TP: Shooting indoor concerts at small venues

This thread has been turned into a "Talking Point" as the subject is often raised. - brettania

OK, so I am trying to improve as a photographer, and trying to better understand my camera (A100), but I'm going to be taking some photo's in a pretty challenging environment soon, and would like some advice, since I won't have all that much time to experiment once I get there.

I'm not sure where best to do that here.

It's not exactly an equipment question, and I'd like help on this before I post photos in contests/themed/open/critics/galleries. :)

I looked in knowledge base and a quick search and a scan of the index didn't appear to cover it. I also do not have permission to post there (which makes sense, but it means one more forum which isn't appropriate to my problem.)

Basically, I am looking for tips on shooting in low light, indoor, small space (ie not stadium or festival) indie rock concerts with spot lighting on a moving band. Of my lenses my 50 f1.7 is probably most appropriate. I found a themed thread on 'let's rock', and some of the shots were inside and low light, and i got some idea of the range of settings, but I could use some more advice, and I have no images to post there.

I'm not expecting answers in this forum, but can you tell me if there isn't really a space to ask for that here, or if I should, for instance, somewhat hijack the 'let's rock' thread by asking the people doing photos like the ones I want to do what their strategies were for settings? Telling me to shut up and read a book would be OK too(!), I guess :), although I'm working my way through O'Reilly's aftermarket manual, and Freeman's 'Photographer's Eye'.

[My strategy for now is to slap on the 50mm 1.7, keep it wide open, use manual mode, set ISO to about 800, and play with shutter speed until I can eliminate as much blur as a I want while still capturing some motion when/where/if I want. Trying without flash first, maybe flash/fill flash if I'm failing mid-effort.]

Or, after all of this, maybe I'm not a good searcher, although I promise I tried.

Thanks in advance,

Dave


Edited by brettania - 17 September 2007 at 01:50

I think that the best place for this is the Open Talk forum which is not specifically about gear and is there to discuss a wider range of topics than just the Dyxum site itself. I jave moved the thread according and hope that you get some more answers Dave.

AFAIR Kiklop and Sanjuro are others who might be able to help as they have both covered concerts in relatively small environments.

-

You are now free to begin your concert shooting career. lol :) Just remember in all this adjustments stuff, don't forget to have loads of fun!

georgiaboy

PS: When shooting concerts fire off lots of shots, you will find some fine keepers I'm sure.

Edited by georgiaboy - 12 September 2007 at 07:18

I acted as 'kit man' to my son when he was shooting a jazz flautist recently.

The thing I picked up on he night.

Get there early, possiby during the sound/lighting check, you can get some interesting shots and familiarise yourself with the lighting.

Ask if you can get stage side - you will get shots from interesting angles.

Take two shots (at least) of everything, it's amazing how the changing light can turn an average shot into something 'interesting'.

Don't be afriad of extreme close ups, two of the best shots we have of the evening is of the keyboard player's hands reflected in his equipment and of the light reflecting off of the flautist's face.

Buy some earplugs!

Hope this helps and, have fun.

Edited by nigelbrooks - 12 September 2007 at 08:27

David Pk

I enjoy shooting indie bands as well and have used my 50 once, but the extra aperture is not really worth it.

i've found my best work is with my tamron 17-50 2.8 - with no flash,
and also in a big venue, i've used my sigma 90 with flash -
i'll admit though, i prefer to bump up the iso and then convert to b&w - shot a whole show with the a100 on 1600 - the conversion and noise look very authentic, but someone else would call it trash - depends on what you are after and i think the band/music makes a big difference too.

I have to say though, in certain conditions, you will simply fail to get a perfectly sharp and well exposed shot, so why try? I think most of the comments above also echo the theme of having fun, knowing your environment and find the shots that work, you'll be more relaxed with experience but don't try so hard!

if you want/can use flash, becareful not to blow things out, especially if you are close to the artist/stage, bounce the flash and underexpose so that the flash fills ambient room and doesn't make your subject look like a ghost in a black room.

iso 1600 / 17mm @2.8 / 1/8sec - no flash b&w conversion in lightroom (100% luminance noise reduction)


contact me and i'll be happy to send you some more samples and answer more questions

The thing about stage lighting is that it can change very quickly... the trick is to find an exposure solution that works well (i.e., most of the time) and use it on M mode when the lighting becomes right. The good thing about the beercan in low-lighting is that you're rarely going to come across CA at wide apertures:

This one was beercan at f/4, 1/125 s, ISO 800:


And this one at f/5, 1/50 s, ISO 800:


These were taken at a festival though, and you may find the focal length to be unsuitable for more intimate concerts.

Conversely, you might be disappointed with the 50/1.7 wide open; I'd recommend f/2.2 or narrower as the stage will be bright enough for it (for sharpness), and of course always remember to shut DRO off when using high ISO's and shooting JPEGs.

I like using fast primes for indoor conserts, sometimes I use 28-70/2.8.
Flash is no option for me.
Why prime and not Zoom?
Use a prime and be creative, pays off when you take the shot that you would not see with a zoom on your camera

100/2, if my memory is correct


Takumar 50/1.4, if my memory is correct