Shooting a local concert with little equipment. Advice?

[john_gallino]

I might be hired to shoot a small local concert for a death metal band in the

area. The place will probably be dimly (and dully) lit, and I dont have much

equipment at my disposal.

 

I have

 

Nikon D70s

SB-800 flash

50mm f/1.8

18-70mm f/3.5-4.5

70-300mm zoom lens not even worth mentioning because of its slow speed

 

I'll probably be able to get up close to the stage (there might not even be a

stage, it might be on the floor) and I'll have to be switching lenses, as I only

have one camera body.

 

My friend booked the job and I"ll probably be able to use flash as much as I

want, but I don't want to rely on it too heavily other than to make the shots

more interestingly lit. I was thinking maybe I could use some colored gels over

the flash and set it up off-camera to mix lighting colors a little.

 

I plan to shoot RAW, but my biggest concerns are coming up with interesting,

dynamic and impressive shots with the little equipment I have. I've considered

renting another lens but I don't think I have the time (this is a bit of a rush

job) and it would completely wipe out any profit I make.

 

Any advice?

[james d.]

John, You have all the equipment you need for capturing photos. Another lens won't make

you any more creative.

 

FInd photos you like and study them to try and realize why you like them.

 

Set your camera on spot metering and set your white bal. on incandescent ( I use -2 as a

rule). The 50 mm 1.8 will yield great shots without flash. The 18-70 can too if there is

some light and you can drag the shutter (slower shutter speed... lets more light in), this is

not an uncommon technique especially for that type of band.

 

Buy some ear plugs. I'm not making a music statement, but you get blasted worse than

just about anyone and damage builds up and your hearing is damaged permanently.

[el_fang]

I did an assignment exactly like this for my paper. Before anything else, I will echo the recommendation for earplugs. I didn't bother with too much of the extraneous, as the venue was very dark (except for the spotlit stage) and fiddling with gels, extra lenses, etc. would mean dropping something and not being able to find it again. Be careful with your equipment if you're anywhere near the "mosh pit" or whatever the hell they call the free-for-all area where you get shoved until you fall over. Bring a pocketful of lens papers, headbanger hair grease has an unusual affinity for lenses. Good luck.

[Jerry_]

Low-light and slow zoom lenses will make your task a chore. If you have any chance of getting a AF 85mmm f1.8D or f1.4D lens, or a AF 105mm f2D DC-Nikkor, you would increase your chances of getting better results. With what you have, try shooting in 'S' mode and the speedlight: the results should give you a mix of 'flash' and the light at the stage. A monopod won't hurt either.

 

 

 

 

Good luck.

[laughing buddha production]

You've got all the lenses you need. Even the 70-300 would likely work for some shots. Good thing you'll be closer though.

 

I suggest shooting on M as well with the flash on M. Play around with the settings to balance the ambient light with your flash - the aim being not the let the flash overwhelm the stage lighting (the gels will help). You just don't want the deer in the headlights whited out shot with black b/g.

 

You can really control the lighting in the shot that way. I shot a band on a rooftop a night with the SB-800 at 1/32 and used flash comp as required. Most of the time I used f5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/15 to 1/60 with the flash on slow sync, sometimes rear sync as well. I shot at 800 ISO, but the D70 is not a super noisy camera, so you could go higher if required.

 

As long as your not changing distances dramatically, you can set up - take some test shots and preview in the LCD till you like them, take a bunch of shots, then move around and change settings as required.

 

If you're going to be moving around a lot, then S or A with TTL will probably be optimal, with the flash comp dialed down as required.

 

Good luck.

 

M

[frank_skomial]

"with the SB-800 at 1/32 and used flash comp as required" - Flash set in Manual mode at 1/32 power ? - is it what you say ? - yet you compensate flash at the same time ? - interesting technique. Nikon SB-800 is an incredible flash. Please, tell us more about it.

[Spearhead]

I've done quite a bit of this.

<p>You will need a short lens if you are working close. I've never been in a club where anything longer than a 50 was useful. If you can borrow a 35, that would be very useful. I shoot mostly with a 35 in clubs with an APC-sized sensor. The main thing is to have fast lenses.<p>"Dynamic impressive shots" come from how you shoot, not what you shoot with. As long as you have a fast enough lens (or are good at controlling flash), the equipment doesn't matter much.<p>And when things start getting violent, look for a place that's safe for the equipment. I usually get behind the band.

[deadtree02]

I am an amateur photographer...basically I have a decent camera and everyone asks me to take pictures for them.

 

The little experience i do have is shooting a local band 2x at the house of blues. I was given full access...meaning i could go literally anywhere in the venue. I have simce upgraded my equipment, but at the time i had a Canon rebel Xt withan older film tamron 28/300. I got great shots with this lens. i used only available light <i did not own my flash yet>

 

I will try to post a picture or to to show you. not sure if this was helpful...

 

how goo will the available light be? the HOB has professional lighting which was helpful

 

David<div></div>

[michael s.]

<< ... headbanger hair grease has an unusual affinity for lenses ... >>

 

Sounds like you had a blast, Al. :-)

[deadtree02]

nver posted a pic before....these should be better to see

[deadtree02]

last try<div></div>

[deadtree02]

one more because i am excited i figure it out...the simple joys

[john_gallino]

Yeah the show I'm doing is much lower budget and wont have any interesting colored or moving lights. It'll probably be dim, stable floodlights on the stage the whole show. Thats why I'm concerned with the flash, as I don't want the dull flat lighting to ruin the shots. I'm considering bringing a tripod, finding somewhere to set it up with my SB-800 on top and lighting them up from the side nice and dramatic.

[susanm]

<p>I've been taking pictures at shows for years now, but I'm by no means a pro. Most of the shows I've seen have been at little clubs with horrible lighting, and flash is a necessity. I always try to get by without it, though, and sometimes it just takes patience, and a lot of shooting.</p>

 

<p>I took the below shot at one of the worst-lit venues I've ever been to (I don't have a D-SLR, it's a Fuji Finepix S7000):</p>

 

<p><img src="http://www.strangepulse.com/pics/shows/middian/06-01-07/DSCF9765.jpg"></p>

 

<p>The shutter speed was probably set to 4. No flash. You have to be good at holding the camera still---or finding things to brace it against. Monitors are good:</p>

 

<p><img src="http://www.strangepulse.com/pics/shows/acidking.jpg"></p>

 

<p>These things are obvious, but just in case: if the stage lights are changing in brightness or moving, try to time your pictures to coincide with their brightest moment. Pay attention to what the band does during songs. If it's low light, time your picture for when the singer is singing, as they'll most likely be their stillest because they have to be at the mic.</p>

 

<p>Also, be courteous to others at the show. You probably don't have to worry much about offending audience members at a death metal show, but I've seen some really obnoxious pro photographers at shows before.</p>

 

<p>Oh, and I know a pro who gets some really amazing shots using an off camera flash. <a href="http://www.tastelikedirt.com/">You can see his stuff here.</a></p>

[stephaniesavas]

Also, try long exposures using the ambient stage lights. This almost always creates an interesting photo with all kinds of lights and skewed images.

[john_gallino]

My girlfriend helped me today by posing while I tried out my new home-made-out-of-construction-paper red flash filter. However, I couldn't get the look I was going for.

 

I tried shooting with the on camera white flash and using the red flash off-camera as a side light and I wanted the background to be dark but the flashes kept lighting up the walls behind her.

 

These are my two best results, everything else was mostly useless.

The band also wants promo shots so I might use this technique if I can refine it a bit more.

 

Good results:

 

http://img394.imageshack.us/img394/5567/dsc17462kt5.jpg

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/4165/dsc17442be2.jpg

 

The rest looked like this:

 

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/2301/dsc1721smalljw3.jpg

 

I couldn't figure out if I needed a faster shutter speed (to darken the background) or a slower one (to allow the tungsten light from the nearby room to cancel out the red in the background). Maybe I need a snoot?

[Spearhead]

Have you seen the lighting in the club? A lot of clubs use colored lights, so there may not be much value in flash modification. For example, this one would go way out of wack with colored lights:

 

<p><center><img src="http://www.spirer.com/galaxxydec4/images/gc029.jpg"><br><i>Galaxxy Chamber, Copyright 2007 Jeff Spirer</i></center>

[john_gallino]

From what I've been told, there will be no moving or colored lights

[roger krueger]

No colored lights? Wow, that's scary. Do they actually have stage lighting, or is this one of

those Masonic Hall couple-of-fluorescents-left-on-over-the-crowd clusterfks? I don't

think I've ever seen real stage lighting that wasn't gelled.

<br><br>

If there's anything remotely interesting going on with the stage lighting, capture as much

of it as you can. This probably means the 50 near wide open, even 2.8 zooms aren't very

useful for this in really dark places, anything slower and you're pretty much flash-only.

<br><br>

If the lights are colored, 95% chance they'll be red. To mix flash with this and have it look

halfway natural gel it warm. Doesn't have to match, or even be close, it just has to be a

little warmer than the glaring dead neutral of a bare flash.

<br><br>

Practice changing lenses cleanly without setting anything down. You need to have your act

together on this if you're changing in a violent crowd.

<br><br>

If it's going to get rough, try to carry everything in big baggy pockets, bags can end up a

real liability if you're being knocked around.

<br><br>

Micstands are your sworn enemy. Try to manuever so they're not cutting in front of your

subject. That usually means shooting from dead in front of someone at a mic is a big "no".

<br><br>

Make sure you're on the same page with the band about what kind of images they want--

crisp or shutter-drag? head shots, 3/4, full length, or whole-band? This drives what other

glass you might want. I personally love fast and wide, but that's not very possible on a

crop body, maybe the Sigma 20/1.8 IF you can find a good one. Although, as much as I

like the perspecive of sticking something wide right in someone's face, if you're using

direct flash it can make the lighting falloff really ugly--burnt faces and black backgrounds.

<br><br>

<a href="http://www.punktures.com"><img src="http://www.punktures.com/images/

091506ch3lr/BW1C6420.jpg"></a><br>

Mike Magrann of CH3, 24/1.4 on FF, f2.0, 1/100, a stop or two of intentional

underexposure at ISO 1600. A lot of post, including Neat Image, to get it cleaned up and

presentable

[nick_bumgardner]

I went to a college that specializes in commercial music and thus I shot a lot of bands in college. I started out shooting gigs with a point and shoot digital camera with some excellent results. The main thing is to not be scared to get the image you want. More than anything learning to blend into the back ground is your number 1 tool. Blending in and being unseen is more important than another lens. After a year I moved up camera wise to a D70s and used my film nikon lenses a 60mm 2.8, 18-35, and 70-300. With this kit even with out a flash I have been able to get some spetacilure pictures from concerts. Take alot of pictures and have fun. Dont wory about a faster lens what you have now is plenty fast if you take lots of pictures and hold the camera steady.

[petemillis]

I love this type of music and really enjoy the moshpit so I'd probably forget to take photos! But to take photos I think I'd just shoot at a really high ISO setting with NO flash and using just the 18-70mm lens. Take loads and loads and loads (I mean hundreds so have extra memory with you) of pictures from all different positions, then in post processing you can pick the best few, improve the cropping if necessary and play about with them a bit.

 

This might help

http://www.jpgmag.com/stories/260

 

Good luck - and I look forward to seeing the pics.

[petemillis]

I mean to add - you could always leave the flash safely back stage for some after gig shots if necessary. But working without it when shooting the gig will enable you to have a good ol' mosh as well :)

[tim gray]

<p>Sounds like everybody is giving good advice. I just actually shot my first show,

though it was outdoors (at night) with reasonable bright if boring stage lighting. Shot 95%

of the time with at 50/1.4 at around 2.2-2.8. Snapped off a couple pics with a 28/1.8. I

would have been fine with just the 50. This was on film, so full frame, so adjust

accordingly. Half the pictures were with Tri-X at 400, the other half was TMZ at 3200. For

the most part, the Tri-X turned out better, though I think I captured some nice moments

on the TMZ shots. </p>

 

<p>I followed the advice on the concert photography article here on photo.net and use

the spot meter in my camera to meter off the performers' faces. A couple times it didn't

work, but for the most part it was great.</p>

 

<img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1253/1071881990_a3dc0678f8.jpg?v=0">

[jjdoyle]

There are some good shots posted up here - so, maybe take advice first from those who have got these results? Also, unless you know the venue already, don't be surprised if you are not actually allowed to use flash. It's rarely allowed with bigger bands in bigger venues. Another thing is the song limit - some venues will throw you out after two or three songs. So, work fast!

 

I usually spot meter on the face of a musician and then hold the exposure lock and shoot having recomposed. You can get some good effects shooting into the lights if the exposure is set correct for the face. But, of course, nothing stays the same for a moment, so there is quite a bit of adjustment needes as you go.

 

I also always shoot RAW - it gives a better chance to alter the exposure after shooting.

 

And, like some people have said above, get in close and get some good angles. You can work round the mic stands taht way too and give your shots a more rock n roll feel. Personally (and, of course, it's subjective), I always prefer close in wide angle shots at gigs to anything taken from a safe distance with a longer lens. Be part of it and let the noise and sweat break though your pictures. Don't be afraid to shoot at your widest aperture and a very high ISO. Intended blur is great in many shots and very atmospheric often, but often hands on guitars etc look better blurred than eyes.

 

One last point - the mosh pit. Don't be afraid to get in there too. Your Nikon will be OK. I often hold my lens right at the hood end. That way you get a nanosecond or two between feeling someone land on you and the viewfinder end of the camera cracking the bridge of your nose. It's enough to get out of the way often. Moshing looks worse than it is - go with the crowd and photograph them too if their OK with it. You'll have some fun and get some some good shots if there is any light on them. But, your AF will need to be fast to cope with it.

Look forward to seeing the results. Enjoy yourself, that's the main thing.

[frank_marshall1]

Dude don't worry about equipment. You usually start getting creative when you begin working around limitations.