Concert photos again...CC, please!

[Pariah]

So, these came out better than my first concert's results that I posted here! I use a Nikon D80 and I used the 50mm f/1.4 lens for these. Despite having good lighting, they're still grainier than I'd like them to be...not sure how to fix that. Photos were taken at ISO 1600, 1/250 for the shutter speed, and 1.4 for the aperture... Oh, and I played with curves in Photoshop a bit, just to see what would happen.

I'm doing another show on Thursday, so I'm reading books, reading online, etc...hoping to get more info to apply to my next chance.

Thanks for looking.


1.

2.

3.

4.

 

[stsinner]

It looks like a very dark show, so without a flash, you've got what you've got.. I think that with the big money lens (1.4) and at 1600 ISO, and at 1/250 shutter speed you've made pretty much all the right adjustments.. I might step the shutter speed down to 1/125 at the lowest for hand-held to get some more light, but still freeze motion..

 

[rdzmzda]

1600 iso could be what caused the grainy part perhaps see if you can lower than and still get a good exposure

 

[fiveoboy01]

Well the grainy look is noise due to the high ISO.

You've picked the right lens, with the wide aperture you're getting as much light as possible to the sensor.

I would first turn down the ISO a notch or two, this will reduce your noise. Doing so will have the "effect" of getting less light to the sensor, so you'll want to slow your shutter speed to compensate.

To be honest, I just think you should delete those and try again.... They're not sharp at all and the noise is distracting.

I'm curious which 50mm 1.4 lens you have. The AF or the AF-S?

 

[Pariah]

I have the AF.

I couldn't drop the shutter speed...I tried it several times, and the blur was awful.

 

[gsgary]

You don't need to be shooting at 1/250 you can drop it and close your aperture a touch, i usually shoot at about 1/60
Also non of them are in focus try using manual focus on a few to see if it is better if you are on auto focus just use the center focus point
This is at ISO1600 1/60 F4.5 shot with what is meant to be a noisy camera Canon 1Dmk1 and canon 50mmF1.4

 

[Village Idiot]

Actually, the noise looks likes it's due to underexposure.

As suggested, drop the shutter speed and close the aperture some.

Most of those photos are in focus, unfortunately it looks like it's the guitar string or a persons hand. Trying to shoot concert photography at such a wide aperture is going to leave you frustrated because you're going to have tiny little pieces of the photo in focus with the majority of the photo out of focus.