Band Photography

[michaelachan]

Hi guys, just wanting to do a shoot for my friends band, but I attempted this the othr day (batteries ran out) and I didn't get much done.

But during the period that I was capturing images, I decided that I did not want to use flash photography, since it killed the atmosphere, and I was constantly trying to alter the iso, aperture and shutterspeed.

Are there any general tips to go by when shooting in a dark area, band photography seems to be the most complex genre that I have gone for so far.

[gilp]

if you are shooting LIVE band action, and want serious results, you'll need to shoot at very high iso to get the shortest exposure time possible... since band members move around, anything longer than 1/60th will be very blurry... this was shot at iso1600 , 1/60th









The problem is that very (very very) few cameras perform well at iso speeds higher than 400-800... as most will become very noisy.... and most will also react very poorly to saturated primary colors such as L.E.D. lighting.


If you are talking about studiô photo.... well flash photography is NOT un-natural...it just needs to be learned and mastered.

Good Luck!

[dirtyol]

High ISO, a wide aperture (even f/2.8 isn't wide enough in a pub) & a good position.

Like gilp says "..and most will also react very poorly to saturated primary colors such as L.E.D. lighting.." I get shocking photos under red lighting so try to avoid taking pics when the lights are red.

[sean_mcr]

You should get a couple of fast lenses, that means primes. 24 mm 35mm & 50mm. 85 mm 1.8 would be handy to, but it's the 24 & 35mm that will give the shots a more intimate feel.

Don't worry too much about the noise. There's plenty of noise reduction software if noise is a concern for you. Anybody that's used to shooting ASA 400 film would know that many of todays Dslrs perform minor miracles with light sensativity and i happen to think a bit of grain can add to an image. Especially if we're talking about BW.

[gilp]

You should get a couple of fast lenses, that means primes. 24 mm 35mm & 50mm. 85 mm 1.8 would be handy to, but it's the 24 & 35mm that will give the shots a more intimate feel.

Don't worry too much about the noise. There's plenty of noise reduction software if noise is a concern for you. Anybody that's used to shooting ASA 400 film would know that many of todays Dslrs perform minor miracles with light sensativity and i happen to think a bit of grain can add to an image. Especially if we're talking about BW.

Noise reduction softwares cannot be succesfully applied to live music if there is ambiant fog/haze because the softening effect will create whiteouts with the light beams. as for lenses wider than 2.8, they also come with their issues, stages generally have a fairly deep working area and a shallow lens will blurr beyond interest. 2.8 and iso1600 is where it's at.

[sean_mcr]

Not all band's perform at venues with the kind of lighting where you can simply say "2.8 is where it's at" that very much depends on where you're at

There is no one size fits all solution to such a subject as the conditions vary dramatically from venue to venue. Studio work it isn't (thankfully)
Any rock journo or journo knows that in tough light & conditions it's about getting the shot. Stop it down, open it up. When Mick Rock shot the stones
and the Who, he'd sometimes miss focus, he'd push his gear and film to its limits. I'm sure people today might say, blown highlights/ too shallow a depth of field. Way too much grain for my taste

There isn't & there is never likely to be a better rock journo then Mick rock. He's taken iconic shots no matter the aperture or shutter. "worries" about Grain/noise/ depth of field or anything else have ever stopped him.



http://www.mickrock.com/


To quote The Late, Great W. Eugene Smith
What uses having a great depth of field, if there is not an adequate depth of feeling?

[jstuedle]

I shoot live bands almost every week. I use a couple Nikon D1X's, 35mm f/2.0, 50mm f/1.4, 14mm f/2.8 as my primary gear. I never use any lens slower than 2.8. The D1X is getting a little long in the tooth, so it has more noise that most current bodies, it still works very well. Check out some of my work at: http://www.pbase.com/jstuedle/live_bands I also use manual flashes triggered by pocket wizards mounted about 30-40 feet ahead of stage front, based on any obstructions I might encounter. For info on this concept check out: http://www.strobist.com I set the strobe exposure about a stop to a stop and a half below stage lighting to fill shadows and help freeze action. This also allows me to use f/2.8 lenses more often. I used a 80-200mm f/2.8 Saturday evening.I adjust the flash W.B. with gels attached to the flash head by Velcro to match the color temp of the stage light bulbs. Hope this helps a little, now charge those batteries and get on out there and shoot something!