Shooting a band, live.

[Stradawhovious]

I just got wind of the news that my friend's band has a standing house gig at a local saloon. as a result, I have decided that it would be in my best interest to get some practice shooting indoors and in low light. I'm pretty sure my setup is VERY capable of this...... (Nikon D7000, 50mm 1.8 and 35mm 1.8) but I'm not so sure I am quite yet.

Any advice for this type of project?

I have a fair understand of basic exposure, but keep seeing that everyone has "exposure tricks" for low light/high ISO that make a world of difference. I would love to hear about them in detail, and get some practice in!

*disclaimer* this is an unpaid, uncompensated project, done only for the sake of practice on my end, and for no other reason. *disclaimer*

However, if my friend or his band mates like any of the photos, they are more than welcome to compensate me with a cold adult beverage.

 

[Nikon_Dude]

The fast lenses should do the job. I don't know how far away you'll be, but since they are primes you may have to crop later to get good composition. A flash would help if it's allowed.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Yes, your gear is adequate for starters. You may want to get a wider angle lens later but for now you should be just fine.

The main trick is to shoot in manual. Manual exposure and manual focus because of the tricks played by the constantly changing light levels on the camera and musicians that move a lot. If you're shooting rock bands that is. Classical orchestras and jazz bands are easier because they usually don't move as much and there is usually less light play.

Other than that, the more you shoot one band the better the results you should get because knowing the music and knowing their stage antics allows you to anticipate what's coming.

Having access to the stage will give you different types of photos than if you're shooting from in front of the stage or from the backstage area but that has to be okayed with the band and usually won't happen until you have proven yourself as a photog and the band wants some specific shots. In small clubs, the club itself may have its say in that one because you can be a pain in the neck to the audience.

Singers should usually be shot from the side rather than from straight on so that the microphone is not hiding most of their faces.

The rest, composition, DOF, etc is mostly a matter of personal taste or what you are trying to achieve with a particular image. A shallow DOF is obviously a good way to isolate one musician from the surrounding chaos.

The last tip I can think of for right now is: take your time and think things through. 10 decent shots are better than 200 bad ones. When you put the camera to your eye, look at all the details in your frame and make sure they work before pushing the button.

Good luck.

 

[Village Idiot]

I wouldn't shoot manual focus with a person that's constantly moving if you're using wide aperture lenses. The keeper rate on those photos would suck.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

I wouldn't shoot manual focus with a person that's constantly moving if you're using wide aperture lenses. The keeper rate on those photos would suck.

Maybe you need to learn how to prefocus

 

[Ub3rdoRK]

When I shoot bands its always with a 2.8 or faster lens. Depending on how the lighting is can make it difficult. Not enough lighting you'll never freeze motion unless you get lucky and shoot while a strobe light is going off. I would bring a flash with a bounce card and get right on front of the stage.

Thats what I do and it works pretty well.

your 35 would be excellent for it if you were right up front. The 50 would be good for if you're on stage or behind them getting crowd interactions etc.

Try using matrix metering and spot metering, with constantly changing light the camera can get confused...and when that happens spot metering is your friend.

its all in how you compose, their stage presence and quality of light. Some venues use terrible lighting though. I shot a band once when the venue only used constant red and orange constant lighting and I must say it was garbage. I ended up making them in all black and white photos.

I generally shoot at 2500-3600 ISO at 1.8 or 2.8 1/160 so I can free action like jumping or fast hand/head movements.

Heres a couple of mine using no flash, just based on the excellent lighting rigs the venue supplied.

All in all sometimes u get lucky with better venues and sometimes you dont. Good luck!

 

[RauschPhotography]

I wouldn't shoot manual focus with a person that's constantly moving if you're using wide aperture lenses. The keeper rate on those photos would suck.

That's funny because that's the *only* way I shoot live shows. AF is too slow and/or doesn't work well in *any* of the lighting situations I've been in thus far.

I tried and tried and tried to make it work with AF, but I have a higher success rate with MF.

Agreed! I'm the same way... May not quantity out of the show's pictures, but the quality is FAR better!

 

[Village Idiot]

I wouldn't shoot manual focus with a person that's constantly moving if you're using wide aperture lenses. The keeper rate on those photos would suck.

That's funny because that's the *only* way I shoot live shows. AF is too slow and/or doesn't work well in *any* of the lighting situations I've been in thus far.

I tried and tried and tried to make it work with AF, but I have a higher success rate with MF.

I forgot, you guys don't have L's. With a band that's really active, shooting a longer focal length at a very wide aperture is nearly impossible, especially with multiple people in the frame. The only way to work with some like that is to USM the hell out of it with photo shoop.