Bands and concert photos, Bottom Liner asked for a thread title change

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > Bands and concert photos, Bottom Liner asked for a thread title change

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evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

It really depends on the crowd's behaviour. If they're all just standing there bobbing their heads there's not much to shoot in the first place. Punk/hardcore gigs on the other hand tend to be a loving blast.

For all the drugs and bitches and sinning we're supposedly renowned for, Dutch crowds tend to be pretty civilized.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2009 10:28

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 08:36

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

There's a reason punk/hardcore shows are the most fun to shoot

Still, some bands just don't take themselves too seriously and give it the best they've got, and that tends to show 99% of the time.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2009 21:55

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

My flash is fight!

# ¿ Jul 23, 2009 20:50

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

P&S generally look like poo poo at anything but base ISO. Stop loving with it.

# ¿ Jul 25, 2009 17:07

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

rockcity posted:

Deeeefinitely go watch Gallows. I'm not even into their music, but god drat were they entertaining.

This a million times. They're a ton of fun to shoot. Their frontman's a loving crackmonkey.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2009 00:04

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

rockcity posted:

Yep, fog machines are pretty much a thorn in the photographers side.

It really depends. Well controlled fog can look amazing if they have some lights on it, it makes for very "full" pictures of performers.

# ¿ Aug 1, 2009 12:24

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

rockcity posted:

Certainly, but most of what I shot is a fog machine behind a fan, so you don't get dense controlled fog, you get a hazy and ugly mess.

Oh those are totally awful yeah

# ¿ Aug 1, 2009 14:56

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

HPL posted:

And that is why I shoot mostly indie shows these days.

Exactly.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2009 14:01

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

HPL posted:

If you don't have a Sigma 30mm f/1.4, I'd seriously suggest you get that or something similar. Either that or you need to get way closer to your subjects with the wide angle. Wide angles work best with concerts when you use them to really stretch perspective and make things seem more extreme than they really are and the way to do that is to get right up close and comfy so that the subjects fill the frame right to the edges. If you have to opt between showing more floor or showing more ceiling, showing more floor will often yield the more dramatic photo, especially in a smaller venue.

I have a Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 but I really don't use it much unless it's at a tight venue where I'm practically bumping the musicians with my lens hood. For anything else, a 17-50 or something similar is generally wide enough unless I'm going for a photo of the whole band at once.

I have both these lenses, and unless you're right on top of the performers, it's the long end of the Tamron that'll irritate you (no drummer shots for you!), not the wide side. The 30mm is great for when 2.8 just isn't enough to get your AF sensors working. It'll focus when your exposure solution is like 1/30 f/1.4 ISO3200.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2009 23:10

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

HPL posted:

Why aren't you wearing ear plugs?

Seriously. That's the first thing I bought once my gear came in. If you get foamies buy the 3M stuff, but better yet get some made at a local shop, the venue employees can probably tell you where.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2009 12:52

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

rockcity posted:

Ear Love

I'm going to try a pair of these out. Up to now I've just been using the 3M foam plugs.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2009 14:50

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

Presumably there's a custom function to disable the canon flashes from actually firing so you can use them as very expensive AF lamp.

# ¿ Aug 19, 2009 15:14

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

MMD3 posted:

I hate having to wait for AF in super low-light situations where the subject is constantly moving (ie concerts).

I don't know about Canon, but Nikon's don't use the AF-lights if you're set to AF-C.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2009 10:24

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

1/60 at F2 3200 sounds like an average lovely-lit club, yeah. Gogo-gadget flash to the rescue.

Some recent stuff:

Frigate

Slapshot (who were 200% amazing)

It got pretty crazy 8)

evil_bunnY fucked around with this message at 21:52 on Aug 30, 2009

# ¿ Aug 30, 2009 21:46

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

Haggins posted:

Do you guys get any use out of 70-200 2.8? I eventually want to get one but there is other gear I want/need right now too. All have I have right now is:

I have one. It's handly in larger venues when you're not 30cm from the performers all the time. Good for portraits, and if you're lucky you might catch a good drummer shot or two. You need a couple of meters to work with or it's kinda useless though, but it's perfect for festivals and such, since the stages are usually higher and further away.

Flashes: you usually won't need them in well-lit venues (might not even be allowed to use 'em), and you can't really shoot without them in smaller spaces with poo poo lighting.

evil_bunnY fucked around with this message at 10:41 on Sep 8, 2009

# ¿ Sep 8, 2009 10:36

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

In CS4? Don't you mean Bridge?

# ¿ Sep 16, 2009 15:53

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

Lens flare can look good, but in some lenses it can really murder contrast (my Tamron 17-50 does this).

# ¿ Oct 28, 2009 10:27

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

That 5th shot (girl in the crowd with a veil) is so money.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2009 02:47

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

Semi-recent stuff:

# ¿ Nov 2, 2009 10:44

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

That's close to how I feel about them too.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2009 20:28

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

If you're at the end, you'll want to be off to the side.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2009 22:08

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

Paragon8 posted:

So, basically at one of the corners? I can see that being better. Of course I have no idea what the venue is like so I'll see when I get there.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2009 22:32

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

I, Butthole posted:

e: turns out I'm a Photoshop scrub and can't make my watermark colour in greyscale pictures

Put it on a layer above B&W.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2009 14:30

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

Crimson Falls

In-Quest

Not really my kind of stuff, but was shooting a friend's band and figured I'd hand around.

# ¿ Nov 14, 2009 15:08

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

Eeek posted:

Are you saying if effectively goes to 1600? Because it does go to 3200.

Pretty sure it doesn't do hardware 3200. It's probably got extended range via a custom function, which will probably look like doo-doo indeed.

# ¿ Nov 26, 2009 20:03

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

Make some snoots out of coroplast too, it�s tons of fun to throw wee spots of light right where you want them.

# ¿ Dec 2, 2009 15:19

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

You close down to limit ambient (so you get just the trails from light sources). You can use the same technique without manual flash control, btw. Front curtain flash, TTL, and go.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2009 18:53

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

I don't know why you'd want the lights as close to the stage as possible. I'd want them at least reliably catching the perfomers' eyes without creating that nasty ceiling-bouncing shadow.
I'd think about setting the flash to a low manual power and just trigger them with the optical slave (if your units can do that. I don't know about Canon, but Nikon's commander mode seriously destroys my ability to time shots properly (because of the delay caused by flash commands on top of TTL metering).

# ¿ Dec 15, 2009 08:58

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

One of the big features on the list was that the built-in flash can act as a commander (like Nikon bodies, basically).

# ¿ Dec 15, 2009 10:12

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

AIIAZNSK8ER posted:

hey pr0digal, do you use the flash on or off camera? I have yet to use flash in small places because I don't want to be too annoying with it, but i might save it for the last song and just go nuts because I'm starting to go to some really dark and hole in the ground bars.

Dark holes are the most fun to shoot. I just ask the bands, and I've never had issues. Try to feather your lights a wee bit and avoid high power blitz in the performers' faces.

# ¿ Dec 30, 2009 15:30

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

HPL posted:

And that is why I largely gave up on big name concert photography. This isn't a career for me, so I'd rather have a ton of fun shooting small bands, all else being equal.

Precisely. Running from one stage to another with no time to actually enjoy the music at festivals is the worst poo poo ever.

# ¿ Jan 5, 2010 10:39

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

I, Butthole posted:

I'm probably doing a festival later this month, but it's all reggae and it's all on one stage so I'm pretty happy

Yeah those are really fun since you can hang back with a beer and a telephoto all day.
I'm seeing phoenix in a couple of months (just for fun, but I'll take a basic kit along), pretty excited.

# ¿ Jan 5, 2010 12:27

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

It's entirely too easy to ruin a shot above f/2, especially at the longer focal lengths.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2010 00:15

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

Miko posted:

By above, do you mean f1.4 or f4?

I mean the focus can get dicey shooting wide open at longer focal lengths.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2010 02:46

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

pr0digal that's pretty great stuff. Do you have a set somewhere?

# ¿ Jan 15, 2010 11:59

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

That's not an NDA.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2010 14:05

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

NDA's aren't always bad, but I can't see a positive side to relinquishing copyright like that (provided it's enforceable).

# ¿ Jan 15, 2010 14:40

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

Eeek posted:

What sucks about small venues is they have the worst light. So, you either learn quickly how to shoot in bad light or you get frustrated. It's a great place to grow but step into with expectations.

Or you just blitz

fenner posted:

Thanks for the writeup psylent, sounds like a lot of effort which i'm not willing to put in as gig photography doesn't interest me a lot, I just wanted to give it a go. I will probably just shoot some small events without getting paid for the experience.

You should really just shoot what you like, and it really helps to shoot music you like, too.

# ¿ Feb 2, 2010 15:45

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

psylent posted:

This is pretty much what I do now. Although it means I have to get to venues ultra early to shoot from anywhere near the front. I'm getting too old to stand around with a bunch of hyped up students for 3 hours waiting for the band to come on.

Come on, dodging crowd-surfers' half the fun 8)

# ¿ Feb 3, 2010 00:27

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 08:36

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

Beijing Rock

# ¿ Feb 8, 2010 16:35

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > Bands and concert photos, Bottom Liner asked for a thread title change

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