Concert Pics

ront

We went to a concert this last Saturday evening. There were 5 bands there and here are a few pics of 2 of them.

Ron

The Backstones










The Listening












My youngest daughter and the band




Here is a link to the rest of the pictures if you would like to look at them.
http://ront.smugmug.com/Concerts/643397

dogwood

I'd suggest you ditch your flash for the stage shots. Looks like you're pretty much blasting both the musicians and the stage with so much light that all perception of depth is totally gone.

Even smaller clubs usually have decent stage lighting. Crank up the ISO and use that to your advantage. Most of the clubs will light the bands from both the front and back to create that illusion of depth in photos.

If you absolutely MUST use your flash, set it on manual and dial it WAY down so it acts as a fill light. Even then, it might blow out your images if you're not careful.

ront

Thanks Pete. You know, I generally do not use flash at all, it often is not allowed. It was allowed this time and I decided to try it. I am still pretty new to all of this. I am wishing that I had done more of the pictures with out the flash!!

Thanks, Ron

KoryJ

I don't mean to hijack but I take tons of concert shots of local bands in my town and never use the flash. I had been using a d50 until recently upgrading to a d90 with much more room in the ISO range. Here are some example of what I was able to get with the d50 with a max of 1600ISO.
you may get caught with a lot of red light but you can always adjust that here and there or adjust the white balance to take care of it, I have grown to like the red/orange cast.

ront

I generally have not used flash before either. I was just trying it out. Some examples of my pics not using it.

Ron


Need to Breathe





Wavorly


Pillar

crockett

To the original poster. If you ever get an opportunity to use flash in a concert scenario again, I wouldn't totally give up on the idea. The main reason because it is so rare that you get to use it (I use to do some concert photography) and whenever you get a chance as a photographer to manipulate the light you should at least try to leverage that chance.

If there is a next time, try snooting or griding that flash and blowing tunnels of light in certain spots (highlighting the guitar, singers face, etc.) and using ambient to light the rest of the frame. You can make homemade snoots for next to nothing out of foam core or cereal boxes.

The biggest thing I try to avoid is walking away from a shoot and realizing I just took 200 shots and in every one I did something the exact same (like in every pic I used the flash).

i.e. Am I doing the following....
Switching lenses
Pics w/ Flash
Pics w/ no flash
Stopping action
Not Stopping action (purposely including motion blur)
In Focus
Porposely Not In Focus
Zooming In during long exposures
Zooming Out during long exposure
Moving Around
Following the : From above, from below, from all around rule.
Portrait Mode
Landscape Mode
Looking for color shots
Looking for shots with the thoughts of converting to B+W
Shoot the crowd
Shoot the lights
Create some flare in shots

I'm sure there are more....

Finally, whoever took the pic of the Cello player from above with the dancers on the left of the frame, Bravo!!! Very nice shot. Concert shots can really begin to look all the same after awhile but you certainly don't see too many like that. A very nice image.

ront

Thanks for the input and suggestions crockett!! You have some ideas there that I had never even thought of. Great post!

Ron