Photographing rock concerts

[miander2010]

I'll be attending a couple of small venue shows this month. I prefer landscape photography, but live performances sounds like a good challenge and I'm up for it! However, I'm not sure how to approach it. Since it's rock, I'll be varying the shutter speed a bit to get a bit of blurred movement. As for best ISO settings and aperture, I'm not too sure. Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Parry]

Sime will probably have better advice (he's done bigger shows than me)
but i tend to use 1600, with a 50mm f1.8 and then depending on how good the lighting is depends on the shutter speed

These were done on a Canon Rebel/300d - i've not had a chance to try out my new 5d mkii yet with gig photos...

Parry's Photos :: 2009-11-25 - The Indelicates, London

Parry's Photos :: 2009-10-21 - 18 Carat Love Affair

Parry's Photos :: 2009-09-03 - Tim Ten Yen

Parry's Photos :: 2009-09-03 - Jim Bob & Chris T-T

[wulf]

It depends on lots of factors - for example, how far are you from the performance, what is the lighting and do you have the opportunity to use a tripod or flash as extra tools. Typically though, a fast lens will be a real boon as long as you are far enough away that you still get a reasonable depth of field to play with.

Wulf

[matt.voran]

Hi!

I actually did the same thing for a friend, took some shots of his band out at a small venue. It was a new challenge but SO fun and rewarding. I actually wrote up a short article with what I learned. Check it out, I think it might help you.

Concert Photography – Lessons Learned

[wulf]

Originally Posted by matt.voran

Concert Photography – Lessons Learned

"Make sure that you don’t annoy the band. These guys were my friends so I had that covered, but its always good to get permission. To be clear, the concert I shot was a small local show, so no press pass was required, which at a mainstream concert would be standard procedure. Make sure you don’t tick off the audience, you don’t want to get in their way (especially at a heavy metal show)."

That is a key quote. Sure, there is some stuff about aperture and ISO and all of that technical stuff but it could be said that getting on with people is more important. If your shots don't turn out great, you can have another go... as long everyone else is willing to let you back in.

Wulf

[spencer28n]

Regarding the shutter speed, you don't want to blur them too much. I'd say at least 100th of a second if not faster.

[Alaskan Kilted Guy]

I've shot a couple shows at a local small venue. I got my best shots with my 50mm 1.8

Blue Loon 1-23-10 Sick Puppies - a set on Flickr

Blue Loon - Rusted Root - 1/8/10 - a set on Flickr