Advice needed, going to a concert

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  Andy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins

  September 25, 2004 edited September 25, 2004

  concert photography
  use the 70-300 i.s. if you are more than 50 yards from the stage. if less, the 28-135i.s. should do fine. leave the kitty at home.
  
  *shoot handheld. shoot in burst mode, taking three shots at a time (with i.s., this is a good technique as shot # 2 or 3 is usally the keeper)
  
  *set your camera to av mode, and shoot wide open (smallest f/number)
  
  *shoot in raw. yes, ginger, raw. white balance in concert scenes is a nightmare, you'll be able to adjust as needed in post. shoot in raw.
  
  *set exposure compensation to - 1/3 or - 2/3s (take some test shots and look for blown lights on the histo... sometimes you just cannot avoid some blown lights, but try to avoid a lot of data bunching up on the right side of the histo.
  
  *if you are there before it's actually dark, you may get away with iso 100 or 200 for a while.. do so if you can.
  
  *as the evening darkens, move your iso up to 400, then 800 and finally 1600 if you need to, what you are aiming for is a shutterspeed of 1/60th or faster if you can. i go slower, but i'm really rock steady. if you feel daring, then by all means shoot at 1/30th. but you'll have sharper pics at 1/60th and faster. 1/125th is best, but you may not be able to get that, even at iso 1600.
  
  good luck ginger!
  

  ginger_55 wrote:

  outdoors tonight, weather permitting. I am going to the most beautiful place possible to hear a sax player, our Moja, or black heritage/arts, festival.
  
  Bill said I did not need a tripod, to put it on 125 and I would be fine. I am not sure at all, and I am not sure what is permitted, as far as a tripod, or even pictures.
  
  It is outdoors, outside an anti bellum looking house at the college, where graduations are held. Many live oak trees and moss. general seating. The stage is at the front, always was anyway, with the house in the background.
  
  I am going to take my camera. It is after dark. I have the kit lens for the Rebel, which is back, that lens is 18-70, I have the 28-135 IS, and the 70-300 IS. I am not using flash.
  
  I do have the tripod, but don't know that I will be allowed to use it, and I do want to enjoy this thing, even though I am sick and running a fever, it is my most favorite place for a concert ever.
  
  What settings? would you all suggest? Which lens? Etc.
  
  ginger

  Andy
  
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  wxwax Registered Users Posts: 15,471 Major grins

  September 25, 2004 edited September 25, 2004

  Good advice. Since you'll be wide open, be very careful about focusing. For example, it's easy to have a drum kit in focus instead of a drummer, or a guitar instead of a guitarist. And focusing in the dark can be very challening.

  Sid.
  Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
  http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au

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  ginger_55 Registered Users Posts: 8,416 Major grins

  September 25, 2004 edited September 25, 2004

  wxwax wrote:

  Good advice. Since you'll be wide open, be very careful about focusing. For example, it's easy to have a drum kit in focus instead of a drummer, or a guitar instead of a guitarist. And focusing in the dark can be very challening.

  This is going to sound strange, I have lived with it. I can't see to focus. If it refuses to autofocus, and I can't put it on infinity, I can't see clearly through the view finder. And I had an eye checkup, opthamologist (sp?) just a couple of weeks ago.
  
  Believe me, I am the king/queen of denial. When I read your post, Sid, that is the first time I realized that this might be a problem issue.
  
  I assume that is distance vision we are using. I keep trying to clean the view finder so I can see, but only out in the field when I think about it. And it never is clear. Is it clear for everyone else?
  
  I have focused cameras for years. I have a problem, don't I ?
  
  Let me ask you this, I read somewhere to just put it on infinity for night lights or something. It looks a bit clearer if I pull the lens back a bit (that is true of all the lenses), my lenses are not glass. When you are focusing on infinity, do you put it all the way over, or do you pull back a bit, too.
  
  Andy, if you read this, and if Shem Creek really was not clear, maybe that was why.
  
  If it does focus itself, I focus on something big enough for the camera to see, press the shutter half way, then take the photo.
  
  ginger

  After all is said and done, it is the sweet tea.

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  Andy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins

  September 25, 2004 edited September 25, 2004

  the stage lights will allow you to autofocus just fine. good luck!
  

  ginger_55 wrote:

  This is going to sound strange, I have lived with it. I can't see to focus. If it refuses to autofocus, and I can't put it on infinity, I can't see clearly through the view finder. And I had an eye checkup, opthamologist (sp?) just a couple of weeks ago.
  
  Believe me, I am the king/queen of denial. When I read your post, Sid, that is the first time I realized that this might be a problem issue.
  
  I assume that is distance vision we are using. I keep trying to clean the view finder so I can see, but only out in the field when I think about it. And it never is clear. Is it clear for everyone else?
  
  I have focused cameras for years. I have a problem, don't I ?
  
  Let me ask you this, I read somewhere to just put it on infinity for night lights or something. It looks a bit clearer if I pull the lens back a bit (that is true of all the lenses), my lenses are not glass. When you are focusing on infinity, do you put it all the way over, or do you pull back a bit, too.
  
  Andy, if you read this, and if Shem Creek really was not clear, maybe that was why.
  
  If it does focus itself, I focus on something big enough for the camera to see, press the shutter half way, then take the photo.
  
  ginger

  Andy
  
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