Concert photography help

[Metallicat180]

Amateur alert!! I go to see alot of bands and I always take my Canon Powershot SX110 IS along for the ride. I love this camera and it can produce some absolutely incredible photographs.

Example - http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1..._4198879_n.jpg

However, more often than not, they'll come out blurred, or partially blurred. When I don't use the flash, the subject and camera have to be really still or it blurs. That's not an easy task at a metal concert!

Example - http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...66_576x768.jpg

If I use the "shutter speed priority" option on my camera, that takes away the blur but then leaves the picture very dark.

Example - http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...93_576x768.jpg

I'm sure there is something I could change to make the lighting better but also make sure there's no blur but I'm completely hopeless when it comes to things like that. All I want to do is point and shoot. My brain just goes into meltdown when confronted with technology. If anyone could give me any help, I would be really, really grateful! Thank you!

[zona5101]

Hi and welcome!
Pretty tough lighting in a concert. Your best best is to have good timing and wait until the stage or person is very well lit (like your first shot). You can also crank up the iso in the camera to gain some additional shutter speed at the cost of a bit more grain.

[Metallicat180]

Originally Posted by zona5101

Hi and welcome!
Pretty tough lighting in a concert. Your best best is to have good timing and wait until the stage or person is very well lit (like your first shot). You can also crank up the iso in the camera to gain some additional shutter speed at the cost of a bit more grain.

Thank you!

That's kinda what I feared. It doesn't really work in clubs and smaller venues (like the last two pics of my friends playing) but seems to be ok when it's big arenas (like the first one).

I looked at the iso function (whatever that is - told you I was clueless!) and there are two options, HI and AUTO. It seems to be always set to hi, so do you think changing it to auto would make a difference?

[zona5101]

probably better to leave it on high and force the camera to give you better low light performance.

[Metallicat180]

Originally Posted by zona5101

probably better to leave it on high and force the camera to give you better low light performance.

Ok, thank you!

[Partsrept]

Originally Posted by Metallicat180

Amateur alert!! I go to see alot of bands and I always take my Canon Powershot SX110 IS along for the ride. I love this camera and it can produce some absolutely incredible photographs.

Example - http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1..._4198879_n.jpg

However, more often than not, they'll come out blurred, or partially blurred. When I don't use the flash, the subject and camera have to be really still or it blurs. That's not an easy task at a metal concert!

Example - http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...66_576x768.jpg

If I use the "shutter speed priority" option on my camera, that takes away the blur but then leaves the picture very dark.

Example - http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...93_576x768.jpg

I'm sure there is something I could change to make the lighting better but also make sure there's no blur but I'm completely hopeless when it comes to things like that. All I want to do is point and shoot. My brain just goes into meltdown when confronted with technology. If anyone could give me any help, I would be really, really grateful! Thank you!

With your camera i can tell you exactly what your problem is.
Blur images you get is because of slow Shutter speed and that is why to avoid it you said you switched to Shutter Priority mode. When you increase shutter speed from 30 to 100 for example, you lose Aperture: for example from aperture 2.8 it can go to 5.6 - the higher number is the less light comes in to camera and all your images are dark!

The only solution is to increase ISO to 800 or 1600. By doing this you can keep Aperture close to small number: for example 2.8 instead of 5.6. Also by increasing ISO in your camera to 400 or more you get lots of noise.

In this Shutter Priority mode you have to adjust ISO manually - it is not auto!

[inkista]

metallicat, the ISO is the sensitivity of the sensor to light. It's usually done by voltage gain across the sensor--like increasing the volume on a radio. But the more you increase it, the more noise you get.

The SX110IS is a great camera, but the one thing it's not so good at is low light. Cranking up the iso, backing off on the zoom, and waiting for when someone's in a spotlight can all help you, but ultimately, you're hitting the limits of the camera. If you want good low-light photography without a flash, then ultimately, you want a camera that has better high iso noise performance, and a lens that opens up wider than f/2.8 (e.g., f/1.4 or f/2).

The zooming out instead of in thing will help you on two different fronts. One is that the shorter the lens is, the less camera shake will show up in the shot, but also the shorter the lens is, the wider it can be opened up aperture-wise (the aperture is how big the shutter opening is set for the photo: the wider aperture, the more light can get in, but the smaller the space of the scene that can be kept in focus; i.e., depth of field). Apertures are also given weird setting numbers, where a smaller number (f/2.8) is bigger than a larger number (f/8).

There are a couple of point and shoots (S95, SD4000) that can do f/2 and iso 1600, but they typically won't have the zoom/reach of the SX110IS, so you have to balance tradeoffs. You could also go nuts and get a dSLR, or a micro four-thirds or Sony NEX camera, but that's really expensive and involves a whole lot of techy stuff.

[gs.davies]

Or, a bit leftfield I know, but why not give film a go..
You can probably get your hands on a nice old Pentax/Nikon body with a very fast lens f1.7 and better v. cheap. I'm shooting a 1980's Pentax ME-F with an f2 lens - total cost £7 from Ebay..
Put a fast film in and you're shooting full frame with fast glass. I'm trying this approach and finding it's helping my photography in general.
:-)