Concert photography (is really frickin' tough!)

[megkunert]

This is my second attempt at low light, no flash concert photography. And it hasn't gotten any easier. This was my first time shooting in full manual mode. It was a tough chore finding the perfect shutter speed. Too slow and you'd get blur, and too fast would make the photos too dark.

The main issue I have is lighting/skin tones/white balance. I had it on auto, but at concerts you have all kinds of lighting - the lights here were mostly pink tones, making the artists skin tones really pink.

Would you have done anything differently? Any other suggestions to make my next concert experience better?

Nikon D5000, 35mm 1.8 lens.

EXIF:
Shutter: 1/40
Aperture: 1.8
ISO: 1600
WB: Auto
No flash



You can view the whole set here: { concert: emery } - a set on Flickr

I realize not all of them are compositionally perfect. There were quite a few people in front of me, and with the limited space I had (and no zoom), it was tough not to get someones arm, elbow, or camera phone in the photo. It was already really tough to get perfect composition while enjoying the show (they're my favorite) Maybe next time I should try to photograph a band I don't enjoy so much... ha!

I have to give serious kudos to photographers who have mastered this kind of art, or those who do it for a living. It's really fun, but so hard to "nail". I wish I had more gear so I could experiment more with this type of photography.

Thank you all for your input.

[RichardTaylor]

I have only shot a few classical music concerts and I almost always shoot from the front row (I get there during warm up) with two bodues and two fast primes (35mm F2 on a full frame camera for the general shots and a 135 F2 for the closups/head shots).

Are you shooting RAW?

It give you a lot more control when PPing, including white balance (possibly selectivly when PPing)

[megkunert]

Originally Posted by RichardTaylor

I have only shot a few classical music concerts and I almost always shoot from the front row (I get there during warm up) with two bodues and two fast primes (35mm F2 on a full frame camera for the general shots and a 135 F2 for the closups/head shots).

Are you shooting RAW?

It give you a lot more control when PPing, including white balance (possibly selectivly when PPing)

Yes, I shoot RAW and do the rest of my editing in CS5. I changed the temperature of the photo from pinker tones to greener tones to try and get rid of the extreme pink lighting. I didn't want to get rid of it completely, as it would (IMO) defeat the purpose of being a concert photo. I think some of them look good with colorful lighting. But that's just me. I am open to suggestions!

[BigFuzzy]

First I'll say that I recognize that you were in a tough spot as in you couldn't really move (I assume) and your lens options. Also, the venue itself doesn't seem to have had the best of light.

having said that, my overall opinion, in the end, is that they are too much alike. Every shot (except the one with the singer and hands) feels almost exactly the same. I understand you only had a 35mm lens, but your composition/crops all feel the same. Even if just cropping in PP, I would have done something to differentiate the shots some. Crop in closer get the emotion on faces.. crop/compose differently and get some cool details like hands on guitars, feet on pedals, etc.. because in the end they all feel the same.

Plus, why didn't you use 3200iso? With some of the great noise reducing software out there you could have bumped up to 3200 and gotten much less motion blur. I also feel that often underexposing a bit (especially the face of the singer in shown image) would have helped the image overall. Also, you can balance the skin tones a bit better where you have a bit more realistic skin tones while still maintaining the cool concert lighting.

I also feel, that flash, if used judiciously and skillfully could have given you a bit more pop in your images while still maintaining that concert feel.
These images (though not a perfect example, just my easiest to find), for example, I believe are a good balance between getting that nice natural lighting (party with a band, hence the lighting is similar to yours) while using flash to balance out the colors:

[megkunert]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

First I'll say that I recognize that you were in a tough spot as in you couldn't really move (I assume) and your lens options. Also, the venue itself doesn't seem to have had the best of light.

having said that, my overall opinion, in the end, is that they are too much alike. Every shot (except the one with the singer and hands) feels almost exactly the same. I understand you only had a 35mm lens, but your composition/crops all feel the same. Even if just cropping in PP, I would have done something to differentiate the shots some. Crop in closer get the emotion on faces.. crop/compose differently and get some cool details like hands on guitars, feet on pedals, etc.. because in the end they all feel the same.

Plus, why didn't you use 3200iso? With some of the great noise reducing software out there you could have bumped up to 3200 and gotten much less motion blur. I also feel that often underexposing a bit (especially the face of the singer in shown image) would have helped the image overall. Also, you can balance the skin tones a bit better where you have a bit more realistic skin tones while still maintaining the cool concert lighting.

I also feel, that flash, if used judiciously and skillfully could have given you a bit more pop in your images while still maintaining that concert feel.
These images (though not a perfect example, just my easiest to find), for example, I believe are a good balance between getting that nice natural lighting (party with a band, hence the lighting is similar to yours) while using flash to balance out the colors:

You pointed out everything I completely missed. Damn, you're good. Thanks BigFuzz.

I'll go back and try some PP cropping. I knew the pics were not compositionally perfect. I was pretty caught up in the moment, so I kinda expected that.

I didn't think about bumping up the ISO. I thought what I had was good, and wanted to avoid as much graininess as I could. For some reason, the fact that I have Imagenomic's noiseware photoshop plug in completely slipped my mind. I will definitely bump up the ISO next time.

Should I go back and try to re-edit some of them, maybe with a higher exposure or brightness, and then run it through my noiseware plugin? Guess it wouldn't hurt to try...

I'll try the soft flash next time as well. I just hate using flash at concerts. There are already so many others using P&S's with flashes and I know that's got to be annoying to the bands up on stage.

Thank you again. I REALLY appreciate your feedback!

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by megkunert

You pointed out everything I completely missed. Damn, you're good. Thanks BigFuzz.

I'll go back and try some PP cropping. I knew the pics were not compositionally perfect. I was pretty caught up in the moment, so I kinda expected that.

I didn't think about bumping up the ISO. I thought what I had was good, and wanted to avoid as much graininess as I could. For some reason, the fact that I have Imagenomic's noiseware photoshop plug in completely slipped my mind. I will definitely bump up the ISO next time.

Should I go back and try to re-edit some of them, maybe with a higher exposure or brightness, and then run it through my noiseware plugin? Guess it wouldn't hurt to try...

I'll try the soft flash next time as well. I just hate using flash at concerts. There are already so many others using P&S's with flashes and I know that's got to be annoying to the bands up on stage.

Thank you again. I REALLY appreciate your feedback!

Glad you took it as the constructive criticism it was, I realize in retrospect it might have sounded a bit harsh, so thanks.
Yeah, I'd consider going back and re-cropping some to try to add something to them.. maybe twist the crop as well to change the perspective. Even a small rotation can add to an image.
What PP software do you have? does it have a fill-flash function?
And yeah, though I don't know Nikon, I hear they're better than Canon's at high ISO, so take advantage of that and then use your noise reduction software. If you have Lightroom3 the noise reduction is aaaaawesome.
To be honest (and as a guy who's spent some time on stage myself) the performers aren't going to notice the flash as they (typically) have brigther spotlights in their faces unless it's a smaller cozier venue.. then you can always bounce it off the ceiling (if possible) or diffuse it some.

In the end, take advantage of your tools, and flash is one of them, just know what you're doing a bit. At least learn how to use the flash compensation settings (or whatever it's called on Nikon) to dial down your flash so it doesn't look 'flashed'.

Good luck and show us the next ones and what you've learned.

[megkunert]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

Glad you took it as the constructive criticism it was, I realize in retrospect it might have sounded a bit harsh, so thanks.
Yeah, I'd consider going back and re-cropping some to try to add something to them.. maybe twist the crop as well to change the perspective. Even a small rotation can add to an image.
What PP software do you have? does it have a fill-flash function?
And yeah, though I don't know Nikon, I hear they're better than Canon's at high ISO, so take advantage of that and then use your noise reduction software. If you have Lightroom3 the noise reduction is aaaaawesome.
To be honest (and as a guy who's spent some time on stage myself) the performers aren't going to notice the flash as they (typically) have brigther spotlights in their faces unless it's a smaller cozier venue.. then you can always bounce it off the ceiling (if possible) or diffuse it some.

In the end, take advantage of your tools, and flash is one of them, just know what you're doing a bit. At least learn how to use the flash compensation settings (or whatever it's called on Nikon) to dial down your flash so it doesn't look 'flashed'.

Good luck and show us the next ones and what you've learned.

Nah, it wasn't harsh. I'm a big girl with big girl panties and I'm here to learn, so thanks. I would rather someone tell me that my photos suck - and tell me what I can do to improve... rather than giving me rainbows and butterflies and not see any growth. So seriously, thank you.
I use CS5 and I have lightroom but I haven't played around it in a *whole lot* - I have download a couple of presets and used those a few times, but that is pretty much it. Right now my laptop is comatose (sigh) so I have to wait a few weeks before I can do much more post processing, but I will keep your ideas in mind. Not sure if I recall CS5 having a fill flash option, but I'll play around with it and see what I can get.
As far as noise reduction goes, I use Imagenomic's Noiseware photoshop plug in.
It. Is. Amazing.
I use it on HDR (which usually has a lot of noise) and some macros and the results are incredible. Now I want to run it against LR3 and see how they compare.

Will try the flash next time. Unfortunately, as I live in BFE, bands normally play here in REALLY small venues (I'm talking 100-200 people max) so it's usually pretty crammed, and you're literally right in front of the stage.

I will do some reading on what you mentioned and try it next time. Thanks!

[dvtldav]

LR3 has a fill light or fill flash in the basic develop mode.

Dave

[Lorry]

I like the picture...looks really good and I think the light on their faces gives the feel of the atmosphere on the night.

[Gulf Coast Girl]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

Glad you took it as the constructive criticism it was, I realize in retrospect it might have sounded a bit harsh, so thanks.

As a third party reader I can tell you that your post wasn't harsh at all; in fact it's EXACTLY what many of us here are looking for as we learn. You asked questions as to the choices made, offered solutions and explained what those solutions would do to improve shots. I'd say it was a great critique.

I'm like the OP.... I'm a big girl and I put on my big girl panties everyday.... and I'd rather hear the cold hard truth any day because I'll never learn anything if people are just blowing sunshine up my arse. IMO, anyone who can't handle reading the negative along with the positive shouldn't post in critique section.... SYS is the place for them