that ?

any input appreciated

leigh

[birddog114]

leigh,
Welcome! The best part of doing low light photography (no flash allowed) is arming with fast lenses as f1.4/ f2.8, though you have the 18-70 kit lens and the Tamron 70-300G, they're not a good ideal for handholding in lowlight, pls. do more research on this forum, we had few threads from members, which were talking about the technique and lens to use with.

[gstark]

Leigh,

Welcome to the forums. Please add your location into your profile; it helps us to help you.

The D70 is a great camera for shooting this sort of stuff; pay attention to the stage lighting, and be prepared to use your on-camera flash a little to help add some fill and reduce the contrast range a little.

The kit lens is quite good, although I generally use the 24-120VR because of its greater reach and sharpness. You'll find the 70-300 usefull for off-stage work where you still want to get up close and personal, and you might want to invest a couple of hundred in a 50mm 1.8 - I use the 1.4, but the extra light the faster lens permits might not be worthwhile for your your budget.

I use spot metering and the histogram to check exposure; be wary of stage lighting that's predominately red, it can and will bow your highlights very quickly. Otherwise, just go and shoot, enjoy your friends' bands, and have fun.

[leigh]

thanx for the replies

All was going well at this shoot until 5 minutes before the band went on stage my camera totally died ! I had been using it no problems for several hours and then it just went dead

Luckily my friend was helping me and she also had a D70 so we were still able to get some shots of the gig. Bit of a pain though as I am going to Brisbane tomorrow for a holiday and had organised to shoot a gig up there as well. Bugger.

Thanks for the 50mm 1.8 recommendation.
I borrowed my friends for a few shots and was amazed at the difference it made ! . Definitely on my things to buy list... once I get the camera fixed

[elffinarts]

another lens I found very useful for stage shooting is the 80-200 f2.8 as it's the ideal range for catching both full shots of the singer and band when close to each other on stage - and still useful for catching just the singers face.

I generally swap between the 50mm f1.8 and the 80-200mm f2.8 a couple times a gig. Not good to have the camera apart in these places with smoke machines and smokers running about but until I get a second camera body - that's how I have to shoot.

[gecko]

I'm no expert but here's my 2 bobs worth.

* Shoot RAW
* Listen to Birddog and get a fast lens - 50mm is great if you can get close enough (see note), 80-200f2.8 would also be nice.
* Spot meter
* Have fun!!!!

Note - most muscians love to have images of themselves doing their thing - maybe its a vanity thing? Anyway, be confident - conduct yourself like a pro and get in close to get the shots! If they are concentrating on their music, they probably won't even notice you.

Good luck
Gecko

[Nnnnsic]

I usually just bounce an SB-800 all over the place and use a kit lens to get my concert shots.

It really depends how close you are to the concerts and the sort of effect you're going for.

Nice name, by the way.

[elffinarts]

quite often issues such as not being able to use flash at all - or only being able to shoot between song 1-3 or 2-4 ariswe, depending on band manager and/or venue. So you may find yourself being forced to shoot a gig of shots in the space of 20min all at 1600iso f1.8. Worked one of those gigs where no flash was allowed and it was rediculously hard since the front of stage lights were only red and VERY dim.

best of luck.

[leigh]

Nice name, by the way.

thanks .. nice name you got too




Thanx again for the advice all. I will be getting a 50mm 1.8 pretty soon and then next on my list will be a 70-200mm 2.8 ..eventually ..

Some of the shows I shoot i possibly could use a flash but I really want to try to avoid it and get practice at non flash shooting. Most artists really don't like the flash and I also think you lose some of the atmosphere using flash...

A quick question about spot metering...
What I have started doing is Spot metering on the persons face or other area of skin and then using exposure lock while I recompose the shot.
Is this a recommended way of doing it ? Seems to work ok most times but not sure if there is a better way.

Here are some photos I took at the show mentioned above.
Still some work to do but getting there I guess...


http://www.screamhello.net/photography/tbgenmore/

cheers
leigh

[Grev]

Tell me about the red lights!!

I was at a mini fashion show and that red spotlight was so damn annoying!! Even the guy next to me with a Canon 20D and 440ex and fast Tamron glass was complaining!

And he's got a battery grip for his 20D!! Made his camera look really tough!!!

But yes, if you can gain good access to concerts, then get the 50mm 1.4, it's worth the extra cost compared to the 1.8.

[xorl]

Check out this older thread for some more concert tips..

[Yamahauler]

Greetings compadre.
My experience with concerts is that there is plenty of light on the stage to facilitate decent shutter speeds. Hopefully you have at least one quality lense that's about a 2.8 or so. I've got a 17-35 2.8 tamron and get pretty good low light pics. If you're not going to enlarge them too much, you can set the ISO higher, to say 800. Then you can use something like Noise Ninja to smooth it out, should you decide to blow up that pic. My worst case senario was being in a balcony seat with a 70/210 F4 and still had the shutter speed fast enough to get semi clear pics.

On the exposure lock, had a photo teacher jokingly say that when a pro photographer sees you spot metering, using the exposure lock, recomposing the pic and shooting, they'll be asking you out to coffee as a fellow pro. The teacher says he uses it all the time. And he makes his living from his camera. http://www.outthereimages.com

[elffinarts]

it's frustrating when the lights on your subject change three times in the short time it takes to lock your exposure recompose and shoot. LOL