Shooting a Band ( concert )

jmp2204

Hi Folks , I just obtained permission to photograph a live band(a recording artist) ,It will be my first attempt at shooting a band in a concert light situation .I will likely rent a lense to do this .what should i go after for a lense . ( I shoot a T2i) yes i am a novice , but a guitarist of 34 years . any advice would be appreciated . I currently have an 18-55 70-300 is and 100 2.8 macro

Thanks !!

Mike Bishop

As summer comes in and the weekends warm up enough that I'm happy to hang out in Nashville and do a lot of saterday night photography, I can only hope to start getting a lot of hands on experience at shooting bands in the venues. As for now, I've still got little experience in these types of places so what I say can really be taken lightly.

My favorite lens for night is my 28mm 1.8. (on APS-C cameras) It's wide enough to let me get where the action is to take shots and it's fast enough to do the job. The 50mm 1.8 is a must have lens for anyone that is short of a fast lens in their collection. of my lenses, this would be what I would use if photographing a band were my priority since some space is needed.

In your case, the 100mm macro might be the perfect lens for the situation. The 2.8 should be plenty fast enough as long as you have a lit stage and the focal lenght would be great so you don't have to be right where the action is. This lens should be able to get some great Bokeh when singling out band members for some shots also. The downside is that that long focal length might make the depth of field to shallow at the aperture you need to get a proper exposure when going for whole band shots.

The 28mm, being a short focal length, can get a really big DoF for the aperture. With a little distance and stopped down to 2.8 the 28mm 1.8 should do a great job of capturing the whole band without blurring out your drummer in the back.

Really just a few things to think about but before putting to much dedicated thought into any of, you should really get some extra feedback from people with more experience with these. You could be in a situation where the 17-55mm 2.8 is the best and only option you need. One main thing to keep in mind is that you need a fast enough lens to take the photos and a band will not be sitting still.

jmp2204

Thanks

reyvee61

I'm assuming that the only fast glass you own is the macro based on the ones you listed and being that you have an APS-C sensor renting the 70-200 would put you way back of venue (depending on size) for any wide shots but would serve well for individual closeups of band members. If you have the run of the venue and are up front or even side stage the 70-200 would not be good for anything wider that a 3/4 shot.
I use a 35-70 on a full sized sensor and I can roam from rear venue to front stage with no issues for wide or even head shots so I would recommend something similar in range on APS-C sensor such as a 2.8 24-70 or even wider on the wide end. Not totally familiar with Canon's glass so I'm not sure what's available.

On the settings side I would recommend shooting manual as far as ISO, exposure and f/stop goes. Meter the light available in Av mode with a given aperture from f/2.8 to f/4 at a chosen ISO but probably not higher than 1600 based on what I've seen on the T2i and see what the camera wants to give you for a shutter speed (typically anywhere from 1/80 to 1/250 depending on the intensity of the lighting) and use that as a base for your manual settings. If you shot RAW you can fudge this considerably for instance I will often leave the manual settings alone for a whole entire show and if any shadows need to pulled out afterwards this can easily be done in post.
If you shoot .jpeg then you need to watch your highlights because you wont be able to properly fix blown areas in post. Watch for blown faces in particular and adjust accordingly.

If you want further explanation please feel free to ask as I'm not sure how much of this makes sense to you

Crewd

I shot this band in near worst case lighting and managed to get a fair amount of usable shots with my 50mm 1.4 on my old T2i.

Most of these shots were taken between 1600 and 3200 ISO and arent nearly as sharp as I'd like... But without flash that's about all I could get with the limitations of that camera. (Waiting not so patiently for my 1DX)

The thing to keep in the back of your mind when shooting with that shallow of a depth of field is to keep your plane of focus in line with your subject to maximize the photons you have to work with.

IMG_4621.jpg

ugh... Not sure why it wont let me have any more attachments...

jmp2204

looks like I'm going to rent a 50mm L1.2 and should have the run of the place

reyvee61

So long as you don't get stuck at the back of the building. I used my D7000 with a 50 1.8 at a recent show in Hollywood and I was on the balcony to avoid the mosh pit, needless to say I was unable to get any good close ups.