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- crazzyeddie, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14Some good tips in here, but nothing any serious photographer wouldn't already know.
I don't think it emphasizes the importance of getting a good lens enough, preferably one with vibration reduction, because of the light problems. - ATLBeer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9The venue usually forbids flash photography because it annoys the performer. That and you take the photograph to capture the concert and it's atmosphere. The lighting is usually apart of the show and your lighting detracts from that
- SystemError, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8the faster the glass the better
- brfuk, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Concert photography is interesting. It's quite chaotic but very satisfying.
I was shooting a festival. It was nighttime and Grace Jones had decided to not let any photographers into the 'pit'. Regardless of press pass type.
We weren't happy about this at all. I didn't know how I could possibly get anything decent if we were going to have to brave the crowd. Especially as having waited near the press entrance there was no way we were getting to the front.
So with rubbish, crappy slow telephoto lens equipped, ISO 3200 set, surrounded by people jumping up and down, through a sea of heads and using another girl's head as a tripod I managed to get my favourite Gig photo I've ever done.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brfuk/39019562/in/set-1228774/
So from being very annoyed to Me = Chuffed in the space of 5 mins. - coheedcollapse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Funniest thing about that is that when you go all out, one lens will cost more than your whole friggin camera. I love photography, but man it's expensive.
- sl4x0r, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7I disagree. Your photos might be okay portraits, but they hardly feel like moments from a rock performance. The black & white photos are good, but the color photo just doesn't feel like anything beyond a snapshot.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I used to work as a photographer for a college paper, and the concerts were always my favorite things to take photos at... having fast glass is the best tip, however, standing at the front of a mosh pit at a Local H concert holding a $1500 canon dSLR and an $800 lens was a little scary...
- bouche, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I'm currently saving for one of those. It's amazing what can be done with a lens like that.
- david76, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Most bands do not allow you to take photos with a flash while in the pit. I've never shot at a concert where they've allowed you to use a flash.
- coheedcollapse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Flash is unnatural and it gives the whole photo a crappy color. It's just not good with almost anything...that's my first rule as a photographer - never use it....ever. It casts shadows, lights up places you want darkness....just overall craps up the photo. There are exceptions for studio portraits and lighting if you really have all of the pro equipment, but using flash at a concert is just horrible.
I didn't check out the pictures until just now really...and to tell you the truth I don't think they're anything special...just a little bit of depth of field at most, nothing else. The only one that I really consider anything close to special is "Joe" and that still would have been better at the right moment without flash.
Some of your other photos are pretty interesting though. :D - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Be aware, the "most viewed" button brings up some NSFW photos. Some would call it art, some would call it soft core.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I have an 85mm f/1.2 Canon to go with my 1d MK II
amazing piece and amazing what it did to my wallet - tobsterius, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Care to expand on this? I get the impression that you either are a concert photographer or you know people that are in the business. So please, tell us how it's supposed to be done.
- greg9683, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Being in college is a good place to get press passes for things. The big bands, don't give you much time to shoot. Usually first 2 to 3 songs.
You need at least two bodies. It goes way too fast(in the bigger concert events) to have to change a lens.
Lens(from the Canon side):
A wide angle /midrange
16-35 f/2.8L
24-70 f/2.8L or Sigma's 24-70 f/2.8 EX DG Macro
A mid telephoto
70-200 f/2.8L IS (or non IS)
Sigma 70-200 f/2.8
And a 300mm f/2.8.
Sigma has a great 120-300mm f/2.8(the only 2.8 zoom out there)
Sadly, I'm a poor college student and only had one body and the 70-200 IS. I was lucky enough to photograph the Rolling Stones concert. And the first song was up close, the second 1.5 song was like 70 feet away(where the 300mm comes in handy).
http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/9070/mickcrw94709rn.jpg - cameraman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I hear you on that. I bought Canon's 300mm 2.8 L IS lens last year. Great when I need the reach, but damn at what a price.
- acersucks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2you couldnt be more wrong about the photoshop comment.
photography isnt about technique, its about expression. so while you may not have mastered the technique of your technicality in your camera, as long as you can play with it in photoshop and make what you really want to show people, its perfectly fine to use photoshop.
and infact cropping is one of the most frequently used options in digital photography. why? because you're taught to take more than what you want, that way in 'post-processing' you can shave off the bits.
finally, photoshop IS your digital darkroom and im sure you know that a lot more than just printing is done in a dark room. - alceria, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2He totally failed to mention the #1 tip that has helped me take great concert photos - changing your exposure mode from matrix to spotmeter. I've also found that turning down the saturation in my camera tends to give me less alien-like skin tones, without sacrificing the cool factor of the colored lights.. And for those people that can't get a photo pass, you can get decent photos with a good quality compact camera (way easier to sneak in than a DSLR) if you know what you are doing. Of course that said, don't even bother wasting your time unless you're in one of the first 10 rows and have a decent zoom. You'd have to be a real moron to get caught, as long as you don't use flash and don't do it right in front of an usher, you are golden. Well really, it's the flash they object to anyway, I know I've been spotted shooting before but no one said anything to me because I wasn't using a flash. Don't be obnoxious about playing your photos back on your lcd screen when the place is dark either, that's another sure fire way to get busted.
Unless you have a powerful external flash, permission to use it, and are close enough for your flash to actually hit the subject, flash photography is a recipe for disaster when shooting concerts. Automated cameras will adjust the exposure to compensate for the flash, and most only have a distance of 8-15ft. So you end up with really nicely exposed photos of the backs of the people's heads in front of you, and a tiny, totally underexposed photo of the band. I saw a million photos like this when I worked at a photo lab in college. - adriankeith, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2and it has been for quite some time. photographers with really minimal skills but high end cameras really pull it off when customers come to them asking about getting photography done. i've worked in two camera stores and the last one I worked at was a small but very technical store. we had this one customer who had a 1D MkII but had NO clue how to use it. shot the thing on full auto and people who knew no better raved about his photos and paid him obscene amounts of money for some really ridiculous photography. now that just about anyone can get into photography, its hard to find a competent photographer, and when you do, the prices sound outrageous. so you go with the 500$ photographer who gives you no prints, no album, no blow-up, no group shot, has a horrid eye for impromptu shots, and snaps away at useless things like the cake. people forgot the quality that comes from paying good money. i'm not saying digital isn't a good thing, it's great. but like flap said it really undercuts pro photographers. I worked at that store for about 6 months and just got tired of all the photographers who bought expensive gear but came in day after day asking how to use it. sure you've got a nice camera, sure you've got a nice lens, and everyone has an eye for photography if you think about it. but you can have the best gear and still be the worst photographer on the planet.
and for those who say that shooting with a flash makes things look unnatural, try using a lightsphere. not trying to plug his product, but it does wonders. I thought it was a really silly product when i first saw it, but I bought it after seeing some serious work my friend was doing with it.
also, my opinion on adobe photoshop:
anything beyond desaturation and minor editing to your levels is a sign that you as a photographer may not be very competent. if you have to consistently edit your photos in photoshop, theres something wrong. cropping, color correction, yadda yadda yadda.
you've gotta love those photographers who stare down at their LCD during a wedding session and check every photo if it looks okay. hahaha. - scottauth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Concert photography, photo pit and pass for the first few songs, meh.
Shooting punk / hardcore bands in a tiny venue smooshed against 50 other people, now that's something to be proud of. - DWatch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1cboj's sites require java just to bring up the pics. I don't know if its something normal for web.mac.com, but its damn annoying, especially when you have flashblock installed on firefox, and you have to manually allow java for each site. At least have a fallback html link to the pics!
- flap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yes!
Thank you for typing out exactlly what I was thinking. - ppss, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I once met this concert photographer at a show I was at, he was pretty cool and offered really good tips on getting started for me. Basically if you want to get started in this field don't plan to make a living on it because its more about the love of doing it, You can make some pretty good change, don't get me wrong, but not enough to live off of doing strictly concerts, most concert photogs shoot sports also to pay the bills. anyways, you can check out his site or flickr account here if you want to see some nice photos of bigger bands.
http://www.ishotyourband.com
http://flickr.com/photos/ishotyourband/ - DWatch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm curious, why do they only give you the first three songs to take shots? What happens by the 4th song, all performers get ugly, tired, sweaty, or what?
Nice pic of Jagger, btw... - bgarmisa, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@CoheedCollapse:
I agree with you completely that flash can cool colors and is not always a good thing to use at a concert, especially if you don't know what you're doing. That said, using flash at a concert is far from "horrible." There are a number of situations where flash actually enhances the shot. Slow-Sync Flash shots lend themselves to concert photography perfectly, as it allows the photographer to show the movement of the subject while still maintaining sharpness and definition.
I don't consider myself particularly good at concert photography and mostly just do it for free tickets to bands I like, but I've gotten exceptionally good feedback on these photos (both from the bands themselves as well as friends of mine who happen to be much better photographers than I can ever hope to be), all taken with flash:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bgarmisa/77272478/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bgarmisa/80342736/
http://www.bengarmisa.com/gallery/Lucky_Boys_Confusion/images/DSC_0398.jpg
Granted, those probably aren't the best photos you've ever seen, but the point is (even if you don't like any of those) that flash certainly has applications in concert photography if used correctly. - razzi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You're right about the equipment freaks who don't know how to use the camera, but I don't agree on photoshop. I think a lot of the techniques that you use over there are digital equivalents of techniques that are used for ages in darkrooms.
They can really add additional power to a picture. I won't add a link to my page here, but do a intelligent search on google and you'l find examples of my shots (even with minimal photoshop) - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Um, if you know what you're doing, you can get good shots out of any DSLR, from the digital rebel on up... as long as you have a fast lens, you can get something good with a little skill.. What college newspaper did you work at where they gave you $5000 cameras? cause right now you just sound like an elitist ***** who doesn't understand how to take pictures.. cause i got great pictures with the EOS 10D that i had to work with...
- flap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"...the newspaper wants photos, you want into the pit and to get some experience. Everybody wins."
Except the people trying to make a living at photography. Undercutting pro photogs is so hot right now. - bouche, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2here's my fav from the Crowes in my Flickr Gallery. Setup a live music photography group in Flickr and I'll join!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bouche/147362261/ - bouche, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2nice article. I shoot live music quite frequently. I was very lucky in getting a photopass for the Black Crowes current tour.
http://www.jambands.ca/sanctuary/showtopic.php?tid/231172/
It is definately one of the funnest things to do as a music fan AND musician. I learn so much about a band in those first few songs and I always make a point to check out the pedal setup for the guitarists. Line 6 DL-4 is a very popular pedal btw! - david76, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Most labels just require a request for a press-pass on letterhead which is easy enough to produce. Back in '96 I shot a lot of concerts and started out by creating an "online" web magazine front for which I made simple letterhead for requests. I don't know how well this will work today.
- UnseenLlama, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm sorry, but anyone that photographs The Darkness has fallen off his rocker.
- PathDaemon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The writer says that he's seen good flash concert photos, but it's much safer to go without.
- juanbobo808, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1As a guy with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel in his hands, this article was really useful. Thanks for the link, I'll definitely try some of the techniques out.
- PopcornDave, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That's one of the cool things you can do in a smaller venue. Years ago I was in The Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco ( now defunct ) to see The Plugs and Black Flag. Using my 80-200 telephoto on my Olympus 35mm I got some great shots of the band.
Security was cool enough that I got to do stage side shots, and with the telephoto I could easily shoot from the table. Nobody hassled me at all. - bouche, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1there's nothing like a snooty 'musician'. You got a great shot despite that. I didn't realize that Grace Jones still put on shows. I always thought she sucked though.
- cameraman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I second the free thing. If you call up your local rag about shooting, they should be paying you. Lets not even get into rights contracts...
- aplusplus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Pretty good article. I've been a part of numerous online music magazines & such and it's actually pretty easy to get a press pass. Of course, if you aren't that well-known... you should at least be able to gain access for independent artists. Also, bands signed to major labels which are still relatively unknown and in need or promotion. Easiest way to gain this information and such is to search around for their contacts or their label's contacts for press / publicists through their websites. Shoot them an email and hope for the best. Though, I suppose MySpace may actually help this now, as well.
Just, have a clean lens and not some garbage blurry shots -- so sick of seeing that concert "photography." - greg9683, on 10/12/2007, -0/+085 1.2 MKII. Beautiful. Have you had any issues with CA? That's the one con I've heard about besides the dent in the wallet. :p
cameraman, great lens you got there. It's one of the sharpest out there along with that 200 1.8L and 400 2.8L IS. :D Dreamy.... - chrisgeleven, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1My brother has made quite a name out of himself doing concert photography for punk bands around the Northeast (mostly New Hampshire). A year ago he couldn't take a photo without his thumb showing up in front of half of his photos, now he has literally thousands of photos, requests from college students for internships, has done about 3-4 speeches on his work (he did this as a senior project), and he is now expanding into interviews of bands.
Not bad for a kid who is graduating high school next month.
Check out http://www.future-breed.com/ for some of his photos. He did it all with a $500 digital camera that is about 4 years old. No joke. - cavadela, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1You guys might enjoy this website full of concert photography of alternative and not so alternative bands:
http://popfolio.com/
I've seen her pictures on the British musical newspapers such as NME. And some of the images are really amazing in the way she works with the color onstage. - rickvug, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This article missed the tip that saved me the most trouble of all: USE YOUR SPOTMETER! Lighting at concerts is constantly changing and can quickly make metering useless, especially with the contrast between extremely bright lights and black shadows. With your meter set to spot, expose for skin tone, as that will be the most important aspect of the shot.
Also, I highly recommend shooting RAW for shows (a given), as white balance and exposure are problematic. Try to keep the ISO down as low as you can, especially on digital. If you can, brace your arm against the stage or use a monopod and this will allow you to shoot at lower speeds.
Hope this helps. I picked up most of this from a book on concert photography - a good buy if you are into this. Just search amazon, as I forget the title right now.
Update: here's the book - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0964700913/102-6264859-0324942?v=glance&n=283155 - boristheflorist, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Why are people making such a big deal about this being for n00bs? Of course it is, professional photographers do not learn their craft from a one page article on gig photography. It's a bit sad that people are getting so arsey about it.
I also wish that people would stop repeating the fallacy that flash is always a bad idea for decent gig photography. Anybody who claims this must only shoot a small variety of bands. Band photography is about representing the show and how it felt to be there. For a hardcore show you're simply limiting yourself by not using flash and there's no way you can get the intensity across without it at times. I wouldn't normally give a link but it does demonstrate what I mean: http://www.flickr.com/photos/isaacstrang/sets/1386469/
You can often shoot for the whole set if you ask the tour manager nicely and a polite request at the right type of show will mean you can use flash too. - greg9683, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"DWatch:
I'm curious, why do they only give you the first three songs to take shots? What happens by the 4th song, all performers get ugly, tired, sweaty, or what?"
Thanks for the comments. Why the first couple? Well at least with the Stones, they bragged how they set up the lighting for photography. So for this particular concert they catered to us. But they don't want to give the photographers a free show(if you don't have a ticket you have to leave). They feel you have enough time to get your photo and leave. They don't value the media part much. This was the same for a fellow photographer who went to photograph U2 at Staples center earlier that week way back. - nicepants, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I've shot local concert photos for several years. Some of the best advice I would give is:
-Shoot for the House/Venue
-Carry business cards
-Network!
Most of the gigs I shoot are situations where I'm contacted by people I know at the venue itself wanting publicity photos and those have always been the ones that have gone the most smoothly. There is always going to be that one road manager who flips out when he sees someone with a big SLR. (Though it never really made sense that they get so upset). But in situations like this, the venue/house will usually go to bat for you and take care of things.
http://snipurl.com/r48p
These are some photos I've shoot for a local venue in Kansas City. The great thing is, once you start working with one venue, your name will get out there and you'll have credibility for some others. A little networking goes a long way. Talking to the other photographers at the event helps too. - Cine, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1So now, not only all the Apple and Wii articles are going to have people complaining about all the Apple and Wii articles, but the photography articles are going to have the same thing? Seriously, what do you people like?
I have absolutely no interest in, say, airplanes and Google, but I still don't complain loudly everytime there's an article on it on the frontpage. - grooverider, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0homeboy in the second picture looks totally mashed! look at those eyes.
- dreadfuldan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Some good advice there. There's another article linked from digg that might be useful to concert snappers:
http://digg.com/music/Tips_for_live_music_concert_photography - pilotvaughn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Nice clarification. Concert photographers have their own routines, tricks, etc. This article is simply listing techniques for n00bs. Spend 5 minutes on the "Pro forum" of http://www.dpreview.com to see how the real pros operate.
- versionke, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Personally, I find the "recommended" 2.8 lenses too slow for the majority of shows. Where they may be ok for shooting at larger venues with sufficient stage lighting, the lighting at clubs is usually quite sparse. I tend to always fall back on my inexpensive fixed 50mm 1.4 and 85mm 1.8 and have been pleased with the results whether shooting w/3200 film or 1600-3200 digital. Then again, a lot of it all comes down to personal style.
As for getting started, take you camera to shows, turn off your damn flash, build your portfolio, and you'll eventually begin to get noticed.
http://www.versionke.com - anhnguyen, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1totally nooby tips.. .as a concert photographer... true about most of the points... but its not going to be as easy as it sounds to get photo passes and finding the contact number of who is in charge of the venue.. but its good way to use your social engineering skills..
anh
anh-nguyen.com -
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