[Petographer]

Anyone have any experience here?

[shuttertalk]

Not me... but I think Janey had a photo posted of a band...
http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=436

[Petographer]

Great. Lets hope Janey replies with some words of wisdom. I need to know some settings tips and what lens to use.

[StudioJ]

I shoot in clubs quite a bit Colin, bands and events. What can I do yer for?

[Toad]

I have also done some for a recent CD>

[shuttertalk]

I think Pet-o is looking for some tips or suggested camera settings to use... anyone?

[Toad]

Use a bounce flash, high ISO speed, get close, shoot lots, ignore the crowd, short to medium length telephoto (70-135 35mm equiv)

[StudioJ]

Oh right, I should have guessed that ST

As with most things in photography timing is pretty important, if you know the bands performance already then you can judge when interesting things may happen, solos, performers giving more effort, emotional responses from the crowd.

I normally shoot at 800 & 1600 with the fastest lenses available to me. There is normally a huge variety of ambient lighting bouncing around, smoke machines etc. The 50mm f1.8 prime is a favourite for giving very nice results in low light. Try moving around and getting a different perspective, if you can get in to the sides of the band or the back of the stage it can give very different perspectives. Shots back over the crowd from behind the stage are great as well as shadowplay on the walls behind.

I find that I rarely use a flash, it seems to be part of the genre for band photography to do without. A couple of good uses I've found for the flash though are playing with 1st and 2nd curtain sync and also strobe to capture movement.

[slejhamer]

If you can't use flash (and you may not want to, simply because you might want to capture the gel colors of the stage lights), then as suggested bump up the ISO and use the 50mm 1.8 in these situations. If that does not get you close enough, the 85mm 1.8 is equally sharp, though a little more pricey.

Also, consider shooting in RAW and slightly overexposing (bias to the right of the histogram, but not clipping highlights), as this will reduce sensor noise. Then reduce exposure when you convert from RAW. The difference in noise is remarkable. On the other hand, if you underexpose and try to bring up levels, the noise will be worse than if you had just used a higher ISO in the first place.

[Petographer]

Excellent tips Guys. I have a 50mm f1.8 MKI. Perfect! That's what I'll use then. I want to shoot raw but only have 3 256 meg cards, so what I'll do is bring the notebook and dump my images onto it. Just got to figure out where to keep the notebook. :/

[adam]

Last time, I tried with my 50mm f/1.8, but it was a seated thing, so I couldn't move much, so went back to using 18-55mm + camera's inbuilt flash.
Got some okay results

[Toad]

What band are you doing Colin?

I don't toally agree about not using flash. The stage lighting often shows nicely behind a well lit subject if you use flash. Whether you need it depends on the band. If the players are relatively stationary, by all means try to use the ambient light, but if they are jumping around the stage, even your F1.8 is not going to be sufficient to stop the action in low light.

The other thing to watch out for is that the quality, color, and intensity of light changes very rapidly in most stage shows.

Be careful of your notebook in a club. If you don't have someone to hold it, don't bring it, or leave it in the trunk of your car.

Good luck!

[adam]

Yes, I didn't like using the flash...!!!!



I don't think I used flash for this, they had a spotlight on him, I'll check the exiff.

[Petographer]

What band are you doing Colin?

I don't toally agree about not using flash. The stage lighting often shows nicely behind a well lit subject if you use flash. Whether you need it depends on the band. If the players are relatively stationary, by all means try to use the ambient light, but if they are jumping around the stage, even your F1.8 is not going to be sufficient to stop the action in low light.

The other thing to watch out for is that the quality, color, and intensity of light changes very rapidly in most stage shows.

Be careful of your notebook in a club. If you don't have someone to hold it, don't bring it, or leave it in the trunk of your car.

Good luck!

I'll bring my 420ex, 50mm f1.8 and the 35-105mm f3.5-4.5. The 35-105 isn't a fast lens but I'ff bring it anyway. The notebook will be locked up absolutely.
The band is called Undersound.
http://www.supernova.com/bands/profile.php?band_id=7206
Not the type of music I listen too.

[shuttertalk]

Nice shot adam, all the best Colin!

[StudioJ]

*sings* Undersound, Oversound wombling free.

Are you going to get into the mosh pit and do some slam dancing when you're finished Colin?

[Petographer]

*sings* Undersound, Oversound wombling free.

Are you going to get into the mosh pit and do some slam dancing when you're finished Colin?

Not a friggin chance my friend. I might have done that a few years back but not today. They'd probably have more fun dropping the old guy.