Concert Shots

I recently got what is a very rare chance to shoot some bands playing - certainly here in the UK turning up at a venue with a DSLR is not usually a productive experience. Anyway, I got a chance to do some concert photography which I am very interested in. Some examples below, would be very interested to hear any opinions on how to improve them. They are jpegs processed in Lightroom, taken with a 70d and primarily the 24-70L Mk I with a few also taken with the 135L.

This first set is a band from Athens called Verbal Delirium . . . music that was full of drama.
 

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In general I believe you did a nice job considering the simple lighting that was in place. The lighting, of course, adds most of the drama, color and atmosphere to concert shots - not to mention the light required for the shot.
I tend to use Image Stabalized lenses because of the dim lighting (doesn't do anything for fast moving people/hands) and set the camera to the highest frame rate then shoot bursts. This lets me use the lowest ISO I can get away with and hit a couple non-blurry shots in the group. This also helps when your in a crowd with your camera in the air and other concert goers bumping into you!
 
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triggermike said:
In general I believe you did a nice job considering the simple lighting that was in place. The lighting, of course, adds most of the drama, color and atmosphere to concert shots - not to mention the light required for the shot.
I tend to use Image Stabalized lenses because of the dim lighting (doesn't do anything for fast moving people/hands) and set the camera to the highest frame rate then shoot bursts. This lets me use the lowest ISO I can get away with and hit a couple non-blurry shots in the group. This also helps when your in a crowd with your camera in the air and other concert goers bumping into you!

Thanks you're right, the lighting was okay for what it was but I dream of being able to photograph a band with a high quality light show . . . that really would be something. Maybe the concert industry will one day get in on the act of "photography experience days"!!!

Maybe I should spring for an IS lens but I do like that old 24-70 :)
 
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tahoetoeknee said:
Nice shots, what were the camera settings?

It did vary bu i used approx the following:-

1/125 - 160s shutter priority mode

Spot or centre weighted average metering - I used the centre focus point and cropped where needed. This is effective for me because it's amazing how many things leap out at your camera and distract it from a moving guitar player!

Now don't tell anyone this but I used AutoISO which I suspect might get me a slap from the experts :D. Theory being that with the rapidly changing lighting and the above metering modes the camera will give me as low ISO level as possible with the right exposure for the main subjects. The above shots ranged from something like 800 to 3200 I think.

I switched between One Shot and AI Servo focus modes depending largely on the age of the band!
 
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fragilesi said:
Now don't tell anyone this but I used AutoISO which I suspect might get me a slap from the experts :D.

I do concert photography and I kind of laugh to myself at some of the habits and practices I see employed by others...

Like you, I also use Auto ISO 95% of the time (and everything else manual) because I figure the camera is smarter when lights are drastically changing 50X a second. But I'll watch another photographer spend 1-2 of the 3 songs we have to shoot chimping his or her ISO settings, and I just don't understand it. It's such a small window of opportunity to have it all pass by looking at the back of your camera.

Whatever gets you the shot. The camera is a tool and if Auto ISO works, I don't see a problem with using it. But I know some thing anything "auto" is bad.

Jason
 
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rocksubculture said:
fragilesi said:
Now don't tell anyone this but I used AutoISO which I suspect might get me a slap from the experts :D.

I do concert photography and I kind of laugh to myself at some of the habits and practices I see employed by others...

Like you, I also use Auto ISO 95% of the time (and everything else manual) because I figure the camera is smarter when lights are drastically changing 50X a second. But I'll watch another photographer spend 1-2 of the 3 songs we have to shoot chimping his or her ISO settings, and I just don't understand it. It's such a small window of opportunity to have it all pass by looking at the back of your camera.

Whatever gets you the shot. The camera is a tool and if Auto ISO works, I don't see a problem with using it. But I know some thing anything "auto" is bad.

Jason

So I am not alone :D.

The great thing about this small festival that I took these at was that we could actually click away through the whole show so I did try a few odd shots. In fact by the time the fifth band came on I was actually tiring of it all . . . they weren't exactly inspirational and it was late on a Sunday night with a two hour drive home ahead of me.

AutoISO thing to me seems to work very well in such a dynamic environment. You don't want to be set at 3200 when the stage or subject gets flooded with bright light and unless you know the show it's hard to predict when that's going to happen.
 
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cayenne

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Mar 28, 2012
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fragilesi said:
cayenne said:
Nice shots all!!

Here's one of mine from a big fest I shot last year...I just loved the moment I caught here...

Very nice shot! I see what you mean. Have you tried a mono conversion on it, I suspect done right it could look quite stunning.

Thank you,

I didn't one this one, but other variations of this shot and others in the concert, I did do B&W versions of and some had great results. I'll try to go look for some here in a bit.

C
 
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