Concert Photography...worse lighting than most

[nuke]

Hi there,

I have a question, if you all wouldn't mind answering it. I am going to shoot my cousin's band. It is at a smaller venue here in SA, so I don't think I'll have to worry about the 'first 3 songs' deal, so I will have some more time to experiment. I wanted to ask what I should do, haha...ya, its a little vague.

The lighting is pretty horrible from what I remember. I have one flash (SB-800), D2x, 16mm fishy, 28-70 f/2.8, and a 70-200 f/2.8 VR (but the VR mechanism is currently broken). The D2x sucks past 800 ISO, so I'd rather not push it past that. Today I just bought Nikon's SC-29 TTL Remote cord. Something I've been wanting to buy, but haven't justified the 80 dollars for. Haha, I figured it was good to have. This model has the metering on the flash, or on the hot shoe.

Any ideas? Lol

Thanks,
Mike

[Shane]

I shoot all my concert without flash (most venues/bands do not allow flash photography - even with an all-access pass). But, if you can't shoot past ISO 800, you are likely going to have a challenge . . . I shoot most of mine at ISO 1600, with either a 18-50 f/2.8 or my 70-200 f/2.8L at shutter speeds ranging from 1/60 - 1/125. Even with that, at venues with poor lighting, it can be challenging getting shots exposed correctly. Good luck!

[CaptainTom]

As good as Nikon cameras are, they are not the choice for low light, high ISO photography. Push the ISO up as high as it will go, and use a lot of noise reduction in PP. That's what we Canon shooters do anyways, but it's just easier when there isn't much noise to start with.
They'll love any pix you get of them.

[nuke]

Ya, just the darn thing about the D2x, is because of the size of the sensor and that Nikon chose to go with a low of 100 ISO, it killed the high range, so 1600 and 3200 are Hi-1 and Hi-2...fake ISOs, ha! Either way, I have never had good luck with Noise reduction after wards. What is an excellent program I should look into? (I'm on a Mac) Should I leave NR turned off, on camera? Or turn on the D2x's NR?

Thanks a lot,
Mike

[Jake]

If they let use use flash then try it out. I really like dragging the shutter for concert shots.
A little rear certain sync can make for some pretty cool shots at crappy venues.

[nuke]

Originally Posted by thejakestir

If they let use use flash then try it out. I really like dragging the shutter for concert shots.
A little rear certain sync can make for some pretty cool shots at crappy venues.

Cool...'generally', do you shoot the flash straight on, with no filtering? Or do you use a box, angled, etc? I have that remote cord, so I figured I could just put the little white box on the flash, and hold the flash out to my side, so that I don't get the awful shadows on the walls behind them. Just looking for some settings/set-ups. I rarely shoot with flash (one of my biggest downfalls), so every time that I HAVE to use it, I panic, and never get the settings right (exposure, flash exposure comp., lighting direction).

Thanks,
Mike

[Jake]

Originally Posted by nuke

Cool...'generally', do you shoot the flash straight on, with no filtering? Or do you use a box, angled, etc? I have that remote cord, so I figured I could just put the little white box on the flash, and hold the flash out to my side, so that I don't get the awful shadows on the walls behind them. Just looking for some settings/set-ups. I rarely shoot with flash (one of my biggest downfalls), so every time that I HAVE to use it, I panic, and never get the settings right (exposure, flash exposure comp., lighting direction).

Thanks,
Mike

I use the cord and hold the flash in my left hand for concerts. If you have no time limit then you can mess around.
I don't use anything on my flash, in fact sometimes I zoom the flash head to get almost a spot light effect(it doesn't always come out right though).
Here are some pics where I dragged the shutter quite a bit
http://www.jakemckee.com/2007/04/live-at-tomcat.html

[Jake]

Here's one with high ISO + flash.
1/60s f/2.8 at 200.0mm iso1600 with Flash