Comments on: Concert Photography

By: Link love for August 26th

Link love for August 26th — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:55:57 +0000

[...] Concert Photography :: Photocritic photography blog – Article full of tips for concert photography. I’m planning to visit the Adam and Eve this Sunday for 8-bit Ninja’s gig, amongst others, to give gig photography a go. Share/Bookmark This article was written by daniel on Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 12:57 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Tags: blog concert gig photography tips [...]

By: David Charles

David Charles — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:12:08 +0000

Interesting piece and lots of good additional replies.

I shoot all sorts of commercial jobs, including a few live stage jobs, and I agree with the fact it is challenging. After lots of experimenting, I now use manual control for the bulk of my shots. This requires a bit of testing during the performance in order to get the settings in the right range, and then I can wait to capture the right moment. This procedure does reduce the number of shots but it does improve the quality of the captures.

Good luck,
David

By: Adam

Adam — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 08:39:24 +0000

Great article. Concert photography looks like so much fun!

By: hippaz hoppaz

hippaz hoppaz — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:30:30 +0000

if some read this i need little advice, what if you go on concert alone, and got chance to take picture with main artist/singer

did is safe to give on next man your camera and he to take picture of you and singer, or ??

By: Oyvind

Oyvind — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:16:04 +0000

If you like concert photography check out my collaboration with REM, available at misc.section – int store – at remhq.com or just see remtsp.com – great article!

By: snapper

snapper — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:12:48 +0000

Best tip is to jemmy that LCD out the back of that fancy dSLR and shove a roll of Tri-X at 800Asa in.

dSLRs have made everyone a photographer and yet, ironically, there are almost no decent rock photographers out there. Just people with expensive kit and no eye, taking hundreds of shots and hoping it’s ‘in there somewhere’. Even the so called best of them produce sterile shots as if lifted from an HDTV documentary.

The discipline of a roll of 36 exposures is the best teacher and the b&W results more ’soulful’. Digital technically captures it all, but who wants technically perfect dullness?

Take a look at the pictures from the 70s and 80s, forget whether you know the band or not, the pictures are ‘real’ and worth something every time.

By: Allen Ross Thomas

Allen Ross Thomas — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 05:25:36 +0000

Excellent article. I share many of the same sentiments. Both in the article and the thread comments.

By: Matter Of Fact Art

Matter Of Fact Art — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:13:12 +0000

I shoot a lot of concert photography (for large and small bands and venues) and I will agree with most of what you have said. Shutter speeds at 125th or more are a must to keep from getting blur with most bands (though a small amount of artistic blur can be acceptable in some shots.) High ISO is also must but good noise software can help. I always shoot in RAW so if I have to underexpose to get the shot I can add brightness in post (much more options when shooting RAW and editing than JPEGs such as white balance,contrast,saturation,and exposure) You have to be careful of large apertures and being very close as your DOF becomes shallower the closer you get to the subject. The Canon 24mm f/1.4, 50mm f/1.4, and 85mm f/1.8 are a perfect trio of fast primes for low light concert photography (even for a crop camera such as the 7D) and they are not expensive. Just a few of my thoughts. You can check out some examples at http://www.matteroffactart.wordpress.com.

By: preston richardsop

preston richardsop — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:16:52 +0000

i took this shot with a point and shoot. so have i proved you wrong?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/preston_r/4498156939/

By: Pshemek

Pshemek — Tue, 04 May 2010 19:39:43 +0000

Great article . nice photographs. I like photo of eighteen vision. well done

By: Silvijo

Silvijo — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:44:58 +0000

Great article, check out my concert photography http://silvijoselman.wordpress.com/
hope U like it

By: pshemek

pshemek — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:05:53 +0000

Great article, I would love to start doing concert photography. This article is very helpful.

By: Greg Taylor

Greg Taylor — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:13:17 +0000

Great article. Concert photography is an especially rewarding form of photography. It’s hard work and you have to battle bad lights, lots of movement and everything else.
I always plan for the unexpected. My quick words to someone starting in concert photography would be: know your surroundings, know your settings and trust your instincts.

By: Doug Lewis

Doug Lewis — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:50:12 +0000

I shoot every show with a Nikon D40 with f/3.5-5.6 55mm-200mm and a 18mm-55mmf/3.5-5.6. and use a Manual Flash I get rude looks from some Big Lens Photographers but My work proves I just have to work a little harder. I have photographed Bachman Cummings Band, Kim Mitchell, and Shoot for The Carpet Frogs (Backing Band for Bachman Cummings. Have Shot Rik Emmett of Triumph and Many local acts.
I bust my ass and enjoy all of it.
Thanks for posting the Inspiring article

By: Book: Put another dime in the jukebox - Photography Today!

Book: Put another dime in the jukebox - Photography Today! — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:29:11 +0000

[...] of fond of this whole concert photography thing – and I’ve written about it at length here on Photocritic, and I’ve got a big(ish) portfolio of concert photos over on Flickr. One thing I’ve [...]

By: Book: Put another dime in the jukebox :: Photocritic photography blog

Book: Put another dime in the jukebox :: Photocritic photography blog — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:47:34 +0000

By: Concert Photography « Jenni Green Photography

Concert Photography « Jenni Green Photography — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:59:17 +0000

[...] By jennigreenphotography I found this cool site that talks about band photography and I think anyone interested in doing this should check it out! Here is some more of my images, [...]

By: Let’s rock this joint « Jon’s Place

Let’s rock this joint « Jon’s Place — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 12:24:31 +0000

[...] show — which was snapped, in breach of official “Are you a proper photographer?” guidance, in auto mode as I couldn’t twiddle the dial fast [...]

By: bbackerson

bbackerson — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:11:09 +0000

Speaking of concert photography,Billboard and PDN just extended the deadline on the ultimate music moment photo contest to Sept 18th. Billboard and PDN are gonna give out a bunch of cool stuff and publish the images of whoever can capture the best pic of an artist, crowd, or music moment on their magazines and websites. They’re taking both amateurs and professional, more details at http://www.billboardphotocontest.com/.

By: Mário Pires

Mário Pires — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:39:25 +0000

I have been doing concert photography for some time now. The advice i can give is that you should move a lot (except when i am not allowed by the venue, or musicians agent). Fast lenses are something photographers should consider also.
Other than that is just a question of having your eyes open and “read” the moves the musicians make.
Every concert is a challenge, most of our photos will be “average”, but sometimes we can get some real good ones!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/retorta/sets/

By: 10 ways to break photographer’s block :: Photocritic photography blog

10 ways to break photographer’s block :: Photocritic photography blog — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:19:20 +0000

[...] Photography generally comes in a ton of genres, and I bet you a lot of money that you’re not as conversant in all of them. So why not try to work on improving your work in one genre? For me personally, portraiture really clicked after I had done a load of animal and live band photography. [...]

By: Haje Jan Kamps

Haje Jan Kamps — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:38:54 +0000

Hi Patrick – can you post a couple of links to concert photos taken at 6400 ISO which have no noise in them?

By: Patrick Beaudry

Patrick Beaudry — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:29:40 +0000

First of, I’m going to try my best to staying civil here. You’re making it hard for some of us Pro Photogs, that make a living on concert photography. Your insight on how to obtain a photo pass is not something that should be done, even less suggested.

The industry doesn’t need to be saturated with “wannabe” concert photographers that are prostituting the market with free services. What the heck are you thinking?? Some of us do this for more than a hobby, and need to put food on our tables. Work is work, and should be compensated!

Now on a more technical side, your comment on ISO settings is no very coherent. Buy decent equipment, and you’ll be able to set your ISO value to 6400, without the slightest amount of noise whatsoever.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:19:14 +0000

Hi Haje, I’d like to use a photo you took from Sonisphere (August 1,2) in my article. This photo is also featured on Wikipedia. I just want to obtain your permission to be sure I’m being compliant with copyrights, etc. I’d be happy to credit you as photographer, of course and put a link to your article here. Please e-mail me and let me know a.s.a.p. Thanks in advance.

By: samantha

samantha — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:39:09 +0000

I heard about this photo contest Billboard and PDN are having…basically you could either be an amateur or a professional and all you need to do is submit your photos from a concert or of an artist. The winner gets a completely free trip for 2 to a Billboard star-studded event plus your photos published in Billboard magazine and on Billboard.com. The link is http://www.billboardphotocontest.com/ and the deadline is Sept 8th…check it out!!

By: Haje Jan Kamps

Haje Jan Kamps — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:26:35 +0000

As long as you’re not making money of the photos; yes. You can’t use band photos for commercial purposes anyway (unless you pay the band a fortune, and then it’s usually done in an advertising context), so use the photos for news, features, and your portfolio, and nothing else :)

By: Vince

Vince — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:07:27 +0000

can you post pictures of bands on your professional portfolio website without a signed release form?

By: amie

amie — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:07:38 +0000

great photos, and great writeup! just starting out a photo blog so i’m happy to have come across this site..

By: concert photography

concert photography — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:27:05 +0000

really very interesting post!concert photography is great...love this article.thanks for sharing.. digitalpicturezone

By: Mary Lupo

Mary Lupo — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:23:37 +0000

THANK YOU for any help you can supply me with.

Mary