Tips for band photography?

[bridgesro]

My brother-in-law is in a band that will be playing a show on the 5th of November. They want me to take some pictures of the show for them.

I just recently got my first DSLR (Nikon D5100 w/kit lens), and I've never taken pictures in this kind of setting before.

It'll be indoors, likely with poor - average lighting. All I have is the D5100 and the kit lens, no other equipment (not including the battery and SD card of course, lol)

Any tips on how to take good band photos? They're not paying me, and they understand I'm no pro, but I still want to give 110% for them.

I imagine I would use an open aperture to get a faster shutter speed and really capture the action shots. Would the flash work well, or would it be too distracting?

Thanks for any tips you can give me!

[wulf]

Flash typically doesn't work too well. Especially if you are just using the on-camera flash, those near you will be over exposed while those at a distance will still be in the dark. When you see footage of a concert with flashlights going off all over the arena, you have to realise that the vast majority of those shots will turn out pretty poor!

The most useful tips are probably (a) find a way to keep the camera steady so that you can use the slow shutter speeds needed to get half-way decent exposure (a bit of blur on guitar playing fingers, etc, can look good but better still if unmoving things, like the edge of the stage or the bassist(*), are not blurred from camera motion) and (b) take lots of shots and experiment with different settings (it is so hard to lay down strict rules).

Also, don't forget that what comes out of the camera can be greatly improved before you show it to the guys in the band by throwing out the poorer shots (including the ones were any members of the band are caught looking gormless because they are halfway through singing a word or something) and doing some post processing on the rest to accentuate what works.

Wulf

(*) Self deprecating joke... I'm a bassist and I move about a fair bit but I know the stereotypes

[Sime]

Couple of tips.

Don't stand right in front of the mic, head in from the side so you don't get mic-face.
Don't be scared to bump up your ISO - the 5100 handles high iso noise pretty well... I shoot music at ISO800-2500 [example below at ISO 2000] ....I realise that the lighting you will have will be quite different, so the shot at the bottom is 'pub lighting' and is at ISO2500...





Here's the exif for the shot above, if it helps....

Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Exposure 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 54 mm
ISO Speed 2500

[bridgesro]

Thanks for the tips guys! I was able to get some pretty good pictures of the show!

I kept the flash off and kept the ISO around 3200 (out of my own paranoia, I put it a little above your suggestion). I brought my tripod with me too so I could take those long exposure shots that had the full band, and they came out pretty darn good.

Only thing I had trouble with was the crowd. Some people didn't appreciate that I was trying to get photos, so it made it difficult to get in good spots for shots.

[Sime]

Originally Posted by bridgesro

Only thing I had trouble with was the crowd. Some people didn't appreciate that I was trying to get photos, so it made it difficult to get in good spots for shots.

Sorry - should have said.... Above all else, respect that punters are there to see the band, not you....

Most important - work around the crowd, they shouldn't have to work around you.....

Glad you had fun!

S