Bleached out Gigs!

[SteveEllis]

Hey Guys,

I took some photos at a gig the other night, I only have the standard flash on my D20.

The photos came out nice and clear and I was happy with the poses I caught the musicians in.

The problem is they look a little bit bleached, they lack the warmth of the lighting that was actually there.

Any tips for taking clear photos and retaining the warmth of the lighting that is there.

I had stage access so I'm not just trying quick photos from in the crowd.

Cheers,
Steve.

 

[Meysha]

Could you post an example of this bleached look?

It could be a white balance issue. Your camera might be cancelling out the red gels you usually see for gigs on stage so then it looks less warm.

But if we can see one you're not happy with we'll be able to help more.

 

[JIP]

Yeah I think samples are needed here.

 

[SteveEllis]

Heres two pics, the first is nice and sharp, but lacks colour. The second is blurry but has captured the warmth of the lighting.

 

[Garbz]

Yep welcome to band photography. There's no right way to do this you have to really work with what blends best.

I find that a flash at a gig is a NO. Half of the gig is the lighting and as you can see a flash destroys that. Doesn't matter if it's on camera off camera, clever strobes setup nothing. I have never seen a gig photo I've liked that was lit by flash and not slow synced.

At the last gig I was at I even resorted to setting the camera at ISO3200 f/1.8 at 1/20th. The quality was terrible, definitely nothing that you could make a poster print out of, but at least the ambience and mood was there. Better than the one I took with a flash which wasn't even worth making a 4x6 of.

 

[SteveEllis]

I'm guessing that why lots of people tend to tripod and let the artist blur, which does look cool, but not always the result you want.

I did try pushing the ISO up on the 20D but could only get it to go up to 1600 (not on these pics) but that still resulted in much blurryness!