how do you shoot live music indoors?

[doctahjones]

lets get equipment out of the way first, this is what i have/will be using:

nikon d50
nikon sb800 speedlight with diffuser
nikon 50mm f/1.8
nikon 18-55m kit lens


so with that stuff, here's my plan. you tell me if it might work.

i have a friend that's in a band and will be playing on the indoor stage at firewater. i want to try and take some pictures.

i want to keep the ambient/stage lighting, but also want to be able to -very softly- illuminate the subject, and not blind them.

my plan was to use my 1.8 lens for most of it, keep the aperture wide open, put the shutter at 200, iso at 400 (on the d50, it's too noisy for my taste at 800 or 1600), wb on flash (don't want the camera to get confused), put the flash at like 1/16th power, and use the diffuser. i'd also shoot in raw so i can fix things later if needed.

i'd use about the same settings if i switched to my kit zoom lens, but probably put it down to 100 for shutter to compensate for it's slowness.

so, am i crazy thinking that might work? got any tips? anyone ever shot a band before?

thanks!

[kenw]

depending on the light, for no flash I usually have to go with a much higher ISO (800+) regardless of the noise, and drop the shutter to 1/125 or less. This is usually fast enough to freeze most movements, unless you've got Joe Satriani on stage.....the drummers are tough as they are often too far back and need a longer lens and more shutter.

Even dialing down the flash takes too much away from the ambience during the show, so I don't use it at all.

[getndirty]

I've never shot at a live music venue, but could you not gel your strobes to match the stage lighting so they blend in rather than detract from the whole "the environment is a huge part of the picture" piece of this equation?

Don't mean to hijack this thread, it just got me thinking.

[Abel]

i never use flash... too distracting for the band and for the audience watching...

i prefer using ambient light only plus that really helps capture the feel of the show in general.

shutter speed of around 125th, you dont want to speed your shutter up too fast because then youll lose the natural ambient stage lights and such if you do that.

if you have a 50 f1.8, id try f2 or f2.2 at the most... then of course higher ISOs... if the bar is a dungeon then youve have to push the ISO up high and convert to B&W to make it nice and easy! hehe... when in tough situations, i usually always convert to B&W since in color the high ISO noise has too much color (ie reds etc) and when converted to B&W it just looks like regular grain..

[Abel]

ive wanted to try flash for some smaller concerts but i would use them on camera. id mount a couple here and there on the speaker racks or lighting rails etc and have them gel'ed... that setup requires some pocketwizards... maybe one day ill try it..

[kenw]

Here's an oldie, using the canon 50/1.8 and (all iirc) iso 1600, 1/60 (or 1/90s?) shutter priority (see hand blur) and ambient light. absolutely awful stage light, this was the best of the entire evening..... Heavily edited to remove the background, greyscaled.

Like Abel said, sometimes you just give up and call it "art"......in this case, it's one of my all-time favorites. Of course, it IS my son....

[Roadrnr]

I haven't used flash yet either. Like Abel, I want to try some off camera stuff, but really haven't had the opportunity.

I usually shoot with my 50 @ about 1.8 to 2.2 and putting iso between 400-800. It REALLY depends on the venue and the amount of lighting being used.

A couple of my shots.....



That last one was shot at 800 ISO at 1.8....lighting was way low in that place...

[zepp]

Every venue and every show is different. There are no hard fast rules, like the outdoor sunny 16 rule, for concert shooting. Usually, the smaller the act or venue, the less ambient light you will have to work with. Choreographed staged acts are usually much better lit than than the average rock band. Almost to the point of shooting in daylight.

Give a go at no flash if you have some ambient or spot light to work with. Spot meter the performers face as a guide and adjust accordingly. That's the thrill of concert shooting. Having to adjust, and quickly, in the allowed shooting time of one to three songs.

My walk in the venue settings on my camera when I shoot shows are:

ISO 800
1/125 @ f/2.8
Spot meter linked to focus point.

The show starts and I adjust from there and continue adjusting during the duration.

If you're going to use flash, I would still shoot the camera in a manual setting as described above and adjust the flash manually at a low output. After you get a little experience, you might try dragging the shutter. That's really the only reason I see to use a flash anyway - for a special effect type image.

Although it's a bit dated, film references, here is an article that might lead you in the right direction.

http://photo.net/learn/concerts/mirarchi/concer_i

Let us see some shots afterwards and good luck.

Frank

[carlyerin]

with my fingers crossed and a high ISO. ;)

[carlyerin]

Originally Posted by Roadrnr

I haven't used flash yet either. Like Abel, I want to try some off camera stuff, but really haven't had the opportunity.

I usually shoot with my 50 @ about 1.8 to 2.2 and putting iso between 400-800. It REALLY depends on the venue and the amount of lighting being used.

A couple of my shots.....
**EDIT OUT FOR SPACE**

That last one was shot at 800 ISO at 1.8....lighting was way low in that place...

these are rad!

[doctahjones]

i realize that in general flashes will take away. i'm not wanting full frontal flash with no diffuser kind of thing. i just want a little more light on the singer/guitarist/etc. not alot, just a little. that's why i was figuring putting the flash on the lowest setting with a diffuser might get what i was looking for.

however that gel idea sounds really interesting....then i could totally get what i was looking for....

here's some shots from a looong time ago when i was trying to shoot with a sony v1 (not an slr)...yeah, that was difficult...looked that exif, and seems like it was mostly around 1/60 f/2.4. but there's that damn camera shake....

'02
http://atomicwaves.com/heatwave/sugarbomb/020119/

'03
http://atomicwaves.com/heatwave/030328-sugarbomb/

'06
http://atomicwaves.com/heatwave/060121-panic_value/


so i'm just hoping i can blow those old pics out of the water :)

[doctahjones]

oh, and so basically it loks like that even though i'm 'in' the slr club now...the one i have still isn't all -that- great, since i can't get a high iso without getting super grain, as opposed to the more $$ that will do the high iso and still look ok...

[carlyerin]

Originally Posted by doctahjones

oh, and so basically it loks like that even though i'm 'in' the slr club now...the one i have still isn't all -that- great, since i can't get a high iso without getting super grain, as opposed to the more $$ that will do the high iso and still look ok...

i only shoot with a rebel xti. Anything over 800 is crap. I use my 35mm 2.0 and shoot fairly slow considering they don't stand so still.

[zepp]

Originally Posted by doctahjones

oh, and so basically it loks like that even though i'm 'in' the slr club now...the one i have still isn't all -that- great, since i can't get a high iso without getting super grain, as opposed to the more $$ that will do the high iso and still look ok...

The demands of concert photography are such that having better gear can help make a substantial difference in the technical quality of the images captured. Creative quality, for the most part, comes from the photographer. A very cooperative and expressive artist doesn't hurt.

And don't get to used to using flash and relying on it. It goes without saying that most, if not all, of the larger acts never allow it. Learn to adjust to the available stage lighting to capture your images. It doesn't take much light to make a dramatic image.

F

[Shane]

I try to not use flash as all as it is a distraction to the audience and to the performers & I love to seeing the colorful stage lighting in my final images . . . I use ISO 800 - 2000, depending on the venue, dial my 70-200 down to f/2.8 and shoot ~ 1/125 most of the time. Here are a few from some various concerts . . .