New Concert Pics

melekalikimaka

Havent posted up anything in quite a while, my last gig was a poor attempt, I think I've improved a bit... abuse welcome, tips also (shrimp, fajitas respectfully)

Fajitas!

Ah TBMC! First time I was there, I was shooting Headcharge and Soil!!! It has some of the best lighting for effects that you could ask for, considering it's tiny!

Defo improving, you're getting the hang of a good clear shot. In my opinion, in gig photography, people pretty much want to see the face and/or an instrument. It's after that that movement comes into it. I wouldn't be too sure of the double bass player. The exposure was a bit too long for it!

If you can get your hands on an editing program, up the contrast in them, and make them darker. You could do a fair bit of cropping in them.

Next time your doing a gig, use manual focus, if you didn't there. Reason I'm saying it is the first shot seems to be a tiny bit more focused on the smoke effects than yer man! Other than that try getting right up and under them, wrap your strap around your wrist, and open up the zoom, and fire off a few shots!

The band in the last pic, thats not "The Hellfire Club" is it?

melekalikimaka

ah yes, I didnt wanna start photoshopping til i got some advice, i plant to touch the levels up a bit and crop too. as for the double bassist...I dunno I have a thing for blurry musicians. the bands name is ginseng. www.ginsengmusic.com

mloc

Really like the first two pics, smoke should clear up quite easily with a bit of levels. the colour in the second photo is particularly good.

3rd and 4th are a bit blurry, but good composition, particularly number 3. Six would look great cropped.

Five looks a bit too static and mournful, without being static and mournful enough to pull off a static, mournful shot.

I'd try varying the angles a bit more next time, that's why photos 1 + 2 in my opinion stand out.

melekalikimaka

cheersmloc, the comment bout the angles... you picked those angles for me...jerk

Nay Connor

Howya!

Always enjoy live music shots and appreciate the skill it takes to capture decent images in those settings.
I thought the last two shots were the best in terms of clarity and focus, especially the last one... you did well, considering what a horror red light is when it comes to sharpness of your images.
Fajita mentioned manual focus... I agree about the smoke. If you're not pressed for time it's definitely a foolproof method to avoid the haziness but in fast-paced gigs where you only have two or three songs to snap in, I find autofocus works better. I tend to keep my AF set to the far right and hold the cam portrait, as you're generally looking to get the face and upper body quadrant, unless it's actually a decent stage-set or backdrop instead of the usual amps/cables/lights, that way I know exactly where the focus is and can easily switch into manual once it's zoomed in.

Another thing is that almost all the pics are taken from the left and I can't stress how important it is to try and run from side to side of the stage to get as many different angles as possible. Try to watch the lights and if they have a pattern, second-guess it to get the best lighting conditions for your pics. Obviously flashes are out of the question at concerts (rude and distracting) so I set the ISO to about 800-1250 (never 1600) and use either a 2.8 wide lens or super-fast 1.5 for good motion shots. Your double-bassist... if I was at work the pic would be binned but I can appreciate the movement trails a bit better than my boss, I kinda like the blur but think a nice, clean shot would be just as good.

You're well on your way though; nice one!

nessymon

the last band are Ginseng