motion shots

sh0rtofdaybr3ak · Feb 2, 2005

im taking pictures for a band this weekend and i want to try to get a few motion shots of them rocking out, what are some tips for getting good results with this. I have a nikon n75 with a 28-90 and a 1.8/50mm and 6600 flash.... any suggestions would be greatly helpful and appreciated! thanks guys.

photoman · Feb 2, 2005

To get the sense of motion in your pictures you could try and sync the flash at a slower shutter speed to get some blur and have the flash "freeze" some of the action on stage.

Big Mike · Feb 2, 2005

If you use a tripod or something to keep the camera very still, anything still will be sharp and anything moving will be blurry.

sh0rtofdaybr3ak · Feb 2, 2005

should i be using a lower ISO?

Rob · Feb 3, 2005

sh0rtofdaybr3ak said:
should i be using a lower ISO?

When shooting rock concerts and gigs, there is always lots of smoke and nice lights cutting through the smoke. Flash will give you a cold static image which IMHO won't capture the moment (assuming you can see through the fog). For a better capture of the moment, up the ISO and forget the flash.

If there isn't room to use a tri/mono pod (which there won't be if there's anyone there!) then go for Kodak T-Max 3200 ISO film which will be great. It will be very grainy, so if you don't want grain, you're going to need to use flash and a lower ISO.

Good luck!

Rob

Whir · Feb 3, 2005

Howdy everyone, I'm new here.

I also will be taking pictures of a band this weekend. In my past experience, using my Canon Digital Rebel, I needed to push up the ISO, unfortunately this makes the photo's quite grainy but at a larger digital quality it is easy to remedy that... I know that doesn't help with film. Using a flash rarely captures the good concert vibe that lights and smoke provide (as mentioned before)... and by that I mean the ones I have taken are less flattering and look rather creepy. Though I have done both, I would suggest trying to avoid a flash... but then again I just find them annoying.

Good luck with the pictures!