Shooting a Band with D90.

chippykev · Jul 16, 2010

Hi guys
I'm glad to be a part of this forum and this is my first post.
I have a Nikon D90 with the 18-105mm kit lens also a 55-200mm lens. What advice I'm asking is, tonight we are going to a Gig and am hoping to shoot images of the bands, I only have the On-Camera flash no other but if I use the flash I will lose the ambience of the dark flashing lights and atmosphere. What camera settings do you think I would be best to use to capture the effects bearing in mind I cant take my Tripod. Any tips would be great guys.
Thanks
chippykev.

Big Mike · Jul 16, 2010

Welcome to the forum.

If the lighting is poor, you will be hard pressed. Either lens is not ideal for low light shooting.

To maximize your chances of good shots, I'd suggest finding the exposure that works for the band (perhaps the lead singer). If you just use the camera's matrix metering, it will take a lot of the background into account, which probably won't look too good.

Also, in order to get shutter speeds fast enough to get sharp shots, you will likely need to turn up your ISO, maybe as high as it will go. This will result in a lot of digital noise/grain, but that's the price you pay.
Or you could go out and get a D3 with an F1.4 lens. :er:

Morpheuss · Jul 16, 2010

welcome to the forum and I would put your camera in manual mode and play with the ISO's you just have to be careful your ISO's isn't to high or you will get noise photos. You also don't really want to slow your shutter down any farther than you have to so you don't get blurry photos eaither. I'm sure somebody with experience with your kind of camera will be able to help you more, and big mike beat me to the punch... lol

AlexL · Jul 16, 2010

you should get a faster lens like a 50mm 1.4 which will help.

KmH · Jul 16, 2010

Noisey photos are better than blurry photos.

Use a high enough ISO to maintain enough shutter speed to stop motion.

However, another problem you will have is that auto focus doesn't work well in low light.

bigtwinky · Jul 16, 2010

...and that is why low light photography can be such a pain if you dont have the right gear... same for any photography actually. Sports require long, fast lenses and fast fps. Weddings and low light shooting without flash require fast lenses and clean high ISO.

The D90 has decent high ISO performance. Maybe look into some noise reduction software. You will be limited with your lenses as you dont have any really fast lenses.

Can you rent a lens? Rent a 50mm 1.8 or 1.4.

You will also be limited by how active the band is. If they are a very active band, jumping all over the place and moving alot, you will need a much faster shutter speed (which means a wider aperture and/or higher ISO) to freeze the action compared to a more low key jazz style band.

If you can't get a fast shutter to freeze the action, then you should focus on picking your shots when the movement is a bit lens. Wait until the singer is hitting a high note and holding it type of thing...they won't be moving as much but still have emotion. Adapt what you shoot based on what settings you are getting.

And dont be fooled by the LCD. You may shoot at a slow shutter and high ISO and the looks decent on the LCD. Make sure you zoom in on the LCD to check the fine details of sharpness and also rely more on the histogram than on the LCD.

What settings? You can go with AV, leaving it at the widest aperture and letting the camera set the shutter. Be mindful of the shutter speed and possibly use your EV compensation to speed up the shutter.

Or go in manual mode and keep an eye on that exposure meter making sure it doesnt dip too far to the left. A little bit underexposed isn't too bad. But I find the more I underexpose a shot to get a fast shutter, the more noise is in the image.

If all else fails, take images with noise (as said, its better than blur) and then convert the image to black and white, as noise comes off nicer in BW.

gsgary · Jul 16, 2010

If those are the only lenses you have i would leave your camera at home and enjoy the music

Alan92RTTT · Jul 16, 2010

This was with my D5000 with the 55-200 lens

Model: NIKON D5000
DateTime: 3/10/2010 1:32:05 AM
ISOSpeedRatings: ISO 1600
FocalLength: 200 mm
FNumber: F5.6
ExposureTime: 1/50 s

I took several the same night they are in a gallery here Nashville, TN March 2010 Each image page has the basic exif information.

Its a good sample from similar conditions(dark, handheld no tripod) so you will be able to see the settings used and the results I had.

I was spot metering in aperture priority mode. I think I had High ISO noise reduction on in camera. I was shooting JPG.

gsgary · Jul 16, 2010

Alan92RTTT said:
This was with my D5000 with the 55-200 lens

Model: NIKON D5000
DateTime: 3/10/2010 1:32:05 AM
ISOSpeedRatings: ISO 1600
FocalLength: 200 mm
FNumber: F5.6
ExposureTime: 1/50 s

I took several the same night they are in a gallery here Nashville, TN March 2010 Each image page has the basic exif information.

Its a good sample from similar conditions(dark, handheld no tripod) so you will be able to see the settings used and the results I had.

I was spot metering in aperture priority mode. I think I had High ISO noise reduction on in camera. I was shooting JPG.

You had good light with this shot and the lens still could not cope because of the focal length and shutter speed, it is blurred
This was good light but i still had to shoot at ISO3200
http://gsgary.smugmug.com/photos/497396159_6CyXU-L.jpg

Alan92RTTT · Jul 16, 2010

The out of focus is probably one of two things.

A softening effect from the noise reduction or a lack of focus as it was autofocused.

But I still think its a good sample of what the D90 and the 55-200 can get.

oldmacman · Jul 16, 2010

Depending on how close you are, there is nothing wrong with using the flash to fill shadows. With strong backlighting, which is often the case at shows, you won't even notice that you have used a flash. If you want the "ambience" of the show, you need to spot meter the lit portion of your subject then use the settings in manual mode. Harsh shadows and bright highlights are the challenge of theatre shooting.

gsgary · Jul 17, 2010

Alan92RTTT said:
The out of focus is probably one of two things.

A softening effect from the noise reduction or a lack of focus as it was autofocused.

But I still think its a good sample of what the D90 and the 55-200 can get.

The softness was down to your shutter speed to focal length and the movement of the musician

gsgary · Jul 17, 2010

oldmacman said:
Depending on how close you are, there is nothing wrong with using the flash to fill shadows. With strong backlighting, which is often the case at shows, you won't even notice that you have used a flash. If you want the "ambience" of the show, you need to spot meter the lit portion of your subject then use the settings in manual mode. Harsh shadows and bright highlights are the challenge of theatre shooting.

A lot of theatre's will not let you use a flash if there is a paying audience and also only let you shoot at the front for the first 3 songs thats when i go to the back and get my 300F2.8L out http://gsgary.smugmug.com/photos/765944961_uetAT-L.jpg but you must use a higher shutter speed to compensate for the extra focal length