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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jackpot: Aug 31, 2004; First cousin to the Black Rabbit himself. Such was Woundwort's monument...and perhaps it would not have displeased him.<

The Reverend Peyton's Big drat Band. The lighting in this place is pretty terrible, so all my post processing has an almost sepia look to it (and too much magenta, which I should be able to fix). I don't mind it, but it's not what I was going for, it's just the best I could do.

Not much of a photo, but a good example of why you don't let your guard down. Breezy had put her washboard down and was squirting it with something (I thought she was cleaning it), so I turned away, only to hear the crowd go nuts. She'd set that poo poo on fire and kept playing. Every single shot I took was blocked.

# ¿ Feb 4, 2011 21:18

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 21:59

jackpot: Aug 31, 2004; First cousin to the Black Rabbit himself. Such was Woundwort's monument...and perhaps it would not have displeased him.<

Death by Cranes posted:

2 - I really want a better objective and have been thinking about getting the Canon 18-135mm IS. But Sigma has a 18-200mm IS (OC it's called), but I don't see myself needing more zoom. A gig place is only so big, and I'd rather have a real Canon objective. So I guess I answered my own question there.

Others have said it, but it can stand to be said again: superzooms like the 18-200 have a place in the photography world, but definitely not in concert shooting. I wouldn't even try to shoot anything slower than f/2.8, and even then that's often too slow and I end up using my 50/1.4. There are situations (really bright, professionally lit situations) where you'd be able to use the wide end of that lens at f/3.5, but 200mm at f/6.3? Impossible. All of this goes for the 18-135, too - way too slow.

Buy a 50/1.8 and/or a 17-50/2.8, in your budget they're your best options. In fact they're the best option for almost any budget, until you've got a lot more money to spend.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2011 16:14

jackpot: Aug 31, 2004; First cousin to the Black Rabbit himself. Such was Woundwort's monument...and perhaps it would not have displeased him.<

evil_bunnY posted:

This is why shooting rowdy shows is the best thing.

GWAR is coming to town, and I can't decide if I want to ask to shoot them. I'm simultaneously excited and terrified at the idea of shooting a show where fake vomit's flying everywhere.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2011 17:08

jackpot: Aug 31, 2004; First cousin to the Black Rabbit himself. Such was Woundwort's monument...and perhaps it would not have displeased him.<

Abnegatus posted:

Alright, I'm going to be shooting a few bands on the 20th (Heathen, Destroyer 666, etc.) and I was hoping for some advice.

I feel like you're overthinking this, but others here do this a lot more than I do so I'd love to hear their advice. Here's how I do a concert:

When I'm shooting a show I'm almost always shooting wide open, both for the blurred background and (more importantly) to squeeze from the room every bit of light I can get. I said "almost always," but I honestly can't remember a time when I wasn't shooting wide open the whole night.

Really good lighting:
On those rare occasions when the lighting is really good I'll try to have ISO at 400, then put it on Av set to wide open. Spot metering, aim for the face; I'm not thinking about 18% grey when I do this, I just want the eyes in focus if I can get 'em. With the changing light colors you'll go crazy worrying about white balance, just put it on auto and save it for post production. Somebody's going to absolutely rip me for saying that, but it's what I do.

poo poo lighting:
Since the lighting is usually A) pretty lovely and B) fairly constant (colors may change, but the overall level of light probably won't change by much - it's gonna be dim at best) I usually put it on manual; I set the aperture to wide open, the ISO to whatever I can get away with (800 to 1600), and then adjust the shutter accordingly.

I use one-shot autofocus, although now that I actually know what the hell AI Servo does (there's been some discussion of it in one of the other threads) I might try it more often.

I wouldn't recommend auto ISO. Either it's going to go way too high (I don't know about the T2i, but my 40D is worthless at 3200), or it'll go too low and compensate by slowing your shutter speed. What good is an ISO 400 shot if it's taken at 1/10? Maybe the camera's smart enough to not do that though, I don't know. I guess if you could tell it "Do auto ISO but only use 800 to 1600," then that would be great.

If cameras were just a little bit smarter, we could program in some neat if/then/else statements. Like "if using auto-ISO always use between 800 and 1600." Or "if ISO is 800-1600 and aperture is wide open, never let shutter go slower than 1/40." Or even "If using Av and the shutter wants to do 1/10, beep really loudly and flash warning messages on the screen." That would make Av more useable in low-light, but I guess it would also take some of the fun out of it.

# ¿ May 5, 2011 16:37

jackpot: Aug 31, 2004; First cousin to the Black Rabbit himself. Such was Woundwort's monument...and perhaps it would not have displeased him.<

Abnegatus posted:

I really would like the ability to play around with aperture, because there may be instances where I really want multiple members at different distances to be in focus, but ultimately I bet that won't happen.

You're right that there are situations when it would be great to do this, but for a lot of indoor shows it's very hard to do. I mean if you were outdoors in daylight and you wanted to shoot this band so they're all in focus, you'd just put it at f/8 or something and fire away. But there have been shows I've gone to lately that I've shot almost entirely with my 50/1.4, because my f/2.8 lenses are too slow to use, even at ISO1600. Concert lighting is the worst - that's the hardest part about it, but it's also what makes it such a fun challenge.

evil_bunnY posted:

Buy a Nikon SLR

e: auto ISO is programmable and will push it up, but only when it hits the user-defined minimum shutter speed (and aperture wide open in P), and only up to your user-defined acceptable max, and only from then on will it push the shutter speed down. If your manually selected ISO is too high for what your shutter is capable of (but more realistically you just forgot to turn it back down) it'll select a lower sensitivity.

I can't lie, that's pretty cool.

# ¿ May 6, 2011 17:26

jackpot: Aug 31, 2004; First cousin to the Black Rabbit himself. Such was Woundwort's monument...and perhaps it would not have displeased him.<

Does anybody have a generic "music photography" contact that they can link me to, or offer any hints? A band I shot a few weeks ago for a local magazine wants to hire me to shoot them during a music video. I've agreed to do the shoot for next to nothing, because I enjoy doing it (and they don't have much money), but I'd like to hang onto rights so I have some control over future use of the images.

# ¿ May 9, 2011 18:38

jackpot: Aug 31, 2004; First cousin to the Black Rabbit himself. Such was Woundwort's monument...and perhaps it would not have displeased him.<

I've got a chance at shooting GWAR next month, but honestly I'm half afraid to even do it; I'm not real keen on getting my gear (and me) soaked in fake blood and semen. Who here has shot them before, and is there a way to shoot these guys without wishing I'd brought a disposable camera?

Edit: Nevermind, they're only giving out one press pass anyway (per publication), and the writer says he can shoot it. I was about to pass anyway; from everything I can see there's just no way to do it without getting soaked.

jackpot fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Feb 16, 2012

# ¿ Feb 13, 2012 18:12

jackpot: Aug 31, 2004; First cousin to the Black Rabbit himself. Such was Woundwort's monument...and perhaps it would not have displeased him.<

Eeek posted:

Floggling Molly, The Joy Formidable and Bush.

Untitled by Eeek5127, on Flickr

For just a split second I was like "what the gently caress...?," and then I remembered that Dave King looks like that and makes that face 80 times in every show.

These guys were so much loving fun to shoot, partly because as a national act they've actually got great lighting.

IMG_2679 by elymt, on Flickr

Who wants to win a chance to shoot Soundgarden and win a box set? There's just one small catch:

quote:

7. Grant of Rights. By entering the Contest, entrants irrevocably grant Sponsor, its subsidiaries, divisions, affiliates, designees, clients, sponsors, licensees, and advertising and promotional agencies, an unlimited, worldwide, perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free, unconditional license and absolute right to edit, post, publish, store, copy, transmit, publicly display, and exhibit, the Work (in whole or in part) in connection with the Contest and/or the promotion of the Contest. Upon Sponsor's request, winners agree to sign any and all legal forms deemed necessary to license or assign all right, title and interest in and to the Work, including without limitation, all copyrights associated therewith, in exchange for the Prizes set forth above.

jackpot fucked around with this message at 17:44 on Jan 9, 2013

# ¿ Jan 9, 2013 17:42

jackpot: Aug 31, 2004; First cousin to the Black Rabbit himself. Such was Woundwort's monument...and perhaps it would not have displeased him.<

geeves posted:

Yeah, my sister's husband sent that to me yesterday and suggested I enter. I read the TOS and it read as "Soundgarden wants free photos". But to SG's benefit, they have been giving proper recognition on their FB page. I may enter, because, why not?

Eh, I can't decide whether to have a problem with this or not. The "why not" part is every photographer who can't get work anymore because amateurs are willing to do the work for free, and bands are willing to accept half the usual talent because it only costs them a hundredth of the usual cost.

On the other hand, if some fan wants to do it and wouldn't normally be allowed to shoot a show, then go for it, have a blast. It just rubs me the wrong way, signing away your work for a $10 CD of a band who's sold 20 million records.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2013 06:25

jackpot: Aug 31, 2004; First cousin to the Black Rabbit himself. Such was Woundwort's monument...and perhaps it would not have displeased him.<

HPL posted:

It's kind of sad that all those people who entered that contest to shoot a Soundgarden concert and spammed the poo poo out of social media to pimp out their entry probably could have got an actual press photo pass with less effort.

I just hope when they get to the show they find the same ridiculous rules that a lot of big acts have: first three songs only, must stand in this 10x10 spot with 20 other shooters, etc.

I went on kind of a rant on Flogging Molly's facebook post (they're doing the same thing, through the same company) and never got a reply from it (except for one pro shooter who agreed with me). And why should they reply? This is a great deal for them.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2013 17:02

jackpot: Aug 31, 2004; First cousin to the Black Rabbit himself. Such was Woundwort's monument...and perhaps it would not have displeased him.<

HPL posted:

I really wanted to enter that contest and promote it by vowing to shoot the concert with a pinhole camera.

Not nearly as hardcore, but I was at a show over the summer and bumped into a guy shooting at the stage with a TLR. Granted it was a folk singer, and they don't move much, but I was still mighty impressed.

Eeek posted:

Honestly, this is probably one of the better ways for me. I have seen a surge of "you have been granted permission to shoot (the artist.) In exchange for shooting (the artist,) please submit all of your high rez pictures to be used as (the artist) sees fit, with no compensation of any kind. If fitting, (the artist) may provide credit but please be aware that is not always possible." If they have someone shooting for them and don't ask for my pictures, then so be it.

That all depends on how they want to handle it, because to me it sounds like that is what they're doing.

quote:

By entering the Contest, entrants irrevocably grant Sponsor, its subsidiaries, divisions, affiliates, designees, clients, sponsors, licensees, and advertising and promotional agencies, an unlimited, worldwide, perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free, unconditional license and absolute right to edit, post, publish, store, copy, transmit, publicly display, and exhibit, the Work (in whole or in part) in connection with the Contest and/or the promotion of the Contest. Upon Sponsor's request, winners agree to sign any and all legal forms deemed necessary to license or assign all right, title and interest in and to the Work, including without limitation, all copyrights associated therewith, in exchange for the Prizes set forth above.

If you get to the show and there's a guy at the front gate with your photo pass in one hand and a form in the other, you're gonna sign that form or not get in the door. And sure, they can't take those photos out of your hand, and gently caress 'em if they try. But if they want to be hardasses about it, I'll bet they could really be nasty if you ever posted those photos anywhere outside of your living room. Because according to the rules you're signing on to, they own everything you do at that show, 100% and forever. It just seems like a really nasty, lovely deal.

Like HPL or someone said, for about five minutes more effort you could score a photo pass from some unknown local magazine and have all the fun with none of the hassle.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2013 06:16

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 21:59

jackpot: Aug 31, 2004; First cousin to the Black Rabbit himself. Such was Woundwort's monument...and perhaps it would not have displeased him.<

Anti_Social posted:

Are there photos of you doing this? Please say there are.

And if there are you better be wearing a fedora with a press badge in the brim.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2013 14:27

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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