I have been lately.

I frequent one club that usually uses red stage lighting. I always ask bands beforehand, and sometimes they request that I not use a flash, and I don't like cranking up ISO too high because it gets noisy.

Do any folks who've shot this sort of thing have suggestions as to white balance settings, and shutter speed?

Here's my gear:

Canon EOS 7D
Canon EF 50mm f1.8 fixed lens

For previous band shoots, I used a Youngnoo YN565EX speedlight and a Gary Fong diffuser dome. I have usually had shutter speed anywhere between 100-160, fstop at 1.8 and ISO between 800-3000 or so, and AWB.

One band also asked that I not get too "up on the stage" (I guess they've had some pushy photographers in the past). I have debated bringing my 28-135mm zoom lens but without flash, I think that wouldn't work due to the low light. What do others think?

The club is pretty small, so it's not like I'm going to be too far away to get some good shots with fixed lens. The club presents a few specific challenges- there's a large monitor that hangs from the ceiling and obscures the top of the performer's head when I shoot from the stairs (which would otherwise offer a great angle), and the spotlights aren't evenly pointed, instead focusing on one spot on stage and leaving the other performers in the dark.


And any good advice in general about shooting bands in dimly lit clubs would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Have two friends who did this professionally/semi-professionally.

Forget the zoom lens; don't zoom, walk. Bring maximum aperture size lens, 1.8 is good enough, but there is a Canon 50mm 1.2 iirc, that you might be able to lease for a day or two. Also use exactly that aperture, might lead to some vignetting, which is a complete non-issue in this scenario. As for ISO, in doubt go higher. (Too) high ISO means some grainyness which you can correct or at least diminish in post-processing, low ISO means blurred pictures, which you will throw away. White balance is irrelevant if you shoot in RAW, as you can correct any mistakes later.

Depending on how much out of hand - or not - the parties in your club go, you might want to bring something to protect your lens/camera from beer or other undesirable fluids.

General rule of thumb, is first 3 no flash. This means you can shoot the first 3 songs of a set and may not use the flash. If you use flash in bigger venues you will most likely never be allowed to shoot there again. Stupid rule, but they take it serious.

Here is shot of mine from a couple years ago. Very little light. Had to time the pulses of the lighting.

50mm|iso-6400|f-1.4|125th

Here is a blog post by Allen Ross Thomas on red lighting


dealing with red light

Hope that helps.

you have a 7D push it to ISO12800 and stop pixel peeping (and turn off 3rd stop ISO increments - they're no good)



yeah people are there to watch and enjoy the band, not the backside of a "photographer"

forget your flash and fong dong (infact sell the fong dong) people don't want to have a flash in their face either, and chances are you'll kill all atmosphere created by the lighting no matter how bad it is..

if you're going to get into Gig photography, time to upgrade your zooms to 2.8's

and its a "prime" not fixed..

talk to the lighting technician before hand and ask if he'll re-position the lights (and perhaps change the colour for you too)

rock on!

flash photography is fine if you know how to do it well and if the club allows it, but most clubs hate it.

i agree that zooms must be f2.8 or they're otherwise useless for indoor photography.

consider renting a 70-200 f2.8 as that is a top notch lens that will let you get things done properly.

another option would be an 85mm f1.4 or f1.8.

f1.8 85mm's can be bought pretty cheaply and have much better reach and image quality than the 50 f1.8's do.

Hi peppergomez,
I've shot a lot of concerts over a 30yr career as a newspaper photographer. Fracture is right in that, normally in larger venues it's a '1st-three-songs-no-flash' rule. Flash can spot-blind the performers and distract the audience. You always want to be as indiscreet as possible...even wear dark clothing if possible.

I've never asked a lighting tech to alter the lights just for me....I think you'd only be able to do this if you knew him/her/the band very well or, in a very small venue, got there early and found out the lighting tech had no idea what they were doing. In this rare case you can give them pointers...always be courteous and generous with your help. In any case shoot RAW.

Right now I use a Nikon D3S and D700. 17-35mm (*or 35-70mm) on one camera and 70-200mm on the other (all are f2.8) Having two cameras allows for quick switching from wide to telephoto shots without spending the precious few seconds it takes to switch lenses on one camera.

Concert lighting is notoriously bad, especially the first three songs. F/2.8 lenses (or better) are where it's at, however f2.8 (or 1.8) means more glass which equals more money, so it's all about what you can afford.

Sometimes bands start their concerts with very low light and build it up later with louder/more upbeat music and hotter lights. Other bands can have a bigger/brighter opening first few songs then trail off into slower music before reaching another crescendo.

As Aiobhill said watch out for beer, etc. It's rare you'd get wet but a few years back Ozzy Osbourne used a fire extinguisher to spray the crowd AND us in the photo pit. I was soaked as were my cameras.

cheers and good luck.

Btw, I wouldn't shoot a concert with a flash because (a) not allowed to anyway and (b) I want the stage lighting to help the mood of the photos. Most times during concerts, as you know, light is always changing. You could be shooting ISO 6400 125th/sec at 2.8 one minute and then 500/f5.6 the next. ...just roll with the punches ;-)

What an awesome thread! I have not tried to do this kind of photography, but it is interesting nevertheless!

Glad this is about photography. I came in here to tell you that you don't have to shoot them. If you don't like the music, just leave!
(Only kidding).

Been tempted to reply, but managed to resist, until your post.

You have to wait for the lighting effects, then you'll have a better shot. Some bands are very active, so you better go for the most active one first. The singer usually. You might wing him, that will slow him down enough.

If you can read Spanish, then there's an interesting article on the subject HERE