Gig advice...best metering?

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Duncan.F

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Duncan
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Hi,
Off to a friends gig tonight, don't know what the lighting will be like but wondered what the best metering would be...? I am taking an 85mm 1.8 and a 50mm 1.4. I have a 24-70 as well but wasn't sure about that. The first two cover the range and I don't want to be lens swapping too much.
Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Dunc
 
I would presume spot metering, as it would spot just the person (with lighting on them) and then it doesn't meter the rest, usually dark background.
 
Dave450 said:
I would presume spot metering, as it would spot just the person (with lighting on them) and then it doesn't meter the rest, usually dark background.
Click to expand...

make spot your buddy...for all time...and you will 'see' more exposure conditions and be able to adjust around them

i do spot for highlights and then decide if i want them higher or lower...its all in our hands
 
Don't worry too much about the metering, it can be too easily fooled. As above, spot will probably get you closest, just remember to check your histograms and adjust exposure from there.
 
I'm not sure that spot metering is the one to go with all the time. There is a place for it, but for gig togging, you need the full tool box of exposure methods and a bit of flash from time to time.

In my opinion, gig togging is more about capturing the atmosphere and the 'moment' than it is about getting a picture of a person.

It's good that you have some nice fast lenses which will help you with focusing in the dark/changing lights.

The lens I use most is a Canon 70-200mm f2.8 L

My favorite gig pic was almost by chance and was taken on a G9 set to the 'P' setting. This is despite having my main gear with me at the time.

Try everything and experiment.

No flash
1.
Guitarist-1Web.jpg


2.
Cool%20Singer.jpg


Flash (on camera)
3.
Electric-Eel-Shock-2-web.jpg


G9 set on 'P' I love this shot. It was taken at a mUmU gig in Liverpool about a year ago.
4.
The-kiss.jpg



What sort of gig is it?
 
one can spot meter in any mode..edit..maybe not in manual
i use P and spot
but the point is that the spot gives you the highlight....highest light
you then decide whether you want to vary the exposure...its is held by the pressure point on the shutter release...leaving the +/- available for adjustment...and you can see the effect before taking the shot...
P is a programme for selecting the relativity of speed and aperture with bias on speed

it works for me ok but i dont use a lot of different cameras
 
mrcrow said:
one can spot meter in any mode..edit..maybe not in manual
i use P and spot
but the point is that the spot gives you the highlight....highest light
you then decide whether you want to vary the exposure...its is held by the pressure point on the shutter release...leaving the +/- available for adjustment...and you can see the effect before taking the shot...
P is a programme for selecting the relativity of speed and aperture with bias on speed

it works for me ok but i dont use a lot of different cameras
Click to expand...


Yes, I understand that you can spot meter in any mode and there a times when that will be the right thing to do. But, you have a subject that is moving and you have rapidly changing lighting - from massively bright to pitch black and back again in a second.

If you try to use spot metering and make adjustments as you suggest, you will probably miss more opportunities than you will catch. The metering of a camera (I mostly use either Evaluative or Centre weighted) will probably allow you to successfully catch more 'moments' than trying to do it yourself.

But one should try everything. Anything is right if it gets you the shot. :-)
 
Badger UK said:
Yes, I understand that you can spot meter in any mode and there a times when that will be the right thing to do. But, you have a subject that is moving and you have rapidly changing lighting - from massively bright to pitch black and back again in a second.

If you try to use spot metering and make adjustments as you suggest, you will probably miss more opportunities than you will catch. The metering of a camera (I mostly use either Evaluative or Centre weighted) will probably allow you to successfully catch more 'moments' than trying to do it yourself.

But one should try everything. Anything is right if it gets you the shot. :-)
Click to expand...

brilliant analogy..never considered the movement...good call
i guess i would end up with under or over exposed shots..or wait till the chap is back in the limelight
i havent done a lot of that photography and guess i was 'cruising' a bit in my mind..
cheers
geof
 
Thanks for the suggestions...! I found the 1.4/800iso without flash the best but the lighting was a nightmare. They had quite strong red lighting as spots and behind flashing red and white squares. This was the venues standard offering I suspect!

I tried some on spot and some on centre weighted but the light varied so much that the speeds were all over the place. For the second half I used flash, nothing to bounce off so used straight forward with [using 580ex] the diffuser down. Oddly some were fine but a fair number were over exposed and don't know why that is....?
Overall a good evening swopped from one lens to another to get different frames, the light was so poor that the DOF was shallow in many shots. Really enjoyed the experience and I seem to have about 10-15 really good shots [by my standards anyway!] so hopefully they will be happy with the results. Couldn't get the drummer for love nor money. Learned a lot and happy with the focus, had it on centre af only and very few were out of focus but some were cluttered with mikes, stands, wires and general 'stuff'. Christ I did sweat ***', felt under pressure!!
Will try and post some over the weekend for you analysis.....

Cheers,

Dunc
 
Spot meter to get you started, and then switch to full manual and meter with your eyes. Review the histogram as you shoot and make any adjustments (don't worry about shadows, just make sure the highlights are well exposed but not blown)
 
My camera went into err 99 mode repeatedly. Just spent 60squids on having that fixed.. Maybe a nice new 50D?

Dunc
 
Duncan.F said:
Thanks for the suggestions...! I found the 1.4/800iso without flash the best but the lighting was a nightmare. They had quite strong red lighting as spots and behind flashing red and white squares. This was the venues standard offering I suspect!
Click to expand...

If you can handle the shallow depth of field, f1.4 at 800iso sounds like a good plan to me. That's about were I'd start except I haven't got a lens as fast as that! :-) f2.8 is my max.

For gig photography with a digital camera, there are a number of things in our favour:

1. It is often the case that there is no right and wrong, because you are trying to capture atmosphere and a bit of lens flare or blown high lights or loss of detail in the shadows can add to this.

2, The noise associated with high ISO is OK and in fact, looks pretty damn good in most cases. Besides, if you convert the image to B&W it goes away!

3. Because every shot isn't costing you a fortune (film, processing and printing) you can machine gun the gig.

So I say just experiment and see what happens. What's the worse that can happen.
 
The camera goes awol, fortunately apart from a couple of shots at the end I had finished. I have returned said camera to repairers! I am seriously concerned now that it will let me down again and will think seriously abou a replacement.
More advice and a separate thread methinks!

I will sort the shots out and put some up for comment,

Cheers,

Dunc
 
Ive tried many a time with this and spot metering was the best. but i still have nights where i get nothing out of it. it seems like gig photography for me has always been hit or miss.
 
spot metering for me too.
regularly shoot with my 2.8 wide open , and upto 3200 iso.
small pub/club gigs mainly , where i can get up their noses. my sigma 18-50 is just the job.
you have to be fairly acurate with focusing, cos of very short dof, but you'll take a lot.
its the shots like badgers no.3 that are the keepers.
there will some distractions in the background on some, but the personalities are what make the pictures.
some of my fav pics have got performers faces out of focus, but for example , say, the machine head on the guitar held infront of them, pin sharp.
good luck, and enjoy.
 
Yeh i dont sell mine so i just take them for fun have a few i just like for me.
 
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