First Time Shooting a Live Music Performance, Low-Light Inside

[HeldInTheMoment]

Could kindly use some help and advice on how to improve this edit. It was my first time shooting a live music event indoors. Stopped for a beer at a local Brewery after a family portrait shoot and was offered the opportunity to shoot their event as they didn't have a photographer. Even though I had no experience with this style of shooting, I never turn down a chance to further my experience and learn new skills.

Never the less, this was one of the photos taken that night. I felt the B&W was a good fit for this shot. Any advice?

 

[jcdeboever]

Nice framing. Yes, B&W works for me here. Are you shooting in raw? It is a must in these conditions to bring up shadows in post. A small amount (1/8 to 1/4) of manual flash fill from onboard flash is real helpful for me. I am not an expert but this would be my approach.

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[HeldInTheMoment]

Nice framing. Yes, B&W works for me here. Are you shooting in raw? It is a must in these conditions to bring up shadows in post. A small amount (1/8 to 1/4) of manual flash fill from onboard flash is real helpful for me. I am not an expert but this would be my approach.

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Yes, I most certainly shoot in RAW...I have one SD card slot recording in RAW and the other in JPEG (saves me time in converting later). All edits are done from RAW with Lightroom only, no PS.

The lighting at this event was horrible...no stage lights and I was unable to use any flash. So I had to work with ambient light, which was next to nothing. The brewery was dark with minimal lighting, nice for a relaxed brewery feel but bad for things like this. It was in the evening and the window behind him had the sun beaming straight in, which made WB and exposure interesting given the conditions I had.

 

[jcdeboever]

Yuk, well 1.8 or larger lens, highest usable ISO you can, and slowest shutter speed you can handhold is all I can think of. Maybe spot metering and single point focus. What body and lens were you using?

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[HeldInTheMoment]

I'll have to look, can't remember the exact details off hand...but pretty sure it was D7100, 35mm, f/1.8, ISO 3200, and 1/100th sec.

 

[jcdeboever]

I'll have to look, can't remember the exact details off hand...but pretty sure it was D7100, 35mm, f/1.8, ISO 3200, and 1/100th sec.

Check your focus and meter modes. You probably could have lowered the shutter speed more than half.

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[HeldInTheMoment]

I'll have to look, can't remember the exact details off hand...but pretty sure it was D7100, 35mm, f/1.8, ISO 3200, and 1/100th sec.

Check your focus and meter modes. You probably could have lowered the shutter speed more than half.

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It was Center Weight Metering on AF-S...that I can promise.

 

[jcdeboever]

I'll have to look, can't remember the exact details off hand...but pretty sure it was D7100, 35mm, f/1.8, ISO 3200, and 1/100th sec.

Check your focus and meter modes. You probably could have lowered the shutter speed more than half.

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It was Center Weight Metering on AF-S...that I can promise.

Probably sufficient but normally with a contrasting scene like this, I would spot meter and compare on the fly. I would also play with +EC

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[HeldInTheMoment]

Thanks! I've never really done anything with +EC during a shoot...something I still need to learn and mess around with.

Would have been nice if they had some sort of stage light or let me use a little flash...oh well, it was a spur of the moment thing.

 

[jcdeboever]

You could fix that pic in post. It's pretty darn nice as is. Bump the shadows, back off the highlights, bump clarity and blues. I would play with EC a little maybe.

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[HeldInTheMoment]

You could fix that pic in post. It's pretty darn nice as is. Bump the shadows, back off the highlights, bump clarity and blues. I would play with EC a little maybe.

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This is the edited copy already, thanks for the advice...I'll make some additional corrections and see what I can do.

 

[jcdeboever]

Check this out for bad light.March 2016 POTM Winner

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[jcdeboever]

Maybe @Gary A will chime in, he is a master of B & W.

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