Concert photography

[Kelly Grannell]

oh, the free program is Imagenomic Noiseware Community Edition.

http://www.imagenomic.com/downloadstep2.asp?product=nwcexp

 

[karebear1]

Kelly! You have a learners thread??? Yippppeeee! I WILL go there and read- is it pasted at the top?

 

[Kelly Grannell]

not yet, but if enough people ask Jeff, our moderator, to paste it as a sticky, then I think it would be.

Currently it's floating around the first page.

 

[RadioNate]

Because I'm not really a great photographer. My other rule of thumb is that if your current setting isn't working...change it.

So if you look at the 1st few photos and they aren't ok, try something else! Remember to zoom in because that's the only way *I* can tell if they are missing the focus mark which can happen in low light, slow shutter speed, situations.

 

[Michele]

I have to say that I find it pretty easy to take concert pictures. These examples were all taken with my point and shoot Olympus C-5000. It's a 5.0 megapixel, with 3x optical zoom. I didn't change any settings for these pictures(mainly because I didn't know how to use them until the last couple of weeks spent on this board). I'm not sure what the digital zoom is, I think 10x. I'm sure I couldn't get our digital Rebel and 75-200 lens into the stadium.

My theory is first take a lot, you're bound to get some good shots. And you have to make sure an object or person is exactly in the center of the picture for it to focus correctly(or hold button down halfway and reposition).

This 1st one gives you an idea how incredibly far away we are seated at this U2 concert in St. Louis, Dec 2005. Top section, nosebleed about 8 rows from the back.

This one taken with optical zoom. I wish I knew how to make these bigger so you could see how clear they are.

Here it is cropped a bit.

This one was with digital zoom and it is a bit grainy

And I can get as close as this with digital zoom, grainy but I thought pretty good quality for as far away as we were.

I just keep wishing one of these days I can afford closer seats, so I can really get some good pictures.

 

[karebear1]

Michele-
your pics are great! Good job!

Well, I'm back from the show in Vegas and got some pretty nice pics too! I set my ISO at 400 like you all suggested and then, and the suggestion of another friend who has the same camera I have, set the shutter speed at 1/80 or 1/100 and used the TV mode on the camera for the setting and this is what the result was:

and one more of the many I got....

Oops! Looks like this last one the camera focused on the girl rather then Barry! What can I do to make sure the focus is in the right place next time??

I REALLY have to tell you all that I am just thrilled with the way these turned out!

At first I was switching modes from P to TV to AV- but the best pics came as a result of using the ISO of 400 and shutter speed of 1/80 or 1/100. No flash was used and these pice were taken from the 7th row center and from the balcony!

Thank you all for your help! Just thought if anyone else has this same camera and was going to a concert soon, these settings might help!

 

[ducklite]

READ THIS ARTICLE

It's probably the best concert photography tutorial out there, unless you can get private lessons from Mark Weiss.

I took this one last week--I like shooting drummers--they are a real challenge because you have to manipulate the focus so you've got the person in focus and the drums in front of the out of focus. And thye move around a LOT, so you need to be quick about it.

That's Calvin Klein model and KoRn drummer David Silveria.

Anne

 

[RadioNate]

Glad you are happy with the results. I think I"m going to bring my camera to the Motley Crue/Areosmith concert in Nov. I don't usually bring one but our seats should be too good not to. Hopefully the arena will all cameras. They seem too allow most point and shoots these days. I remember the days of sneaking in a camera under your shirt or in your pant leg!

 

[karebear1]

Anne-
What kind of camera did you use for this pic? Getting drummers is really tough because they're at the back of the stage where the lighting isn't that good. This picture is wonderful!

Thanks for the link to the concert pic site- I really appreciate it.

 

[ducklite]

Anne-
What kind of camera did you use for this pic? Getting drummers is really tough because they're at the back of the stage where the lighting isn't that good. This picture is wonderful!

Thanks for the link to the concert pic site- I really appreciate it.

I use Nikon D-70. That would have been taken with a Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 AF ED lens. And having a Calvin Klein model as your subject makes it pretty easy to get a good shot...

Here's one of Arejay from Halestorm I took last month that really shows the use of selective focus.

And lighting wasn't a problem at this daytime show, but knowing just when to be ready for the shot was the trick--This is Rob Rivera of Nonpoint (it's their cover of "In the Air Tonight" you hear on all the Miami Vice Trailers and ads.) He is just hitting the last beats of the song at the same time as he is jumping up off the drum throne. He sets his kit up sideways onstage--very interesting visual...

Anne

 

[karebear1]

One other problem I'm now noticing with the pics I took is taht the true colors are not there. Most pics I took have Barry with blue hair and a blue jacket on. Well, I can understand why his hair might be blue, but the jacket was actually a very nice purple. Is there anything I can do to fix that? I think that may be why his hair is blue as well- has something to do with using the TV setting.... I think? When I tried using the auto mode- the colors were correct, but the pics were really blurred. But I don't know what else to use. when I used the P setting, it washed his facial features out... but his hair was blond! LOL!! Any hints there??

 

[ducklite]

One other problem I'm now noticing with the pics I took is taht the true colors are not there. Most pics I took have Barry with blue hair and a blue jacket on. Well, I can understand why his hair might be blue, but the jacket was actually a very nice purple. Is there anything I can do to fix that? I think that may be why his hair is blue as well- has something to do with using the TV setting.... I think? When I tried using the auto mode- the colors were correct, but the pics were really blurred. But I don't know what else to use. when I used the P setting, it washed his facial features out... but his hair was blond! LOL!! Any hints there??

Your photo's are exactly the way they are supposed to be--the stage lighting is what causes hair, clothing, and even skin to take on different colors. Look at my photo of Arejay--he's GREEN! Of course I'm sure his sister would have some weisenheimer comment to make about that , but the point is that's the stage lighting and it's what makes a concert photo look good.

Anne

 

[karebear1]

Thanks Anne- you just gave me a little boost of confidence! I appreciate all your comments!

Karen

 

[CookieGVB]

Here's a shot from one of the shows I went to, using the same camera as karebear.

Hi Karen - we had a blast!!

 

[CookieGVB]

Another shot - no blue hair, but I did manage to cut some of his head off.

 

[CookieGVB]

Check out the face!

 

[Kelly Grannell]

quick question, why are the pictures look like water colour?

 

[karebear1]

quick question, why are the pictures look like water colour?

Kelly- What do you mean??

 

[Kelly Grannell]

there is a certain weird smoothness in the piccies of Barry. Either his make up creates that or too-strong noise reduction, or both. Especially his first pic at the top.

 

[karebear1]

I'm not sure why that is. I know Gail had her camera on the same settings I had mine on. It could be the makeup and lighting I guess.

Is there a way to set the noise reduction on a camera??