Band Photography Advice

[JamesClarke]

Hey guys. I've got a photography job tomorrow shooting quite a lot of live bands at a fairly big venue and it's only my second time photographing bands!

This is how my shots turned out last time:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/designprohibited/sets/72157626231808947/

I think I bumped the ISO too high which I only really noticed afterwards last time so I'll keep that lower this time.

Main question is about what lens would be best. The photographs above were shot with a 10-24mm wide angle lens from the front of the stage and I'm fairly pleased with them. I was wondering if it would be better to use that again or use my 18-50mm instead? One problem I had last time was getting photographs of the drummer because I didn't have enough zoom on the 10-24. >.<

I should have my 8mm full frame fisheye tomorrow but I don't think that would be suitable.

Other than than any other tips for improving on my band photography would be great.

P.S. Same venue as last time.

 

[itsdavedotnet]

you've got a good amount of light so don't crank the iso too much, unless it's feeling like it's becoming an issue.

Hmm... shoot mostly on the 17-50, but swop over for one song to the 10-24.

Live music I usually use two bodies, main lenses are 70-200 on one and 17-50 on the other, and just sometimes swop the tele for the wider. Resist the fisheye trap of shooting everything on it.... it's cool for one or absolute two shots tops in the set, no more!

Wait for the second, don't spray and pray
Lights always work in cycles, if you see a light flare or kiss round a band member's head, just wait a couple of seconds for the light to come round again
EARPLUGS

 

[shabba]

Sorry to jump in......but, how low can you go with shutter speed when shooting gigs like this?

Also with a flash is it best to bounce via the ceiling, or go direct but maybe turn down and not use ETTL, or just not use it at all?

I've got to shoot one this weekend. I have a 50mm 1.8, a 17-55 2.8 and a 10-20 4.-5.6 so will probably be using the faster 50mm most, as my 40D is 'ok' at higher ISO's rather than brilliant.

I guess with those shots you can get away with a very low f/stop too, 1.8-4.0 right, for single subject shots anyway.