Tips for shooting indoors at a concert?

Joined: 02 Jul 2006 Posts: 134 Location: chicagoland

going to a concert this evening with my new rebel xt. my new lenses aren't here yet, so i planned on using the kit 18-55 lens. any pointers on shooting at a small indoor venue?

thanks!!
matt

Joined: 26 Jan 2005 Posts: 360 Location: Revere, Boston

increase ISO to something like 800 or 1600 so you can use faster shutter speed, shoot with wide open aperture... keep you camera steady and goodluck...

you may wanna invest some money in faster lense with powerfull zoom and maybe flash unit...

~alen

Joined: 18 Sep 2006 Posts: 58

a little off topic but...when you say wide open aperture, does that mean a higher number in f/#, or a lower number? i'm still not quite sure what an aperture does after reading the sticky...excuse me for the newbie question!

Joined: 26 Jan 2005 Posts: 360 Location: Revere, Boston

wide open smaller number ex. f2, f3 and so on
closed down means higher number ex. f16, f22...

here is an image to help you out little bit...

think of the aperture numbers as division...

so 1/f2 is bigger then 1/f22

Joined: 13 Feb 2005 Posts: 212 Location: Los Feliz, CA

Hi Matt,

Over the last year I've been doing a lot of concert photography. My best advice is to use as high of an ISO as you can and, as said before, wide aperture. This will allow for the shortest possible shutter speed given the light you have to work with, which is very important to minimize motion blur. Also, TAKE AS MANY SHOTS AS YOU CAN. In dark settings I am usually happy with getting 1 good shot out of 5. If your XT has the capability definitely place it on continuous shooting mode, I believe XT does 3 shots a second. Very important for catching specific moments. Kind of like the shotgun effect. I shot a concert last year with my 18-55mm ... you can check the results out here:

http://www.brandongreeley.com/concerts/loma_lynda.html

Good luck! I would really like to see samples when you are done :)

Brandon

Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:24 pm

Nice shots Brandon.

I've been shooting for about a year now and will usually start with the following:

ISO: 800
Canon 70-200IS 2.8 lens
Camera set to TV mode
Starting shutter speed: 125
NO FLASH!
Camera set to partial metering

From these settings I can usually capture decent shots. If too dark I'll bump up the ISO to 1250, and if still too dark I'll go to 1600 or even 3200 ISO

When I get bored (after shooting the standard shots) and want to get creative, I'll slow down the shutter speed for blur motion. I'll also take a shot and zoom in with the lens at the same time for some interesting effects. I've also been known to flip the camera to manual and play around with sloooooooooow shutter speeds. In addition to zooming the lens, I'll also shoot slow and make the letter J with the camera (makes it look as though the subject is flying into the frame).

I've had no training, just decided to buy a camera and went out and pounded the ground shooting bands. Surprisingly, some of the first sets of shots I took are my best (no idea why.. haha). I was shooting in manual and just taking practice shots till the exposure looked OK. I still do that now but with the TV mode, the guesswork is taken care of.

Probably the best advice I can give personally is to FILL THE FRAME (don't leave a lot of room around the border), take a LOT of shots to work with, and EDIT EDIT EDIT (take 200 shots of a set but choose the best 10-20 shots to present to a customer or your website)

http://rickweller.com/music

Joined: 15 Dec 2005 Posts: 48 Location: Edinburgh

Ok, first off, get faster lenses, if you can get it the 50mm f1.8 or f1.4 are great for low light stuff.
I have been shooting bands for a while now, been shooting for a local magazine for a year. In your case (just as i started out) Shoot in apperture priority, wide open, then spot meter for the face. Use a high ISO to get your shutter speed between 1/125 and 1/80, Below 1/60 you will get motion blur. Shoot in continuous mode and try and fill the frame with decent compositions.
Try to look out for moments of particular interest, i.e cool facial expressions, cool instrument work, emotion, passion, movement.
Try to get the emotion of a song through the singers face, or the concentration on the musicians face.
The standard is first 3 songs no flash. But if its a local band u can stretch this. Try using a bit of fill in flash or try zoom bursts. Once you get an exposure ur happy with switch to manual, dial it in and concentrate on composition and timing.

See my website FAQ pages for more help.
www.fisherphotographics.co.uk
Then go to portfolio.
Hope that helps.
Ed

Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 251 Location: Metro Detroit

I've noticed something that hasn't been mentioned yet.

A lot of your luck is going to depend on how well the venue is lit. If you've got permission to shoot a big name venue that seats people in massive numbers, then chances are it's going to have very excellent lighting up close for everyone sitting way in the back to be able to see. I've shot concerts with the 75-300 f/4-5.6 lens, and had EXCELLENT results with the good lighting. Then again, I've had shows in smaller venues that were so dark, I couldn't salvage shots with my 50mm f/1.8. It's all going to depend on how the light in the venue is.

I have a rebel xt. Here's my typical pre-show setup:

-Set the camera dial to Av, that lets you control how open the aperture is. You want it as low as possible. Since you're using the kit lens, it's going to fluctuate on its own (18mm will be f/3.5.. and as you zoom up to 55mm the fstop will increase to f/5.6) Nothing you can do about it.. just limitations of the lens. The dial on the top of the lens.. crank it until you get the lowest number possible. With the lens zoomed back as wide as you can go, you should hit 3.5.

-Set your ISO to 800. Try to snap a quick picture of the stage, see how it turns out. If you get a lot of blurring, or the shutter speed is too slow for you, then play with exposure compensation (I typically do this before switching to a higher ISO). To do this, hold down the button next to the lcd readout with Av and +/- graphic next to it. While holding that button, crank the little wheel near the shutter. The LCD has an indicator for -2 to +2 for exposure. Crank it down to -2. Take another picture. If you're happy with it, leave the settings alone and have fun.

-Bad pic? Undo the compensation (hold the button, crank it back up to 0)
Change ISO to 1600. Try test pic (probably worse than you had with ISO800 and -2 comp). Bump the exposure comp back down to whatever level you find works best.

In dark dark venues, I'll shoot with ISO1600 and -2 compensation on the exposure. In some of the better lit stages, I've managed 400 with the -2 comp. Mind you, this is with pretty well lit stages.

I eventually picked up Sigma's 28-70mm f/2.8-4.0 lens. It's not the constant 2.8 ap, but variable up to 4.0. Personally, I think it's all you'd need for a concert lens up close for when you just start out. Good range, excellent for low light performance (considering the price).. and it comes with e lens hood.

Good luck with your concert shots.

Joined: 18 Sep 2006 Posts: 58

just remember to use NR!