Music/Band photography

[DaveB]

Hi Folks,

Hope you're all well, sorry I haven't been around much.

I've got an assignment coming up and was wondering whether I could pick some brains.  Local band want some new updated gig pics and profile pics it's quite a large soul band with a brass section..  I suggested that I do the gigs first that way I can get an idea of their personalities before doing the portraits.  But what about the actual night ?  I was thinking about using my canon 24-105 lens as the main lens, added plus as having IS. Then my wide angle lens for some crowd shots.  and I wasn't aiming to use any flash, but I may take my flash with me just in case.

But what about the actual night ? have you done this before do you have any handy tips ??  Do you have any advice for me regarding taking photos at a gig, and preparation ? I'm guessing travel as light as possible I do only have the one camera

Oh by the way the first venue is a large pub, the second is quite a big hall.  I was going to go there a couple of days before to see if I can get an idea of the layout. 

Many thanks
Verve

[Syman]

Hi Verve

I've done a bit of band photography, not much but you can see some of it here http://www.perceptive-photography.co.uk/photography-gallery/view/10

There are a few techniques that I could recommend.

Second curtain flash sync would be the first. What camera and flash have you got?  Basically you use a slow shutter speed to capture the motion and the flash to freeze a moment of sharp detail just before the shutter closes. This allows you to capture the movement at a gig but still retain sharp elements. 

If your flash has a zoom function try zooming the flash right in so that you only illuminate the center of the frame. This works even better if you can use your flash off camera?? Do you have a flash sync lead or wireless trigger?   Try under exposing by a stop or two, this tends to darken backgrounds which can be messy at gigs.

You mentioned not using a flash at all. In my opinion this would seriously limit your creativity.  Your IS will work by reducing camera shake, it does nothing to the movement in a scene. Assuming you are shooting at F4 and maybe 3200ISO you are still going to struggle with shutter speeds.

Rather than reserving you wider angle lens for crowd shots maybe try and get close up to the action with it. You can get some quite dramatic results. Like looking down the neck of a guitar for example.

Metering can get confused with all the lighting going on at gigs, sometimes it better to set your camera in manual so you get consistant shutter speeds and exposures.

Just my 2 pence worth, as I say I haven't done much myself.

[DaveB]

Hi Syman,

Fab I like your shots ! Thankyou very much for your advice -  I use a Canon 20d so front and rear sync isn't a problem I also have a 430EX flash and lead so I'll take that with me,  I was a little reluctant as I didn't want to put the band off their performance but I see what you mean.  I'm meeting the band just before the first gig so I'll just check that they're happy with a few shots using flash, I'll reduce the amount of intensity and fiddle about with the zoom.  I was thinking about taking a pole to rest on, a tripod will definatly get in the way, but a pole maybe helpful. 

Many thanks again for your advice - I'll let you know how I get on - 1st gig is on 21st and second gig is on 27th :-)

Cheers
Dave B