Legendary Beginner Photography - Help / C&C Welcome

[DonnieZ]

Good Evening all,

I've been a lurker on this forum for a while now and I've learned quite a bit, but putting what I've learned into practice sometimes is a lot harder than it seems. Recently I had the opportunity to get close to a person who I consider to be both a legend, and someone who's talents have had a great influcence on me personally. Fortunately, I was able to grab a few photos as well to commemerate the event.




I'm looking for input as to how I could have gotten a better exposure. At concerts like this, the subject is generally well lit and the band really isn't. If I get the opportunity in the future, I'd like to be better prepared!




This photo was one of the best of the bunch. I'd like to print and display this one in my music room / office / man cave but I'm not sure exactly where to go with it, mainly crop wise. I just don't seem to have the artistic eye for these types of things, no matter how hard I try.

Any input greatly appreciated!!

 

[DiskoJoe]

You needed more lighting. When they raise the light is when you snap. Here you are shooting when there is only one spot light on Elton. More zoom would have helped too. You could have got some nice close ups. You have any other shots?

 

[DonnieZ]

Thanks for the input.

I was pretty fortunate that at this show my seat was only about 7 seats away from the stage with nobody direclty in front of me. The closer shots you see are as a result of a stage rush, in which I was more than fortunate to be a part of

It seems that the only time the house lights came up were when he was done with a song, which meant a lot of motion and therefore blur. None of the shots of him standing or moving about the stage came out very sharp. All of these were taken with my Canon S100 which I wasn't too familiar with as I had bought it about a day before the concert. The venue said no cameras larger than the palm of my hand which ruled out the D40, although I saw quite a few SLR cameras there. (I wasn't going to risk losing my seat or my camera once I got inside.) I wish I would have had more time with the S100 prior to the event to get more familiar with it. I took it to see Elton this weekend again but my seats weren't half as good and I just gave up - not enough zoom. I figure for good concert photography I'm going to need to have either: Front row seats, or lots of fast expenseive glass that I probalby wouldn't be able to get into the venue anyway


Here's a couple of the other close up shots I got: