Got my first gig photo pass! Any advice/tips? (Blaze Bayley, B'Ham Roadhouse)

wicker_man

wicker_man

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I have been looking to get some gig/band photography experience, and have just got a photo pass for Blaze Bayley (former Iron Maiden frontman) at the RoadHouse Birmingham on Saturday 20th June. The email from the PR agency has just said I will be on the guestlist and to email a link of the photos I take (no further details or photography limitations specified, unless they say on the night?) Obviously I am looking forward to it, but also as it is my first time doing a 'proper' gig, a little nervous! I have only done small 'acoustic night' type events at uni before (see the Music set in my Flickr link for examples).

I've never been to the Birmingham RoadHouse before, but from reading up, it's a small venue (250 people). I have a Canon 40D with Sigma 18-50mm f2.8, Canon 50mm f1.8 II and Tamron 55-200mm f4-5.6. I'm planning on using the Sigma, and taking the Canon also (but I doubt I will be able to change lenses). I don't own a flash.

I know that it will be hard to judge settings until I'm actually there, but does anybody have any tips on basic things to adjust etc? Should I shoot in RAW, or stick to JPG? I haven't really used RAW much, so would RAW+JPG be a good idea? (I have 2x 4GB Sandisk Extreme III cards).

My preferred shooting mode at the moment is Aperture priority, usually stopping down a little for sharpness. But I'll probably be shooting wide open for a gig (therefore focusing will need to be accurate because of the depth if field at f2.8?) ISO will probably need to be 800/1600, I don't really like using 3200. What should my metering mode and focus setting be on?

I'm going to be searching Flickr for photography at the venue, and seeing which settings others seem to be using.

Apologies for the long post, but thanks in advance for any advice, just 9 days left!
 
i'm not a pro, but I've done some gigs like this so my little bits of random advice are:
flash...probs not allowed
take some ear plugs
you'll be in the pit normally for the first 3 songs of each set
RAW is a good way forward, you can always batch convert them afterwards
set your WB a constant and if possible go manual.
figure out at f2 for example on the prime, if you can get 1/60 or faster from the available light at an ISO of about 1250 or 1600 and see what light you get out of it. (don't bother with the H setting, it gets quite noisy)
the reason I say this is that you want to meter for the front man,..not the strobe or back lighting. the chance that the camera will meter for one lighting situation and then misjudge it when a light pans is possible.
with the 50mm you might be a bit close in the pit on a 40D. so beware of cropping out guitar heads. example, centre shot
the best thing is to really try and learn and enjoy it..and don't forgot those ear plugs
The sigma 2.8 will be a good choice for all round shots. very versitile.
 
do you have lightroom or bridge (part of photoshop) if so just shoot RAW and let them sort it out, if not you might want RAW+small jpeg to help with thumbnails as some computers won't give you RAW thumnails ;)

good call on the two lenses take both and see (its not that hard to change in the dark - practice a bit first maybe?

shame you don't have a flash as quite often I use my 430exII at gigs for its AF assist beam with the head disabled - but a lot of the stuff I shoot is dead dark (f1.4 iso 3200 1/60 sometimes)

don't be too afraid of high iso if it means noise or blurry shots always bump it ;)

I would go for AI servo if it'll lock as some performers move around a lot

I also tend to manually meter, but I often get up on stage and set it up properly too (I'm an audio tech for the campus radio too)

good call on the flickr thing and best of luck :D


PS do you know a greg paton-kerr, he's at portsmouth and sails a lot - I went to school with him
 
I'm afraid I can't really help you out on this one as I'm an intimate gig/flash/light trails kinda guy haha.

The only advice I can give is basically the same as these guys, try and keep the shutter speed above 1/60 to avoid blur and shoot RAW. You'll also need to be careful with focusing on such a high aperture to make sure the musicians faces are in focus.
 
Thanks for the replies so far.

Yep I have some ear plugs which I'll be taking along.

I think I'll shoot full JPG + RAW, which should give me 200 or so photos per 4GB card. I have Photoshop CS3 (Mac) which can open RAW files from my camera.

I haven't really tried manual white balance, so that's something I'll look into (I usually have it on auto).

Regarding metering, should I use spot then? I usually have it on evaluative for most situations, but with changing background lighting that won't be suitable?

Lens wise, I think the 18-50 will be mounted, and if things get desperate and I need the extra speed (and if I can get away with being at 50mm) then I'll swap to the prime. And for shutter speed, is it best to stick to the 1/focal length x crop factor rule (so basically no slower than 1/80th sec at 50mm or 1/30 at 18mm)?

I'll try AI-servo mode if there is a lot of movement, or if not stick to one shot. Regarding focus points, I can change that on the fly (from the 9 selectable) depending where abouts I am in the photo pit, and be careful not to lock onto the microphone stand or anything!

I usually have the high speed burst setting enabled just in case I need to fire off a quick succession, so that could come in handy.

One more point I forgot, from reading elsewhere, somebody suggested removing filters from lenses. Should I take mine off, or leave them on for protection? (I have Hoya Pro-1 Digital UV filters on the Sigma and Canon 50mm.)

david1701- Sorry, I don't know Greg Paton-Kerr. I've just finished my second year at the uni studying civil engineering and I'm now home (West Midlands) for summer (trying to find a year placement, but no luck so far!)
 
Hi there wicker man (the original I hope :)

I'm also new, so a big hello to everyone.

Right... my 2p's worth. . .I would use spot metering mainly because your attention is going to be (generally speaking) on correctly exposing members or the band rather than the scene as a whole perhaps. Also I'd avoid filters-light is already at a premium; it could make things ever so slightly more difficult for you. Hope this helps!.
 
dont be afraid to experiment :) sometimes lowering the shutterspeed, so you get a bit of blur, can emphasise the movement of an artist and create some very pleasing effects :) , and take note of the lighting, silhouetting the performer, or keeping the light dramaticly to one side, can create some creative and unique effects :)
 
Just thought I'd update this thread; the gig was on Saturday and was quite a challenge, but I think I got a few pretty decent shots. Editing is taking a while because my MacBook Pro is getting a new optical drive, so I'm currently using my 8 year old PowerMac G4 Cube (450MHz, 1GB RAM) and it is struggling with 10mp RAW files in Photoshop! Hopefully I should have some pictures uploaded to Flickr tonight or tomorrow.

As it was a small venue there wasn't a photo pit, the crowd could go right up to the stage. I got there early and was able to get a spot at the front, to the right of the stage. There were no restrictions on photography, I was able to stay the whole time.

I used the 18-50mm f2.8 (the wide end was needed quite a bit) and camera was set to RAW+JPG, spot metering, auto WB, and full manual mode. ISO3200 was necessary (lighting wasn't great), and I was at f2.8 and changing shutter speeds between 1/80 and 1/250 sec (although it was very challenging trying to get a correct exposure!) Also I was changing focus points pretty often, trying to select the one closest to the singer/guitarists, but this needed to be quick!

I took about 400 photos, and from a quick review, about 90% of them didn't come out well. This was my first time using RAW and from processing a couple, I am very glad I did. Comparing a JPG at ISO3200 to a processed RAW, the noise levels are noticeably lower in the RAW, and the flexibility is great. I will definitely try and use RAW more in future!

Anyway I'll post my results once I've finished with the RAW files and look forward to hearing comments. I might try applying for a photo pass for Testament next month in Wulfrun Hall (over 1000 people capacity) so a bigger venue should have better lighting and photo pit (need to research).
 
wicker_man said:
J
I took about 400 photos, and from a quick review, about 90% of them didn't come out well.
Click to expand...

sounds about right for a low light gig with non-pro glass
quite often the focusing goes wrong for me, locks onto the mic stand etc
those sods on stage don't stay still either so 1/80th of a second

good luck with your processing
looking forward to your shots
 
really like them wicker man
well done for getting those.
i would like to try it at some point but not sure where. i'll wait until i have better kit i think and maybe until i have a car to get places :)

but yes, nice shots. i love the 2nd
 
Thanks, out of the 40 or so that turned out OK, the 13 I uploaded were the best in terms of composition and lighting. The bassist was cool, and also as he was on the right hand side of the stage (where I was) I had better opportunities to get a good picture (and also the lighting was better on the right.)

Josh, to be honest all you need is fast glass and to shoot in RAW (if you haven't tried it, do!) I found that the high ISO shots clean up surprisingly nicely in PP. A friend who saw them was surprised when I told him they were at 3200, he thought they were ISO800! Although to be honest I was also surprised when I compared the outcome to in camera JPG! What camera/lenses do you have? A nifty fifty would probably be fine as a cheap solution for individual musicians or if you get a bit of distance, plus the f1.8 aperture will help.

And regarding transport, as I don't drive, I would have got the train to the venue (£3.20, about 10 miles away) but my dad offered to drop me off/pick me up so that worked out nicely. And I stayed until the end of the gig (11:45ish), if I was getting the train I'd have to leave early to allow time to walk to the station and get the last one home.
 
How do you shoot Blaze Bayley? 9mm hollow point I think! Sorry, still not forgiving him for the Maiden heresy :D
 
marcusp13 said:
i just cheat, use flash ;)
Click to expand...

i've used some cheeky flash before, bouncing it off of the wall behind me to get some shot and extra illumination

a couple of examples
http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/id/2124
http://www.leftlion.co.uk/photo-galleries.cfm?id=234
that I remember doing this (but not for all of them)...doesn't upset the artist which is my main concern. perhaps the group shots. one or two are full flash photos but the artist was at the bar or up on the balcony in his pants at the time....I did help Har Mar with his drinks in this gig though...helpful being in the pit :)

however, I have seen one photographer in a local pub venue that I thought was highly rude...
something like a 5D and wide glass with a mounted flash unit and then he just stuck his camera under the performer and shot away 2-3 exposures at a time with the direct flash on what looked like full power. if I was on stage and someone did that do me I wouldn't be too happy. the guy just took 2-3 shots, reviewed them, 2-3 more..repeat until vaguely happy at sitcking a camera at arms length and not caring about winding musicians up.
as I said...not impressed///Rant.

some venues absolutely ban the use of flashes and the pit security will take umbridge with you if you do
 
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