compansating for a low light gig

RazielDoomgate

was at a single launch for the belafonts over the weekend. but venue was a bit dire and lighting was one red light. not fun

im thinking of off camera flashes and lights etc. anyone give me some tips?

managed to get a few good pics though after editing.. havent got my screen calabrated yet so i think the buring on one of the pics is bit off. but crit away please

bovril

Upping the ISO and using your lens wide open at the slowest shutter speed you are comfortable hand holding (1/60 - 1/30th) are the only things I can think of without using flash.

I took some shots at a gig last week and the acoustic area was very very badly lit. Even at ISO 1600, lens wide open (2.8) and shutter of 1/60th gave me nothing. I used my flash in the end. It was a student event and I knew the organisers so using a flash wasn't a problem.

What lens did you use?

RazielDoomgate

i was using iso 1600 and 1.8 50mm.. as i was there early was talking to the band and asked about flashes.. luckly it wasnt a problem.. was only using the built in though

pete4130

Set your cam to underexpose by 1-2 stops as well, gets better shutter speeds. Shoot RAW too to pull back more in PP. I shot a gig Sunday night in Whelans, band called La Galaxie. First proper gig shoot since getting my new camera. Was shooting at ISO 3200 and mostly F4, sometimes F2.8 and was underexposing by -1.7 to -2.0 for most of them.

iamnothim

pete4130 wrote: »

Set your cam to underexpose by 1-2 stops as well, gets better shutter speeds. Shoot RAW too to pull back more in PP. I shot a gig Sunday night in Whelans, band called La Galaxie. First proper gig shoot since getting my new camera. Was shooting at ISO 3200 and mostly F4, sometimes F2.8 and was underexposing by -1.7 to -2.0 for most of them.

ah pete, i was upstairs shooting gemma hayes that night, was gonna pop in downstairs but never got a chance. shame that. photo's look good too, you're a big fan of that fisheye! would love to see what kinda noise comes out of the D3 at it's highest iso at a gig? you could nearly get away with shooting at f8 with that beast </jealous rant>

back on topic though, gemma hayes upstairs seems like a similar type gig (low/red lights) so i'll use her as an example. the below was shot in RAW, Manual mode ISO800 f/2.8 1/50th on a 50mm f/1.4 lens. The meter was reading about -2 i think for exposure. Lot of dodging/burning and temperature adjustment in lightroom. best way of dealing with red lights is either bring the temp back to about 2k or 3k - or just convert to B&W and pretend you wanted it that way anyway

Borderfox

If you have a camera with spot metering this will help a huge amount as this will bring a lot of atmosphere into shots by just metering for the subject. iamnothim's shot is a perfect example of this

bovril

pete4130 wrote: »

Set your cam to underexpose by 1-2 stops as well, gets better shutter speeds.

If you have a camera with spot metering this will help a huge amount as this will bring a lot of atmosphere into shots by just metering for the subject

Probably a silly question but won't the two of these only apply when using Av or Tv. If you're using fully manual don't you choose to underexpose by the choosing the settings and same thing with the spot metering. I have only ever shot two gigs and both times I shot in manual by taking some test shots and adjusting exposure based on them. I also adjusted if the lighting for songs changed signifigantly.

pete4130

I can set my cam to underexpose and even when it says I'm spot on when shooting manual, it's still underexposing like I set it. Every camera is different though so you'd have to check yours.

iamnothim

bovril wrote: »

Probably a silly question but won't the two of these only apply when using Av or Tv. If you're using fully manual don't you choose to underexpose by the choosing the settings and same thing with the spot metering. I have only ever shot two gigs and both times I shot in manual by taking some test shots and adjusting exposure based on them. I also adjusted if the lighting for songs changed signifigantly.

Usually my approach too - unless something spotaneous is happening and I cant miss it. Then i go for AV and -1 exposure usually combined with some form of continouos shutter. My camera doesn't have spot metering but I'm sure I'd be using it if it did