band photos/help

lr1811 · March 2, 2005

Hope this is the right place for this one...

I plan on taking pictures of a friend's band while they perform at a local bar in a few weeks. One of my biggest concerns is lighting. Other then the lights there, I will only have an external flash (that I need to buy this week!)

As a newer digital SLR photographer, my experiences in low light have not been the best.

I have seen some awesome band shots and was hoping for some advice... not only with the lighting but overall. Any suggestions?!

Brian

gubbs · March 3, 2005

Brian, I can't see any pictures

dkapp · March 3, 2005

You may want to send Sid (wxwax) a PM. I know he's done some band photography in the past. I think he could be a big help.

What lenses do you have? Will the club allow a flash during the performance? I know some places don't allow it.

Dave

lr1811 · March 3, 2005

flash

dkapp wrote:

You may want to send Sid (wxwax) a PM. I know he's done some band photography in the past. I think he could be a big help.

What lenses do you have? Will the club allow a flash during the performance? I know some places don't allow it.

Dave

I will send Sid a message...

I am using a Nikon D70. I have a few lenses I plan to bring, a 50mm (which seems to do well in low light) and the 18-70mm that came with the camera. The club & band will allow the flash. I need to buy an external flash before I go - I don't recall the model # but I think it was like the SB-900.

Thanks!
Brian

wxwax · March 3, 2005

Here's my quick note to Brian. Dunno if it's of any use, but it's what I think about when I shoot in small clubs, which are an extremely challenging environment. Just make sure you get close and fill the frame!

Here's a brief summary of my experiences.

1/ I only tried flash a couple of times. I found that it light up the background too much, and revealed all the ugliness of the stage etc. I decided it was too harsh, too revealing - and so I haven't touched a flash since. At Patch's suggestion, I did buy a snoot for the flash, to better control where the light goes, but I haven't tried it yet. If you shoot flash, no need to read what follows. Just make sure to fill your frame with the performer, get as close as you can, and get their eyes in focus.

2/ Shutter speed is the biggest challenge when shooting without flash. I keep buying faster glass, and pushing the limits of my camera's ISO, in order to get a fast enough shutter speed.

3/ Club lighting is terrible. In my experience, the lighting is so bad in small clubs, that it's extremely difficult to get a fast enough shutter speed to get crisp shots. People who play musical instruments move a lot, and in low light, you need fast glass and high ISO to stop their motion. This is the single biggest challenge.

3/ Fast glass = narrow depth of field and focus issues. I have a f1.4 lens, which is nice. But I have to remember that that means I have a narrow depth of field. So if I'm close to my subject, I must remember to focus on their eyes, otherwise the shot doesn't work. So I do a lot of center focus and recompose.

4/ Low light = autofocus problems. I don't know what the D70 is like in low light. But don't be surprised if your camera 'hunts' for focus at times.

5/ Remember the rule of thumb about shutter speed and focal length - it's a 1:1 relationship, if you will. So at 50mm, keep your shutter speed at or above 1/50th, otherwise you'll get blur.

6/ I have yet to find any white light during a show. Your subjects will be bathed in red, blue, yellow or some other color. So be very careful with your exposures. Things may meter fine overall, but be way overexposed on the red channel, for example. I'm lucky that my camera has a histogram with color channels, so I can see when there's a problem (as there was Tuesday night - the histogram looked fine, but it's a composite. When I looked at the red channel, it was blown out. So I brought the exposure down.)

7/ Check your histogram. Just keep a careful eye on your exposure.

8/ Shoot lots and lots. It's the only way to get a handful of successful images. You'll have tons of bad ones - don't be discouraged, just shoot enough that you get maybe 3-5 halfway decent ones.

I think that's it. Good luck, I look forward to seeing your results. It's a fun challenge. I always make sure to tell the band members not to expect anything.

lr1811 · March 3, 2005

thank you
Like I said in the PM, I appreciate the advice. Def. gives me things to think about... I look forward to the challenge and hopefully will return with a few decent shots!

Brian

wxwax wrote:

Here's my quick note to Brian. Dunno if it's of any use, but it's what I think about when I shoot in small clubs, which are an extremely challenging environment. Just make sure you get close and fill the frame!

Here's a brief summary of my experiences.

1/ I only tried flash a couple of times. I found that it light up the background too much, and revealed all the ugliness of the stage etc. I decided it was too harsh, too revealing - and so I haven't touched a flash since. At Patch's suggestion, I did buy a snoot for the flash, to better control where the light goes, but I haven't tried it yet. If you shoot flash, no need to read what follows. Just make sure to fill your frame with the performer, get as close as you can, and get their eyes in focus.

2/ Shutter speed is the biggest challenge when shooting without flash. I keep buying faster glass, and pushing the limits of my camera's ISO, in order to get a fast enough shutter speed.

3/ Club lighting is terrible. In my experience, the lighting is so bad in small clubs, that it's extremely difficult to get a fast enough shutter speed to get crisp shots. People who play musical instruments move a lot, and in low light, you need fast glass and high ISO to stop their motion. This is the single biggest challenge.

3/ Fast glass = narrow depth of field and focus issues. I have a f1.4 lens, which is nice. But I have to remember that that means I have a narrow depth of field. So if I'm close to my subject, I must remember to focus on their eyes, otherwise the shot doesn't work. So I do a lot of center focus and recompose.

4/ Low light = autofocus problems. I don't know what the D70 is like in low light. But don't be surprised if your camera 'hunts' for focus at times.

5/ Remember the rule of thumb about shutter speed and focal length - it's a 1:1 relationship, if you will. So at 50mm, keep your shutter speed at or above 1/50th, otherwise you'll get blur.

6/ I have yet to find any white light during a show. Your subjects will be bathed in red, blue, yellow or some other color. So be very careful with your exposures. Things may meter fine overall, but be way overexposed on the red channel, for example. I'm lucky that my camera has a histogram with color channels, so I can see when there's a problem (as there was Tuesday night - the histogram looked fine, but it's a composite. When I looked at the red channel, it was blown out. So I brought the exposure down.)

7/ Check your histogram. Just keep a careful eye on your exposure.

8/ Shoot lots and lots. It's the only way to get a handful of successful images. You'll have tons of bad ones - don't be discouraged, just shoot enough that you get maybe 3-5 halfway decent ones.

I think that's it. Good luck, I look forward to seeing your results. It's a fun challenge. I always make sure to tell the band members not to expect anything.

wxwax · March 3, 2005

No sweat, mate. It's fun trying different angles, trying to line up band members from the side, that sort of stuff. Drummers are the hardest to get, I reckon, because they often have the worst light of all and are also hidden behind equipment that seems to catch the attention of the autofocus, instead of their face.

As I said in another thread, manual focus is very difficult in low light, hard to tell if you have it right.

One reason to shoot lots is trying to catch just the right expression or body language.

Good luck!

lr1811 · March 16, 2005

some shots...
Well, I was able to take about 170 in a period just under an hour. I wish I would have taken more and I also wish I would have moved around a little more.

But, it was my first time. I had a good time and learned some things.

Anway, here are a few shots, comments are appreciated!

#1 (b&w but I added just a touch of original color on the guitar)

lr1811 · March 16, 2005

#2
#2 (lead singer)

lr1811 · March 16, 2005

#3
#3 - I really like the color of this guitar. Even on my really dark shots, this thing shined.

Thiago Sigrist · March 16, 2005

Hi Brian!
I see you did really well, your shots came out pretty nicely and, surprisingly, pretty clean, with low noise and all. Just like you, I love the tones on #2 and #3, they're great!

Hey, not only it was a nice first time, but you also noticed some points of improvement (like moving around more and all). Way to go!

Thanks so much for sharing!
Take care!

-- thiago

MainFragger · March 17, 2005

Less of a technical suggestion..

Thiago Sigrist wrote:

I see you did really well, your shots came out pretty nicely and, surprisingly, pretty clean, with low noise and all. Just like you, I love the tones on #2 and #3, they're great!

Hey, not only it was a nice first time, but you also noticed some points of improvement (like moving around more and all). Way to go!

Thanks so much for sharing!
Take care!

-- thiago

Get good shots, and if possible close ups of the drummer in action. Most drummers are stuck behind the band, in shadowed areas and are very hard to shoot. But if this band is a friend...the drummer will be your friend for life if you can get him some good shots.

Just be aware of a few things. First, between beting hidden by simbols and the rest of the band and whatever else is on the stage, If you can get a higher vantage point to shoot them, do it..it helps. Second..be patient with the guittarists...they tend to like to get into the shot, and will often block your drummer shots to get their photos in. Sometimes it helps to put the camera down, and shoot again as soon as they lose interest and start to walk away.

Smoke is evil...but occasionally it comes out cool looking.

Lead singers are actually just a hair less hard to catch than the drummer because they manically move and jump and thrash all over the stage. If you have a pro dslr, though, this won't be AS big as an issue, as they seem to snap right to focus. On my prosumer camera however the focusing is much slower, and catching the lead singer of some bands requires a prayer to G-d, steady hands, and a whole lot of luck.

MainFragger

binghott · March 17, 2005

mainfragger, everything you said couldnt be any more true about shows that i've shot. i love when some venues are set up wierd so that you can get good drummer shots.

-barry

lr1811 · March 17, 2005

drummer
I can say the drummer and the keyboard guys were very hard to shoot. The lead singer moved around a lot but he also stood still enough for me to get a few shots. Even though it may looked blown out on the right bottom, I like this source of light because of the way he held the microphone.

band photos/help

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