Shot my first concert!

ultimadrift

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Free of course...But oh em gee...It was terrible to shoot in. Flash wasn't allowed. I was using my nikon 80-200 f2.8 and had to use ISO 6400 most of the time. There was another photographer and all I saw him use were primes but it looked like he had a lot of trouble keep switching lenses getting all the band members. The lighting was horrible so I was using spot metering and trying to light up their faces. But I still couldn't keep some of my shots. Any tips on shooting in low light concerts? Also getting pictures of the drummer was a difficult task since he is behind so many things and I couldn't either get the whole set cause it would block his face or only get his face and the drum set was not in the whole shot. Anyways here's a few samples I got that night

#1
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#2
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#3
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Nice pictures! Good capture of the emotion. Judging from these low resolution images, the noise level looks great! Did you shoot in RAW? Even with 3200/6400, you can still pull some detail out of underexposed pictures and customize the NR to get even better results.
 
Shots look pretty good.

Here's some of the things I do when shooting for bands. I usually talk to whoever does the lighting, make friends with them & ask for a few seconds of brighter lighting every once in a while. If they are using strobes or different types of stage lights more than likely they are changing colors every few seconds and doing all sorts of crazy things so they'll help you out.

I know the 80-200 doesn't have it, but use Image stabilization if you can. & use low shutter speeds. I shot a concert Thursday night mostly using 1/30th - 1/80th and had no camera shake all night.

Mostly just practice. Do as many as you can. Make friends with everyone and have a good time.
 
Yea mostly shot in RAW and tried NR on them but also maintaining the details on the skin. I need to get a 70-200mm with VR soon XD. They loved my shots and wants me to do more shows with them. I need better equipment...Gotta love the D7K even at 6400 ISO maintaining great quality
 
I'm torn about number one. I like the lighting coming behind him but that OOF whatever it is in the frame keeps drawing my attention. I understand stuff gets in the way sometimes... happens to me all the time... but for some reason in this particular image I can't ignore the blurry stuff, :lol:

Number 2 would be better if you could have gone SLIGHTLY wider and gotten more of the sticks in the shot, in my opinion.

Number 3 would have made a better portrait orientation shot, but other than that I have no real complaints. :sillysmi:

Who's the band? Is it a local band? If THEY asked YOU to shoot... then YOU ask them if it's okay if you crawl around on the stage to get better shots. That solves your drummer issue right there. All of my good drummer shots are because I had stage access and used it. :lol: If YOU were just there shooting for yourself and you don't personally know the band, you can still ask, but you're pretty much just going to have to look for a good line of view of the drummer and wait until it becomes clear and shoot.

I shot a concert Thursday night mostly using 1/30th - 1/80th and had no camera shake all night.

I'm curious to see those... are you going to post them here at some point?
 
Just got my D7000, and the ISO capabilities is awesome for a DX (APS-C) sensor. Almost as good as the better FX-sensor cameras, and better than some.
 
MUCH better than my first gig =[ and second... and third for that matter...

Jeye T - a set on Flickr

that's my latest ('third') gig, that was WITH flash.
the ones that are purple are my non-flash ones...
the clubs I photograph sure do love using those purple lights...
 
Actually the AV guy asked me to get shots for him so he could give it to the band. Its a local band and I don't know them personally. The stage itself was pretty small I don't think I couldve gotten around in there
 
Actually the AV guy asked me to get shots for him so he could give it to the band.

I'm confused by this statement. HE wanted you to get pictures so HE could give them to the band???? Whyyyyy exactly? :lol:

The stage itself was pretty small I don't think I couldve gotten around in there

Psh, of COURSE you could have! It just takes some imagination! I've gotten around in some pretty tight spots before...and been in awkward positions that have resulted in my thigh muscles hurting the next day and my abs screaming for advil :sexywink:
 
Maybe I should've rephrashed that better I know the AV guy personally and he wanted the pictures so he could use it for the band to get them started. Of course I would be given credit for taking them. As for crawling around on stage...there were wires everywhere I was a bit intimidated I might knock something and screw up the whole gig.
 
Maybe I should've rephrashed that better I know the AV guy personally and he wanted the pictures so he could use it for the band to get them started. Of course I would be given credit for taking them.

Still sounds like a strange arrangement to me... but whatever works I guess. :lol:

As for crawling around on stage...there were wires everywhere I was a bit intimidated I might knock something and screw up the whole gig.

If you're gonna be a music photog, get over that fear now. :lol:

If it makes you feel any better I am THE CLUMSIEST person on the face of the earth. Seriously. I walk by the same conveyor belt several times a day going and to and from the office I work in, and one day I ran RIGHT INTO it. I had a bruise on my hip for a week.

<-------------SUPER clumsy... but I've never pulled a cable or completely demolished a show by crawling around on stage. :sexywink:
 

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