IDEAL SETTINGS FOR TAKING LIVE GIG SHOTS

nowayout1 · 11-02-2011 11:46am #1

my friend asked me today to take pictures of there up coming gig what would be my ideal settings for getting good shots.

my camera is a Canon 500D, I know the white balance would be on tungsten. would i use RAW + Jpeg formatting or just RAW? would I use the camera flash or not?

any tips would be great to hear

chevron · 11-02-2011 11:48am

Iv never done gig photography, But i would imagine flash is a no no as not only could it be of putting for the artist but also counter acts the lighting setup.

Raw and JPEG would be your best option as long as you have plenty of space and spare cards.

pete4130 · 11-02-2011 12:05pm

What are the ideal setting for a wedding? What are the ideal setting for a landscape? What are the ideal settings for a landscape?
The thing is there are no ideal settings. Every gig/wedding/landscape/portrait is different, every lighting set up is different. It's a case of get there and see what works on the night. If you're familiar with the venue it can help, if you know the bands style it can help to guess how it will be. Shoot RAW and just use auto white balance and adjust afterwards. IF you use evaluative metering set your camera to underexpose by about 1-1.3/1.7 stops. This counter acts the cameras meter trying to get detail in the dark areas that aren't lit (which results in slower shutter speeds and more washed out photos and blown highlights). It forces the camera to shoot more of what is lit up than the background.

You can shoot manual mode and see how the lights are changing and find something that works and wait for similar lighting and choose when you shoot.

Like I said. There are no ideal settings. Every gig is different.

homerun_homer · 11-02-2011 12:12pm

Try not to use flash. I take a lot of gig photos and I'd not use flash. Use as much natural light from the stage as possible so it's best you have a good lens like a nifty fifty. Have a high aperture and experiment with the ISO. You would typically be going high with the ISO but if there's a lot of light available then you might save on grainier photos by having a lower setting.

If you havea nifty fifty then set it to f1.8, ISO 800-1600 and mess around with shutter speed, around 1/80 would be safe but make sure to avoid motion blur, so the faster you can push it the better.

If you do end up using flash make sure to bounce it and don't have it blasting in the band's faces.

Oh and shoot RAW always. I would either leave the WB on auto or else set it manually. You can always change it in post processing with the RAW file.

smelltheglove · 11-02-2011 12:16pm

If you can go no flash than do that with high iso. The thing with pub gigs is the bands dont have the key lighting like the bigger venues have, i.e. spotlight on the artists. So what you have to fight against is a pub or club with lights dimmes, a band all squashed up in a corner with light coming from behind them....... usually in this situation you have no choice but to use flash. I had one where at an iso of 3200 and 2.8 I still couldnt get a useable image the place was soo dark. If you need flash though I would suggest setting it to manual and as low as you can so you are just introducing a little bit of light and retaining as much of the atmosphere as you can, heres some samples

key light no flash

same gig, support act, little to no key light, no flash allowed made it next to impossible

Flash, this venue really is the darkest I have been in and with a dark funny shaped ceiling it is a nightmare to get the light right

So as you can see the best possible result will come from the large venues with a good key light, worst possible no flash no key light.

melekalikimaka · 11-02-2011 12:54pm

its more about ideal equipment, not ideal settings...

flash is generally a nono unless you want flat colourless images

hoganpoly · 11-02-2011 12:58pm

Great advice smelltheglove ,lovely shots btw

nowayout1 · 11-02-2011 1:47pm

Cheers good advice smelltheglove, I'll try that when I'm taking shots, got extra batteries in case the run out, I've only a kit lens 18-55 f3.5-5.6 would I still get good shots with that one? I'll try your advice out and play around with it.

Do you limit yourself to the amount of shots per band or take as many and then worry about it after? Would bringing a laptop be good as to remove them off the card to a folder?

PCPhoto · 11-02-2011 1:54pm

it all depends on what you want to get -

I'm sure the band want pics of them individually and collectively on stage, close up of lead vocals practically eating the microphone, drummer on his solo and guitarist gesturing to the crowd or playing away.

of course the band also probably want images of the packed venue with them playing.... and a couple of crowd shots of their mates/family/supporters/fans in the crowd.

dont be afraid to experiment with low light, shutter speeds and flash, like the others have said try to shoot without flash but if you do shoot flash know what you are doing and play around with manual settings to minimise the effect on the band (dont want them seeing stars while trying to perform)

mehfesto · 11-02-2011 2:10pm

My general rules of thumb for gigs are:

*Shutter speed 1/60 or faster if band are lively. If not, 1/20 or whatever you can manage without a blur. (Unless you want blur!)

*Iso as high as it goes without the noise being too much. If it's only going online/web-gallery, you can always have some noise and get away with it if the picture size will be reduced.

*Aperture as wide as possible. Obviously, you'll want to be using manual mode to do all this.

* Use Spot-metering. Without it, the camera will be reading too much - not the interesting areas - the performers faces, etc.

*Photoshop. Use it. You can drastically improve images with the shadows/highlights sliders.

*Shoot Raw. And raw only. You don't need jpegs. Raw gives you so much control - and as the lights will change, your auto colour balance won't be able to keep up. Editing in raw can fix this.

With regards to flash, it really depends on the venue to be honest. Big venues will have a 'no flash' policy, but usually have decent enough lights to cover you (The Academy excluded).

Small venues wont mind you using flash at all. Last night I got to use a flash at a gig for the first time.

That said, the lighting can be interesting enough on it's own (well, at ISO 2,500-3,200) to get some nice shots without a flash.

If you have a flash and it's a small venue, bring it. Try it out and have some fun with it. Usually small gigs are terrible at having decent lighting - so bring your own if you can. Don't use pop up flash though. It just doesn't work.

That's my 2cs.

smelltheglove · 11-02-2011 2:25pm

As above pop up flash would just ruin a potentially good pic. I wouldnt limit myself to the number but I would be wary of taking too much and irritating the band, they have a job to do and they cant interact with the crowd if you are in their way so keep your space, when you feel time is right to get in closer go for it and generally they will give you something back.

Again as said before individuals and group, drummers can be hard to get close to and tend to have the least light so you need to make time for the drummer and keys can be a hard shot too, often best wait for the end of a song and shoot from the side or down as the keys fella is about to go for the big finale but like drummers hard to get into as so much equipment in front of him.

Most of my gig shots are for friends and my hubbie, I wouldnt dare try make money from gigs as there is soo much competition there and having kids and a gigging husband means I really couldnt focus on it, but for him I know the best thing to do is get crowd interaction, if you go to the facebook album of that last shot you will see a set from the night, (some awful ones too as I was slightly drunk) you will see crowd interaction, people dancing away, I then tag the venues and more often than not he will hear back from them in regards to how the gig went and wow tell your wife thanks for those pics everyone is loving them. Its a marketing gimmick for my hubbies band as the day after people see themselves having fun and tag themselves, more people see the pics and want to go to the next gig which in turn helps the pub as they have more interest in their promotional facebook page because of the pics etc etc etc.

The Snipe · 11-02-2011 3:22pm

I normally use 50mm 1.8 at f2.8 and ISO 800/400 SP 60/80/100 on a 400D and they come out great, sometimes a fill in flash on my 580EX II shot straight (If I'm shooting portrait) Onstage lighting and smoke can make some pretty class effects!

Example in my Facebook album with the BPLA: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=21383&id=100000804414858&l=8a72e55d08

11-02-2011 3:28pm

I've only covered two gigs. Each had several bands, so I'd say I photographed approximately seven bands in my life, all in the same poorly lit, local, venue.

Regarding flash, I don't think bands mind it on a smaller scale. Robbie Williams might kick your face in for firing a flash, but generally speaking, I don't think that Joe Soaps really care. To be honest, if anything, I'd almost say some smaller bands enjoy the flash going off every now and again, because then everyone knows a photo has been taken, and if there's a guy running around with a DSLR, it makes the band look 'bigger' and more high profile. Great for the band's ego.

So I'd use flash if you want, but not go overboard with it.

One thing, though, I did notice one of the guitarists and singers getting a bit annoyed one time, when someone was using their pop-up flash to take a few photographs in a row. A burst of flash is nice here and there, but I don't think they appreciated the camera flash "strobing" into their faces for seconds at a time.

My advice there is to hold your camera with your finger over the pop up flash button, but have the flash down. As soon as you lock your focus, flip the flash up and take the shot. This means that the flash will be used, but the camera will have to focus without it, so it won't be able to strobe in their face.

But again, every band is different. One of the bands I photographed had a strobelight on the stage facing them. It wasn't on all the time, but when it was on, for about 10 seconds at a time, I could've done what I wanted with my flash and I doubt they'd have ever noticed.

Talk to the band and ask them how they feel about it. I doubt they'll care.

ditpaintball · 15-02-2011 3:25am

I use flash for my live shots, but I use it off camera, TTL mode and trigger it remotely. Works a treat. All the other above stuff applies regarding 1.8 or 1.4 aperture etc.

http://www.richie.ie/2011/02/bluemoose-promo/

Effects · 15-02-2011 10:53am

Don't forget that people at a gig won't really want someone shooting with a flash. Just something to consider. I once was beside a girl who was bouncing her flash off a black ceiling with her camera vertical and then when she put it horizontal again she was blasting her flash right into people faces. Pretty annoying.

homerun_homer · 15-02-2011 11:47am

I was at a friend's band's gig the other night and a guy from the same camera course as him was there taking pics, always using flash, bouncing it off the floor, the monitors - hadn't a clue what he was doing. I could see some pics as he reviewed them and the body of the performer would be lit and the head was dark because of where he pointed the flash. The lighting wasn't perfect to use no flash but it was very doable.
I saw him review a pic each time he'd take one and shake his head in annoyance. He had a big bag of gear and is doing photography in college, how can you not get it right!!

pete4130 · 15-02-2011 1:02pm

Flash is generally a no go. Sometimes small flash, during bright lighting is alright as it isn't as noticeable.

Here are some from the past few years with and without flash.

This one below is one of my fave gig photos ever. Nikon D1 (from 1999, 2.74MP @ ISO 800 and 50mm 1.8) and proves its not what camera you have, it's how you shoot.

nowayout1 · 18-02-2011 10:25am

Cheers guys fir the advice, the pictures turned out well, must say there were 2 other people taking pictures and were using flash, must say they were annoying the bands I'll put up a few pictures here from the gig

the_doctor199 · 18-02-2011 3:41pm

Fairly extensive guide over here that may be useful to some, everything from gear to etiquette: Link

thebaz · 18-02-2011 6:17pm

I wouldn't rule out flash - animalrights uses flash with great results - for me, get a style that suits yourself, its individuality that makes music shots above all else

Jim · 19-02-2011 1:43pm

I don't know why people are ruling out flash so much. I have noticed my gig shots have improved a lot since I bought a proper flash. It's good to get shots of the bands with just the stage lighting, but sometimes this is impossible. Don't be afraid to use flash if you want clear images.

As was said AnimalRights uses flash and he's probably the best gig photographer I've ever seen. If you are using flash though be mindful not to be snapping away as it can be really distracting for the bands. Pick your shots.

AnimalRights · 19-02-2011 3:22pm

As Pete said earlier it depends on the gig and venue and the artists themselves, I'm lucky that I shoot Punk Rock gigs and the artists are all down to earth and don't mind flash which is just as well as 99% of the gigs are in dark squalid places so flash is essential.
These days in Lightroom or PS flash shots can be disguised mostly so you don't get the souless flat images that someone else complained about.

The anti flash group generally end up with 90% fancy lights taking over the shot and the rest a usual generic shot of the singer....can get pretty common and tedious, although again it depends on how good and creative the photographer is so Pete I would know would get the most out of these conditions.

Non Flash