band shoot

Brendan Mulachy

Brendan Mulachy

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a mate phoned me this evening saying he has a mate in a band that is playing a local club on Saturday night and he has got some freebies to see them and do i fancy coming along to take some pics

ive got a 450d and my 18-55mm or 50mm to shoot with but no flash, the club they are playing in is quite small but dark, will my on board flash be up to the job or am i wasting my time, looking at the club shooting thread i think id be better using the 18-55 lens but as no doubt il be able to get up close to them would the 50mm (a)work or (b) work better, the only thing that puts me off the 50mm is the shallow depth of field so if taking a shot of a couple of them one of them wont be in focus, but on the other hand if it is dark it will handle the low light better

if the on board flash is ok am i better adjusting the flash exp comp up or down a touch in the menu or will i have to play it by ear on the night and see what kind of exposure im getting and adjust accordingly
 
Flash generally looks awful for band shoots in small venues. Don't use it. The 50mm will be the lens to use of the two you have available, watch the backgrounds and fill the frame if it's getting cluttered. If there's any lighting rig, the colour will generally be appalling (worst if it's a moderm LED pub gig lighting set).. shoot raw to give yourself the best chance of correcting white balance, and be prepared to drop into b&w for the best effect. Raw wil also give you a couple of stops either side to play with on the exposure if you have to.

Lighting is generally poor for gigs, and frequently changing on stage. Shoot manual with the best average set-up you can, don't let the camera try and chase the stage lights.. it won't keep up, and ideally you want the band lit and the background fading into black.
 
cheers lads...nothing ventured nothing gained

50mm it is and idea of settings i could start off with or am i just better playing it by ear and change the settings as the light conditions allow ie increase the iso/apperture to the level were im getting reasonable shutter speeds without blurring the pics of the band as they move around

i will try a couple of flash shots to see how it goes

just hope i can get near the front of the stage close enough to make it worth whilst
 
I would check with the band/venue regards flash usage... sometimes it is a big no! I would use a reasonably high ISO depending on your camera capabilities, a wide aperture (but be aware of your DOF) and allow for movement... Try to use the stage lighting as best you can to get effects. White balance may be off, but shoot raw and adjust it later.
 
last night i was shooting in a local venue at a bt promotional gig and the lighting was all over the place all night. i was using a 5d with a 24-70/2.8 and 100/2 while my girlfriend was using a 30d with a 50/1.8. she has no experience of gig photography but still came home with some usefull shots that she is chuffed with, so the nifty fifty is well up to the job.

this guide was a major help in getting to grips with shooting live music(big respect to Ramsey Cardy for writing it)

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=165114
 
On board flash is destroyer of band pictures...it washes out all the lighting generally. Sure you get sharp pictures but they look frozen and lack all atmosphere.
The 1.8 nifty is your best friend along with 1600 min Iso and be peropare to go higher... If you can beg borrow of get a flashgun you can be in business but it is really hard to get good shots and keeping the character of the gig. Switch to manual and try at 1/32 power and work up and down. Bounce if possible!

Dunc
 
cheers lads, got a nice 12 hour shift in work tomorrow then straight out to the gig and back in work sunday morning for 8 ....shoudnt be a problem getting it all in
 
I've got a couple of mates who are pro guitarists in bands and I've shot their respective gigs many times. They both tell me they hate flash going off all the time and find it very distracting, so I avoid using it. High ISO and/or a fast lens is the way to go.
 
hope all went well at the gig and post some pics up when you get round to editing them dude. i'm sitting working through some of my own at the minute and it's a pain in the arse, but i'll have some up in the people and portraits section tomorrow possibly if you want to take a look ;)
 
i think it went quite well , initially i felt a bit conspicuous but a few becks down my neck and i didnt give a **** :lol:, there was a couple of other lads there taking pics so i felt a bit more comfortable, one did say i looked a bit hard core camera in one hand bottle of becks in the other :lol:

it was quite hard with the lighting as it basically consisted of 3 huge lights in the centre of the stage so i was left with real dark areas in deep shadow...well pitch black and other areas of intense light so im having a look at them in lightshop before i put them up for critique im just learning to adjust things in it so i want to have a play

a good few of the shots have come back as i feel a bit soft but to be fair the auto focus was struggling at times and i feel again that it was down to the lighting, but we will see what others think of them when i get a chance to upload a few to see how i did...cant do it tonight i blagged a couple of free tickets from the promoter to another gig tonight :lol: and its just round the corner of a mate of mines club so i might pop in to see him tonight if he is working to see if he will let me in top shoot a few of the bands he has on

just need to sort out some business cards or something to give to the bands so i can send them (or better still sell them) some shots :thumbs:
 
nice one dude, glad you enjoyed it. lighting at small gigs will always be a challenge, at my last gig i was shooting at iso 3200, f2.8, 1/80. 3200 was my maximum available iso and 2.8 was as wide as my 24-70 would open, my other half had my 50/1.8 and was having a ball so i daren't not ask for it back lol

if you were shooting at 1.8 or thereabouts then the depth of field you're working with will be small anyway, so you will have to expect a certain amount of softness in the shot. the hard part is getting the area you want to be in focus actually sharp.
 
tonight's shoot was harder in some respects, the only stage lighting was red bulbs and it was terrible, put a red caste over everything, i could see this before any of the bands had started so i asked them all as they came on stage if they didn't mind if i used the flash, the 3 bands on were all great about it.

the results are probably not going to be great il have a shufty when i get them on the computer, but again like yesterday i am using it as a teaching session

felt much more confidant tonight, no embaresment at all about getting up and shooting away, really enjoyed myself, went round to see the lad who owned the club but he wasnt in tonight so il have to see if i can get a chance to call round his house to sound him out
 
The best thing to do when there is a strong red cast is convert the images to b&w. You'd probably get a much more satisfactory set of photos that way rather than using flash.
 
lexie said:
or shoot raw and try to correct the colour manually using the white balance and tint sliders, but yeah b/w conversions are a get out of jail free card in some cases lol.
Click to expand...


i always shoot in RAW so il be able to have a play around with them when i get a chance, ive already trhought about converting them to B/W so its an option
 
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