Help with taking pics at gigs

Oral Slang

Just wondering if anyone can give me any advice on taking pictures at concerts..
I bought a Olympus C765 a few months ago and the pictures come out really brilliant from it except at gigs.
The lights make the pics all blurry, so I spend my time going through all the different settings, thus wasting great photo opportunities. One setting works but omits all the background lighting completely, so there's no atmosphere to the photos.
I bought the camera because of the 10x optical zoom, but to be quite honest I haven't the foggiest when it comes to aperture, saturation etc. Does anyone know the best setting I should have it on. I've loads of gigs coming up & I really want the pics to come out!
Cheers..

PurpleFistMixer

I don't have any experience about this, so I'm just going to guess...

You'd need a fast shutter speed because of the movement, you know, to get non blurry photos. But that'd mean there'd be less light coming in, so you'd have to lower the aperture or do something to the ISO. I don't know a lot about ISO, so I'm not going to try advising.
Thing about the aperture is that if it's wide open, the depth of field is going to be less so you need to be more precise about your focusing, which can be somewhat tricky if you're taking fast shots.

rymus

given my limited experience in shooting gigs, I'd say go for a high ISO (1600 or 3200 if your camera can handle it). Wide DOF never hurts. I'll wait for the music photographer to throw his 0.02c in before I say anything else

DotOrg

simple point and shoot cameras are virtually useless for concert photography.

they have rubbish quality at high iso's, autofocus won't be fast enough and can't get enough light to the sensor quickly enough

have a look at my site www.aaaphotos.org
virtually none of those shots could have been taken with your camera.

buy a cheap SLR film body and a fast cheap 50mm lens and you'll be on your way

Merrion

Depending on if you are in the crowd or not a monopod or tripod can make a big difference. But yes - veru high ISO camera and use a fixed focus (rather than zoom) lens as these usually allow much wider aperture settings.

DotOrg

i've never seen anyone use a tripod or monopod at a gig, you simply don't have enough room to do so. I shoot at up to 1/25th handheld regularly


oral slang> what kind of concerts are you taking about, point depot or eamonn dorans type gigs?

Oral Slang

DotOrg wrote:

oral slang> what kind of concerts are you taking about, point depot or eamonn dorans type gigs?

Metal gigs - mostly Dorans, Whelans etc. although I'm going to a festival in Belgium in 4 weeks so it'll be a mixture of indoor & outdoor pics.

I took some in the Ambassador a few weeks ago. The only ones that came out well were when I used the headshot mode (sorry can't remember what its called) and adjusted the flash. But as I said earlier, they omitted the lights, so there was no atmosphere.

Unfortunately, I don't have money to buy another camera, so this one'll have to do for a while. It worked brilliantly on holidays a few weeks ago. The only problem I have is using it at gigs & as I go to loads I'll love to get some half decent quality ones.

DotOrg

a point and shoot camera like yours just isn't good enough in my opinion to do good concert photography, sorry.

Beats

I would concur that you'll find it difficult to get professional pictures with a compact camera at a poorly lit venue. However here's a few pointers which may help.

Compact cameras tend to be weaker when it comes to low light situations. Nature of the beast. Focusing may prove difficult. See if you can prefocus. At higher film speeds quality of image may not be the best. Also flash position and output may cause red eye or under exposure. Test the exposure options. Get as close as you can .

At a gig the quality of lighting can vary greatly, due to the many different stage spots and other lighting. Depends greatly on the venue. These add to the atmosphere and can look great when well photographed.

I would set your camera on the highest film speed ( chip sensitivity ) more than likely 400, and manually adjust the aperture to as wide as it can go , depending on zoom setting you are using ( probably f2.8 / f4.5 ). Focus will have to be precise at this aperture. See how close you can get to the stage. Better to use lens at lesser zoom. Shutter speed is critical if band members are moving around a lot. Singer tends to be still at mike so you can probably live with slower shutter speeds.

If you are using the flash in an auto mode, shutter speed will be set at about 1/125 which may result in an underexposure of stage lighting. I would lower shutter speed to 1/30 and below and use the flash. This allows lights around band to be exposed whilst flash freezes the action. Venue and acts may not like you using flash, so be wary. Experiment with shutter speeds. Try and hold camera as steady as possible, or move the camera which will result in light trails. If you can make a natural tripod, like your mates head or shoulder.

With regard to settings on your camera, you may be able to customize your exposure and recording settings so you have this setup in the memory which means you don't have to fiddle around so much.

With all cameras its a matter of learning the technology, so that it provides results which you are happy with. With digital you can view results swiftly and adjust your settings to suit the subject and conditions appropriately

I don't shoot gigs much now. Did many years ago on film. Here's a couple from Planxty gig last year. No flash and hand held at low shutter speed using my canon compact digital.

Ponster

If you can get close enough to the action you can try this :

ISO 400

Set the focus to 'manual' and the range to about 2 meters.

Normal flash

Now when you take shots your camera isn't searching for a focus all the time as you're telling it where to focus. The problam is that the zoom isn't going to work in this mode so you have to be close.

Newt time you upgrade your camera think of looking at the ISO number. The highter it is the better pics you can take in the dark without flash.

Oral Slang

Cheers all for the tips - have gigs on the 13th, 15th & 17th of June, so will see how it goes!
Thanks

DotOrg

I took some in the Ambassador a few weeks ago. The only ones that came out well were when I used the headshot mode (sorry can't remember what its called) and adjusted the flash. But as I said earlier, they omitted the lights, so there was no atmosphere.

i took shots in the ambassador a few weeks ago
look at: http://www.anthrax.com/photos/050504Dublin/
all of those, with the great atmospheric lighting were taking at high iso's (800 and 1600) and shutter speeds of 1/50th of a second and really big aperture, a lot of those things are hard to adjust with P&S cameras.

are you taking shots in the pit as a photographer or simple from the front row of the crowd?

Oral Slang

Nah not a photographer, if I was I hope I'd know a bit more about photography..
I'm taking them as a fan from the front, or from a good bit back depending on the venue, band etc.
Some of my Anthrax ones came out really well, but not as many as I'd hoped. Don't mind too much about that gig because I've loads from previous Anthrax gigs, but in Belgium I want to maximise on quality pictures because there are 50 bands playing, loads of which are bands I really love... & my 256mb card can only hold so much.
Don't wanna be spending my time deleting rubbish pics.

DotOrg

personally if i'm at a gig to watch and listen to a band that's all i do. if i want some photos as memories of the gig I'll ask one of the photographers taking shots in the pit for some shots (most, including me are generally more than happy to oblige)

it's one of the most technically demanding types of photography and even more so in small venues which have less lighting than the bigger venues.

if you still want to take loads of photos the best advice has already been given for your camera.

- turn off the flash
- set the iso to the highest setting
- set the aperture (if possible) to the widest
- set the shutter speed (if possible) to about 1/50th of a second

cecilwinthorpe

Ive taken some pics at concerts with a point and shoot camera and they came out fine. the only problem i had was the band members moved way too quick so some of them are slightly blurred but not too badly really considering. these were all taken in the ambassador a few weeks ago

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/17946844/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/17946759/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/17946670/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/17946542/