Plz advice me how to take pix at concert :(

[Juki]

I just bought Nikon Coolpix5700 and have read up quite alot about but still cant get things under control. I can take good still life image pix but I cant seem to able to take a decent pix in concerts.

The problem is: very low light condition from where I am sitting, people are moving fast on stage, and I dont want to use flash, flash kills the colorful lights.

I understand I have to have faster shutter speed and higher aperture but still cant get it right. What range of values would you suggest?

Any tips on how to take non-flash images? I always seems to get them quite blurry. I have to use 3second timer to get in sharper


Thanks for any help


Here are some of the pix that show my problems:

pix one

pix two

 

[thebeginning]

those pics are actually pretty cool. alot of concert photography is taken with longer aperture times, so you are not alone. Blurry concert images are now like a fad. kinda. So i wouldnt worry about that at all. there really is no way for you to get a fast aperture in such low lighting conditions without a flash. One suggestion: if you are going to make the shot blurry, try to make it just enough blur so that it looks purposeful (blur of the subject, not your hands...although if you move your hands in the right way, it would make for cool blurs too). Just fool around in the city with lights and people at night and practice there. good luck!

 

[Juki]

my first priority is to take a sharp image , then again I cant (not allowed) and dont want to use flash.

How normally do you take pix without flash? because i always have blurriness of some degree

 

[Juki]

i'd like to ever be able to take pix like this

 

[Rob]

Monopods help. So does practice! Don't despair just yet because there's a couple of things you can do to sharpen the images up.

Rock concert pictures are usually taken when the people are not actually moving very fast - a player concentrating on a solo is usually the classic time.

Get closer and use a wider lens setting (lower f-number) to get more light in. The frame should be nearly filled with a lit subject to increase the light and avoid getting spotlights pointed directly at you. Switch your camera to A mode and set the lowest f-number you can for the amount of zoom. Brace yourself on something or use a monopod. Set your ISO higher (although this may increase noise). Use spot metering if possible to ensure that your subject is exposed and the background is black.

To take these pictures, I used ISO 3200 overclocked to 6400 - film is much better in these circumstances because of its flexibility. We hand-held them, because there wasn't much space.

Rob B&W with no flash at 6400 ISO

Simon in colour with fill flash at 400 and no flash at 1600 ISO

 

[Artemis]

I bet you those last ones were set up...you see I did a gig a little while ago, and my method is to shoot alot during the sound tests, and if your lucky youll have the house lights to help out aswell, then you get everyone to pose, or just let them do their thing...then get some blury pics during the performance..

Try zooming out while taking the picture, gives a nice rushing affect.

 

[Juki]

look great those BW robhesketh, you use very fast film

 

[Rob]

Thanks - I needed to be discrete as it was supposed to be a no photography event, so I used my sneaky camera - a black Contax T3 loaded with the fastest grainiest film. Simon, however had a massive Canon out with fill-flash - he's less subtle than me.

They aren't "sharp" like the examples you posted, but there was NO light, so grainy it had to be. Under better circumstances I might have used an f1 or f1.2 50mm lens and 400ASA film and a tripod right up the front, but this is rarely possible at a gig.

I don't think it would be possible to achieve those kind of results (that you posted) with a mid-range consumer digital as the trade-off between the low light, zoom lens and digital noise is a balance which will be difficult to strike.

Good luck - you'll just have to keep going to gigs and working on it!

Rob