Concert Photography Help

Sand_On_The_Breeze · Oct 5, 2004

Hi all,

I will be going to a Sarah Slean concert next month at the Grand Theatre (http://www.grandtheatre.com/generalinfo/tour/orchestra.html) in London, Ontario.

I was wondering if you could give me tips on taking good photos at the show without flash. I have a Canon EOS Rebel K2, with zoom lens (28-80mm). I will be sitting in the third row.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Yen

Big Mike · Oct 5, 2004

First off, check if you are allowed to take photographs at the concert. Usually you are not, but often they don't care if fans take their little point & shoot cameras out. Even though your rebel is not a pro level camera...they (security) will see that it's an SLR and they will interfere.

Bring some fast film...Maybe 1600 or faster. It may be grainy but that might be better than blurry. The lens you have, is not the best for concert photography...it's just too slow (only opens to F3.5 or whatever)...you would be much better off with a lens that can open up to F1.8 or wider.

The idea is to keep the shutter speed fast enough so that you don't get blurry photos from either camera shake or subject motion.

I'm just basing this on the assumption that it will be fairly dark. There may well be some times when your subject is well lit...in which case you should be OK.

fadingaway1986 · Oct 6, 2004

I went to a concert a couple of months back... I was pretty far away from the stage... I took 1600 speed film - and i was happy with the prints - although I wouldnt have minded a bit more detailed.. I would suggest taking a 1600 and a 3200 and see how you go...

I was using a 90-300mm zoom...

if you want to see my photos from it to see what you are looking at, they are at:

http://www.ohsixohsix.com/images/dissociatives20040722/

Hope that helps a bit...

(and yes - I would agree to a faster lens - but that might not be possible)

Sand_On_The_Breeze · Oct 7, 2004

Thanks for the helpful suggestions. I can't afford a new lens right now so I think I'll go with the faster film.

Hopefully lighting is better from the third row.