Advice on Gig Photography...

WheresMyCamera?

Hi all. While it hasn't really ever interested me to a huge degree, with the nature of my "job" I find myself at a lot of gigs/music festivals and I would find it a shame not to capitalize on the amount of access I have to some stages. Of late I've been traveling a lot and have just decided to take only a nifty fifty with me. Normall the range on this would be fine but it is very restricting given the size of stages in question half the time. But I would like to hear from some propper gig photographers to find out what settings you use on your camera most often.

Any advice?
Thanks
A

melekalikimaka

WheresMyCamera? wrote: »

Hi all. While it hasn't really ever interested me to a huge degree, with the nature of my "job" I find myself at a lot of gigs/music festivals and I would find it a shame not to capitalize on the amount of access I have to some stages. Of late I've been traveling a lot and have just decided to take only a nifty fifty with me. Normall the range on this would be fine but it is very restricting given the size of stages in question half the time. But I would like to hear from some propper gig photographers to find out what settings you use on your camera most often.

Any advice?
Thanks
A

personally nifty fifty ay 1.8 at ap priority and adgust iso accordingly til a can handle fully manual and your away

bovril

I wouldn't call myself a proper gig photographer by a long shot but I would agree on the nifty fifty. You won't get the whole stage in but more often that not with gig shots you don't want the whole stage in. The photo can look cluttered if you get too much in it. I've shot three gigs since February, two with the 50mm and one with the sigma 24-70 2.8 and I by far prefer the 50mm and I don't think I'd ever go back to the sigma for gigs. The photos weren't as sharp and the colour and contrast wasn't as good as what you get from the 50mm.

AnimalRights

I used to use the 50mm 1.4 but I wasn't getting enough of the bigger picture so to speak, the Punk forum I posted on I was getting comments like "Can you only take 1 type of shot" "You don't get the atmosphere of the gig with the close ups" "Too samey"
So I've started bringing the 24-105L and taking a wider range of shots.

For the people wanting the atmosphere.



and to the closer cropped ones.



I do feel guilty now not having a use for the 50mm at the moment.
Sure I'll find a gig with sod all lighting and it'll find it's niche again!

Placebo

If you can use flash and are at a close range then i suppose aperture isnt a high priority 4-5, with max iso

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anti-girl/2457879458/in/set-72157604836502541/

but flash really bleechs out the atmosphere and surrounding lighting, id love to try a zoom lens, with f1.8 capacity

melekalikimaka

Placebo wrote: »

If you can use flash and are at a close range then i suppose aperture isnt a high priority 4-5, with max iso

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anti-girl/2457879458/in/set-72157604836502541/

but flash really bleechs out the atmosphere and surrounding lighting, id love to try a zoom lens, with f1.8 capacity

aye

WheresMyCamera?

Thanks for the comments. I did find that with the fifty I wasn't able to get the bigger picture as you said AnimalRights but then at the same time didn't have enough focal length on the lens to get some of the other shots I wanted to get. It's all down to the size of the stage and where I can get too. What I would have loved the other night was a 70-200mm and a 10-20mm. That would have got me what I wanted but then I did only bring a 50mm with me.

I'll work with what I've got for the moment and see what I can get. Glastonbury tonight

melekalikimaka

see you need a low ap more than anything... so its big bucks to get low ap zooms.

the 50mm is grand, for most small gigs you can move back for wider... ore in fr closer... you cn be the zoom

GhostInTheRuins

If you're going to Glastonbury the size of the stage shouldn't be a problem for your 50mm, just make sure to get up close .

I use 50mm 1.8 on shutter priority at about 1/125. IMO, spot metering is essential.