Shooting bands in crazy lighting.

j photog

I find that bands are fairly easy to please. Make the shot artsy and the crazy lighting effects...and they seem happy.

But I want more and need to learn more. What would you very wise folks recommend I set my camera at and what kind of lens when I'm shooting in low light, multi-colored light, and of course, all the action and movement--(all of this at once typically)?

I have a D50 (I feel so behind) and usually set the ISO at 1600 which I find of course can cause that hated speckling at times. Plus is a flash always necessary? And if so, what kind of technique should I use with a flash?

Alot of questions. I know. But I'm just a green little thing.

gluwater

Get the fastest lens you can, like an f/1.4 or f/1.8. You do not ever want to use flash because you will cancel out the stage lighting, if you must use flash use a negative adjustment on it so you will only get a little fill from it but it will not be your main light. There is no way around using high ISO and yes, you will have noise in your images. Keep your shutter speed up so you will stop the action and will not have camera shake. But you can lower your shutter speed if you have VR or a very steady hand so then you can get motion blur from your subject to show movement such as a hand strumming a guitar.

j photog

gluwater wrote:

Get the fastest lens you can, like an f/1.4 or f/1.8. You do not ever want to use flash because you will cancel out the stage lighting, if you must use flash use a negative adjustment on it so you will only get a little fill from it but it will not be your main light. There is no way around using high ISO and yes, you will have noise in your images. Keep your shutter speed up so you will stop the action and will not have camera shake. But you can lower your shutter speed if you have VR or a very steady hand so then you can get motion blur from your subject to show movement such as a hand strumming a guitar.

thanks for the input. as for the 1.8...only thing i have at the moment is a 50mm 1.8.

Fred Maurer

As mentioned above - use fastest lens possible, no flash, widest aperature for acceptable DOF, fastest speed to stop motion, and a steady hand. I always shoot RAW to adjust white balance to more natural skin tones. Most of the stage lights are tungsten, but mixtures of different lights can be very difficult to adjust. Favorite lenses are 135mm (2.0), 85mm (1.8), 50mm (1.4), and depending on venue, 70-200mm (2.8) with IS. Almost always use ISO1600, (sometimes pushed to 3200) and occassionally process with Noise Ninja. The noise is not always a detriment. Make sure you have fun and enjoy the show!




Here are some galleries http://www.fredmaurer.smugmug.com/Music

claudermilk

As has been said: the fastest lens you can get. That 50/1.8 will work nicely, just be aware of your focus point since the DOF is going to be very thin. To counteract that, I force my camera to use the center focus point only.

To deal with the lighting, I'd suggest this: first, no flash as it's annoying and kills the feel of the stage lighting; next, get your WB set. Two way to do this: if you can get a gray card shot with an un-gelled light beforehand then either set the camera to Custom WB from that or use the shot later in PP to adjust the rest; if that is not feasible, then I have had very good luck setting to Kelvin 3200. I'm not sure if the D50 can do that (I shoot a 20D which is very well suited to this situation).

I also shoot in Aperture-priority and leave the lens wide open for the maximum shutter speed I can get.

j photog

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Here are some galleries http://www.fredmaurer.smugmug.com/Music[/quote]

great advice! and wonderful photos. i need to get to saving to get more lenses. i don't shoot RAW though. not yet because i need to get the software compatible with it.

j photog

claudermilk wrote:

if you can get a gray card shot with an un-gelled light beforehand then either set the camera to Custom WB from that or use the shot later in PP to adjust the rest; if that is not feasible, then I have had very good luck setting to Kelvin 3200. I'm not sure if the D50 can do that (I shoot a 20D which is very well suited to this situation).

I also shoot in Aperture-priority and leave the lens wide open for the maximum shutter speed I can get.

i don't have the capibility for the 3200 with my D50. as for PP, i know i sound really stupid here, but what does that mean again?

j photog

ok...like with this photo

http://artsbyj.smugmug.com/gallery/2287126#123071103-L-LB

what if i wanted it to be more of a natural face here.
i really didn't though at the time and they liked how they all were different colors from the lighting, but still. i need to challenge myself more.

Fred Maurer

PP = Post processing. Not much can be done to the jpeg image you link, (other then BW). Colors are very oversaturated as happens with stage lighting. A big benefit of RAW is that you can adjust the white balance to achieve a more natural tone, (if that is what you want to do).

dlphotography

There are a few ways. Some people already mentioned a fast lens - f/1.4-f/1.8

This way you could capture the ambient light while maintaining a fast enough shutter.



or you could consider using "second curtain." It is in the camera settings. Basically, you fire off with your flash, and the shutter remains open for a longer time (such as 1/6) for it to capture the ambient light. It makes that "artsy fartsy" lighting. You could twist and turn and bend the light thereafter.



Or the thrid way is to place a remote strobe and it light off like this

dlphotography

oh yeah, to answer your question, yes, flash is okay. Just be careful of direct flash which could cause harsh shadows and all, unless done with second curtain shutter.

cheers!

FatNakedGuy

Leave the flash at home, or better yet, sell it on ebay!

Main lens is the 70-200mm IS Canon. I usually start with 800 iso, 125 shutter, and dial aperture in for exposure. The camera is almost always set to partial metering (meters off 11% of the center I think??). If lighting is super bad (like you can't see your toes), I'll bust out the 1.4 50mm Canon lens.

Just go out and try it all. You'll find something that works well for you... and most important, have fun!