Tips for 'concert' photography, please?

[Floris]

School invited me to come and shoot photos at some sort of concert at school next week.
I thought it would be cool to try, since I've never done anything like this.
And I was realy flatterred they asked me.

Anyway.. I'm guessing it'll be pretty dark, wich will be one of the problems.
Also, the only equipment I'll be having will be my own camera:
Canon Powershot A610. (4x zoom, 5.0 MPx)
I figgered school could give me some better equip, but they can't..
the schools photocameras are realy the crappiest things ever..

anyway.. I realy like to know what sort of things i'll need to pay attention too.

I already got in my mind i should bring enough batteries/memory etc.. lol

please some tips?

[Saralonde]

See if there is anything on this thread that might help.

http://digital-photography-school.com/forum/showthread.php?t=114&highlight=concert

[Floris]

hmm well thanx..

though that's actually all about a dslr.. with lenses and stuff...
the low f number is an idea though :)

but that's all i can realy find usefull there. thnx :)

anything else?

[Saralonde]

Sorry:o . If you have a tripod, it may help you eliminate any camera shake, but in may be impractical in your situation. Will you be able to get up close? It may help you get some better images. A description I was reading about your camera says it has a shutter priority mode. If you can set a fast shutter speed it will help compensate for the low light. Unfortunately, flash probably won't help. Lots of memory is a good idea. The more shots you take the more you increase your chance of having some pictures you will be happy with. Increase the ISO until you hit the right combination.
I don't know if this helps much. Hopefully someone here will come up with more help :) .

[jiminyClickit]

Floris,

Practice is a great teacher, along with experimenting. The performers in the concert must practice at least once before the event; can you attend and try shots and settings then? Someone might even work the lights so you'll know what to expect on performance night.

If you take notes, most of your worries are handled. Make a schedule of where to be during each part of the program, what you intend to shoot, and the settings for each shot. Preparation is key for an event that will move forward whether you've finished your photos or not.

And best of luck; hope to see some great shots here later!

[Floris]

^^no prob Saralonde :) thnx anyway...

and yes, i know about the shutter mode, though I prefer to shoot in manual mode.. ;)

@jiminyclickit(spelled it right?) that's an idea maybe.. though it's not a very big thing.. so everything will be set u maybe an hour before lol, though I will try to get the programlist.. to see what i can expect, and ofcourse i'll be an hour early to practise and experiment and so on..

Thanx for the nice help people :)
if any more tips, I'll be happy to hear'em :)

[Nicole]

Hi Floris-

Not really knowing what kind of concert it will be (signing, bands, school bands, etc), it's a bit more difficult to give advice.

But... reading some more about your camera, it's actually a pretty good camera in this regard because it seems to have all the advanced modes that the older P&S were missing (Ahhh, the PowerShot s230... I still have it :)). Anyways, if you've got the time to start learning before the concert, then perhaps try learning how to use your manual mode on your camera. You'd actually be surprised how bright stage lights can be. One trick is to use spot metering and meter on someone's face. By spot metering, you're getting the camera to ignore the dark area elsewhere and just look to see how bright the area you're focusing on is.

As far as using manual mode, I'd set your aperture as low as you can (the site says f/2.8 which is not too bad). Then set your shutter speed to something suitable for the situation. I mean, someone standing in one place singing a solo can tolerate a slower shutter speed than someone rocking out to a guitar solo. So it might be ok to use 1/60 sec for the first situation, but only 1/200 sec for the second. I'm not sure if you have Auto ISO on your camera, but if you're not too concerned about the digital noise, then you could just leave it on Auto, and then all you'll have to worry about is really the shutter speed. The reason for leaving it on manual is so the camera doesn't suddenly decide it wants a smaller aperture :p

Hope that's of some help and it's not too disjointed, I only just woke up :p

[mikeboy]

I did a concert once, I had to use a high ISO setting like over 800, and a big aperture (as big as I could, 2.8) this however presented a problem, the high ISO gave me lesser picture quality, and the high aperture didn't allow me to focus much on the whole orchestra If focussed on the conductor.

You have to find a balance once you are there, and DO NOT DARE TO EVEN THINK ABOUT FLASH.... seriously....

A nice tip, if there is a conductor, catch a dress rehearsal (if they have) and get a few good shots, the ground level of the conductor is always a favorite.
Another, if people are moving really fast, then you must use a fast shutter speed, however, a slow shutter speed will allow you to use a lower ISO and give you that blurred effect, which is also a crowd pleaser.

I hope I was helpful

[Floris]

hmjeh.. thanx for the input nicole..
but i know all about the manual mode.. i've never shooted in any other mode.. ;) so spot meteting will be fine...
(almost)

anyways.. i dont have the auto iso.. but i'll sure think of the f/2.8 :)
thnx

[sdjl]

There's a great tutorial over at photo.net about Concert, Stage and Low light photography.
http://www.photo.net/learn/concerts/mirarchi/concer_i

It will really depend what kind of concert you've been asked to shoot at. I take photos at a band night in a theatre every now and then and generally use ISO 800 - 1250, aperture f/2.8 - f/5.6 and a fast shutter speed.

If the stage lighting is bright, you can increase the aperture and lower the shutter speed slightly. It's all down to trial and error at the end of the day and the best thing I find is to get there a little early and find out what kind of lighting situation you're in.

David

[Nicole]

:) Good, hopefully some of the shots come out. Make sure you come back to this thread and post a few (if you get some good ones) and tell us what worked for you.

PS Sorry for implying you didn't know how to use manual mode, you never know what someone's level of experience is :p

[Floris]

I'll post some nicole, i will. :)

and hey.. no problem.. I know what you mean lol

[Floris]

Thnx for all the help you all!
here're the photo's:

http://digital-photography-school.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1612

:)

[olya]

I was in the same situation. I shoot at a school concert. I couldn't get too close to the stage, so i used an apperture of f4.0 - 4.8, to compensate it i had to shoot with a low shutter speed or high ISO, so my photos either look very blurred or too noisy. So i have a question. Is it possible to somehow improve them in Photoshop. Can i reduce noise and blur? Thanks for any help.

[mdwsta4]

that's just not a wide enough aperture and i'm sure you can't get the shutter speeds you need unless you really crank the ISO in which case you'd need some noise reduction software.
your best bet would be to either get a lens with an aperture of 1.8 or 2.8 or purchase noise reduction software (like noise ninja) and see how well that helps.
also, if you're shooting in RAW you could underexpose the images a bit then lighten them up in photoshop. might help you get a bit faster shutter speed.

I was in the same situation. I shoot at a school concert. I couldn't get too close to the stage, so i used an apperture of f4.0 - 4.8, to compensate it i had to shoot with a low shutter speed or high ISO, so my photos either look very blurred or too noisy. So i have a question. Is it possible to somehow improve them in Photoshop. Can i reduce noise and blur? Thanks for any help.