First attempt at photography

spahndirge

Hi, I recently took my digital camera out to a gig in Dublin and tried taking a few interesting shots. I've photoshopped them just to add a bit more effect. Any advice for a novice like myself? I know little to nothing about the manual settings and I'm generally playing around with different settings and figuring it out.

I was wondering about ISO settings, I have 4 on mine (80, 100, 200, 400) I generally try and keep it as low as possible, but in what conditions should I use 200 or 400, or should I just try and keep it as low as possible?

Anyway, here's my pics.....

http://www.staticdirt.com/swilliams

C.J.

Hey there

They aren't bad at all - very good in fact. I went to a gig a few months back and it was a nightmare getting decent shots as the lighting was non-existent and it was difficult to get close enough to use a flash. You look like you got pretty close for some of those.

The ISO speed of the camera determines how sensitive it is to light - so ISO80 would not be as sensitive as ISO 400. However, this extra sensitivity comes with the penalty that your pictures may have 'noise' or 'grain' in them with the higher ISO numbers. So you are right to keep the ISO number as low as possible but I would think about using ISO 400 for a gig situation due to the low light.

Hope that helps!

Shrimp

one thing, try avoid using flash at gigs.. makes for flat dull pics, but in general they were good. Deffo keep it up.

spahndirge

Thanks for the advice and kind words! One thing I'm having a lot of problems with, especially at a gig, is hand wobble. When I shorten the shutter speed so I can take more focused pictures, obviously I'm going to have a darker picture. I don't particularly like using flash because, as shrimp said, it makes it look too dull, but I just can't steady my hands to take photos using a shutter speed of about 1/10.

Is there anything I can do to help me along the way? The only thing I have found to reduce wobble is using the eye piece rather than the LCD screen, but even that is a bit dodgy for me at the moment.

Fajitas!

I like them! Can't give much more advice than the two before me, but definitly keep it up.

my fave is

Merrion

There are lots of techniques for steadying the camera but it depends how big the camera is. For a small camera support your one hand with the other hand holding your wrist.
For a larger camera keep one hand at about the centre of gravity and pull the arms tight agains your chest.

(Kind of difficult to explain without drawing a picture...)

Some photographers us a monopod as well though I doubt you'd be allowed to bring one into a gig.

peckerhead

As shrimp has said — and maybe crop some of them to 'portrait' orientation? Sharp handheld shots at 1/10 sec. are damn hard to pull off ('though at least when it's digital you don't have to care about wasting film! ) You might like to invest in a pocket-size telescopic 'monopod' for those situations? Or alternatively try and find something to brace your elbow against. Another technique is not to hold your breath as you shoot — makes you tense up and shake more! — but exhale gently through pursed lips. People will think you're mad/having a stroke, sitting beside them going 'pfffffff' — but it actually works.

Nice shots! Keep it up....

P.S. Higher ISO settings means more light-sensitivity/higher shutter speeds — but at a (small) cost in quality.

DotOrg

i often shoot in crawdaddy and you generally get good lighting on the lead singer and pretty crap light on the rest of the band

the best way to learn is just to take lots of pictures and learn from practise and trial and error


www.AAAphotos.org/faq.htm - tips of music photography
www.AAAphotos.org/bands/davidgray/ - my latest concert shots

Rojo

Hey saw your pictures of ASH at TBMC the other day! Well done!

peckerhead

Some reasonably good tips 'n' techniques here and here... but trial and error is definitely the best school of them all!