You Don't Need ISO 1billion For Concert Photography

[epp_b]

Even more fun, try shooting in a venue with an inconsistent strobe light.

That's why you shoot in manual. What venue doesn't use epilepsy lights in an inconsistent pattern?

 

[musicaleCA]

Even more fun, try shooting in a venue with an inconsistent strobe light.
My first gig job i had that, and it was a shocker. either the strobe lighting would fire more than once and it would over expose, or it wouldn't at all and only the stage lights would appear.

Yikes! Were you using film or digital, and if the latter, did you just fire off a lot of shots in burst mode and hope for the best?

 

[ocular]

It looks like the lighting was pretty good huh ?

 

[musicaleCA]

It looks like the lighting was pretty good huh ?

Actually no. For the second and third, the only thing that saved them was RAW. I had to bring up exposure pretty significantly (because they were quite underexposed at those settings, which I knew were the bare minimum for later recovery), and fix some bad colour casts. And use aggressive noise reduction, particularly on the third. Those yellow lights? MUCH yellower than as shown (the dynamic range also falls off dramatically at ISO 800 and 1600, and the 450D is very prone to posterization at such high ISOs; the lights magnified the problem).

As for the first, the lights were anything but consistent. Exposure changed on me a lot. My point is simply that good images can be taken with okayish gear, if you have the will to actually try.

But what the hell, I just came into some more monies. A 7D is now on my shopping list.

 

[Village Idiot]

I cannot help but agree with you.

As we discussed last night, I never shot anything faster than 400 ASA and I did shoot some concerts. We managed to get those shots on film so why can't you with (just about) any digital camera. I am sure that if I went and looked through my books about music and bands I would find some pretty horrendous grain because some photogs pushed their film or used whatever high ASA film existed then. So be it.

But, maybe, one needs to think about this type of photography the same as a sport shooter does. There is always a moment in the action when the action (almost) stops. That would be the time to shoot. There is also a time when you have more light and you need to be able to combine the two to get the shots.

Small clubs with very little light are always going to be a problem but they are also, usually, the easiest to deal with. Both the band and the club want to get their names in print if they can. So shoot with a flash. Concert light is always pretty harsh and a flash photo is rarely going to look out of place.

And if you shoot color, put a gel on your flash unit so it looks like it's part of the show.

A lot of bands specifically state, no flash photography.

6400 ISO. Yep. Complain about it now....

 

[Fiendish Astronaut]

Surely with a strobe going off you might as well break out the flash...

 

[c.cloudwalker]

6400 ISO. Yep. Complain about it now....

You may want to re-read the thread. Nobody is complaining about high ISO. Just pointing out the fact that you can still get shots when your equipment doesn't give you that possibility.

 

[Village Idiot]

Surely with a strobe going off you might as well break out the flash...

Having one that powerful and that close to you and getting hit right in the face really sucks. Most of the clubs I go to mainly just do stage lighting. There's not a lot of strobes there.

6400 ISO. Yep. Complain about it now....

You may want to re-read the thread. Nobody is complaining about high ISO. Just pointing out the fact that you can still get shots when your equipment doesn't give you that possibility.

No thanks, one time through is enough. I'm just pointing out that 6400 ISO looks pretty good.

 

[inTempus]

But what the hell, I just came into some more monies. A 7D is now on my shopping list.

Oh, I envy you. I'm still trying to justify that bad boy. I'm sure I'll find justification by the time they're in stock on Adorama's site.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

[

6400 ISO. Yep. Complain about it now....

You may want to re-read the thread. Nobody is complaining about high ISO. Just pointing out the fact that you can still get shots when your equipment doesn't give you that possibility.

No thanks, one time through is enough. I'm just pointing out that 6400 ISO looks pretty good.

I believe this point was agreed on from the start. And it was not the point of this thread.

 

[musicaleCA]

But what the hell, I just came into some more monies. A 7D is now on my shopping list.

Oh, I envy you. I'm still trying to justify that bad boy. I'm sure I'll find justification by the time they're in stock on Adorama's site.

Dude. You're not allowed to have camera body envy. You have a 1Ds MkIII! :lmao:

I just need to stop myself from getting two of them. I'll see though; if I fall in love with the body I might just do it, and sell my ol' 450D (that little guy is great for being inconspicuous though; really good for candids).

 

[Village Idiot]

[

You may want to re-read the thread. Nobody is complaining about high ISO. Just pointing out the fact that you can still get shots when your equipment doesn't give you that possibility.

No thanks, one time through is enough. I'm just pointing out that 6400 ISO looks pretty good.

I believe this point was agreed on from the start. And it was not the point of this thread.

OMGWTFBBQ? A TPF thread has post in it that don't strictly adhere to what the first post was about.