New Concert Photos C&C

Well, I have been working a lot on my concert photography, and I am very proud that I am now shooting without flash. I took these below pictures, and I would love some critique.

Camera was a nikon d40 These were my settings fstop: f/4.2 exposure time is 1/50 and 1/60 sec ISO 200
These were all shot in RAW (which I love and do not know why I have not been using) and nothing much from photoshop except the raw adjustments







Thanks in advance.

 

#3 is my pick of the group.

Now this is the Bianca I remember

I like the headspace in this image, I think it works well with the angled shot.

The worse thing I could say on these is please get rid of the .com white bar at the bottom of each picture. It is very distracting on these images. Also, put some space between each image, for easier viewing.

 

Thank you, I have been really working on planning my pictures and such. I hate the .com thing too, but when the band uses them they like to give me credit. I have been trying to think of the least offensive way to put it on the images.

Any ideas?

 

Yeah, use a color just light enough to be readable, and just text, no effects.
That white bar sticks out like a sore thumb and takes away from your image.

 

If these are just an added text layer, adjust the opacity so they are still visible, but not as distracting.

They are a little dark to me, but I'd say you could easily shoot at ISO 400 and still not have any noise. That would allow you to increase your shutter speed too.

 

I will try the ISO 400 this weekend. I have another gig to shoot. I think I make have gone a bit overboard on the black when editing in raw cause i wanted just the subject to stand out and not what was behind them

 

I'm new to photography and don't know much about it at all, but the black around these pics is what makes them "pop" to me. These are great pics. The darkness gives the feel of actually being there. Most of the indoor concerts I've been to are dark like this. So, these feel "real" to me.

 

I was referring to the subjects, I get the fact you're trying to get the background blacked out which does make the photo better but you could bring up the light on the subjects a little. ISO 400 or even 800 will gain you some extra light and even a bit more shutter speed (although these are pretty sharp as is).

In a second look at these, one thing I would recommend is changing your shooting locations throughout the concert. You don't want to have a portfolio full of front row looking up shots, and you might find some great compositions further back with the crowd in the shot. Even speak with the venue/band to see if you can get some on stage shots (out of the way of course).

 

And some strobes on different channels at the front of the stage to create a cool backlit effect while the camera is pointed at the crowd from backstage...just kidding. It's silly how reading Strobist can get creative ideas in one's head about lighting.

As for clipping blacks in RAW processing: Thank you for not being one of the geeky people who want to get every ounce of "detail" in their photos at whatever cost and get rid of all clipping in both directions. >.<

 

LOL next time I'll see how they feel about me bringing my own lighting haha..

I gotta have one subject to look at. My eyes go crazy. My friend shot this one pictures and I was editing it, and it had the bassist flicking his uber long dreds all over the place, the guitarist doing something crazy and the lead singer jumping on the mosh pit. I had no idea where to look lol

 

That's probably because they don't know about filling the frame... >.> (While lots of negative space can enhance a subject, a ton of potential subjects is always kinda blah...unless that's not the point, like some street photography.)