Shooting my first band gig. Need some tips!

[Starskream666]

The venue is small and low light, i will be pretty close i think. Any tips on settings? I'm thinking of taking my 50m 1.8 (with a fisheye attachment) just because my 50 produced better quality photos than my 35-80.

 

[Derrel]

Lighting can be tricky...spot lighting on the musicians can fool the camera's light meter because there is often totally BLACK, un-lighted stage area behind them, and so the camera's meter will be unduly influenced by all the blackness, which results in OVER-exposure.

Figuring out the lighting can be tricky, esp. if it changes a lot. Think about something along the lines of ISO 1600, with the 50mm lens set to f/2.5 or f/2.8, at 1/60 to 1/90 second...start out in Manual mode, around there, as a guess...not sure what the lights will be like, since the club is thousands of miles from me...

Keep in mind that at the shutter speeds typical of small clubs, subject motion blurring is/can be a big problem, so shoot shots when it seems like action is temporarily 'stopped', or at what is called "peak action moments", which is kind of in-between actual movements, and which lasts only a split-second!

 

[Starskream666]

Thanks alot that should be a big help. I might try some light trail shots like with the LEDs around and coloured lights, they can look really cool. I think you just use the flash and slower the shutter a tad more.

 

[BlairWright]

1. Bump your ISO up as high as you can to stop motion (I try to get to 1/200 but I can shoot my D3S at 10,000 ISO and get usable images, try to get at least 1/80), it's better to get a grainy usable shot than a blurry unusable shot.
2. Stay away from red lights if they have them. Blue shoots better
3. If you are trying to get the entire band focus on the drummer, drummers are the hardest to shoot so get in line with him/her and then worry about the others.
4. If you can't get the shutter speed up try to get some tighter shots and meter on their faces (you normally need to be in the pit or side stage for this)
5. Bring ear plugs, they help you focus on the shots and not the band.
6. Relax, don't rush, relax ;-)

Good luck man

 

[Starskream666]

Thought i'd show a few of the ones i liked from the night. It was alot harder than i had expected!










11 by Skateboard C 91, on Flickr

 

[Starskream666]

Some feedback, please?

 

[gsgary]

Most are blurred because your shutter speed was too slow

 

[Derrel]

#3 would go well in a student newspaper....you got the lead singer out there, crowd surfing, people enjoying the show and all. The last frame is the only one I see blurred by shutter speed blur, and it shows a guy belting out some vocals...but it shoulda' been a TALL!!! For your very first time, you did better than I expected you would. By the time all your hair has fallen out, you'll be a grizzled old concert veteran, like gsgary. These are not "great" by any means, but if you keep shooting club gigs regularly, you should get better.

 

[EIngerson]

As stated earlier, bump up that ISO and shoot wide open F-stops. Your 50mm should do just fine. I had to shoot this at F4



IMG_1358-3 by Ingerson"PCD", on Flickr

 

[Starskream666]

#3 would go well in a student newspaper....you got the lead singer out there, crowd surfing, people enjoying the show and all. The last frame is the only one I see blurred by shutter speed blur, and it shows a guy belting out some vocals...but it shoulda' been a TALL!!! For your very first time, you did better than I expected you would. By the time all your hair has fallen out, you'll be a grizzled old concert veteran, like gsgary. These are not "great" by any means, but if you keep shooting club gigs regularly, you should get better.

Thanks alot, yeah i don't see the blurring issue either apart from the last one like you said, maybe some of them look soft due to the noise reduction that i also had to use for the first time. Thanks for the feedback Derrel

Some more of the shots are here, i know people don't like looking on peoples flickr hah but.. http://www.flickr.com/photos/skateboard_c/sets/72157628468138605/