Any tips on photographing a live band?

DaveRed

DaveRed

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Dave (Who'da thunk it!)
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Im going to a gig tonight in a small venue. Its a bunch of mates of mine playing, and although I tried to do some shots of them last year I had medium success.

Would like to do some better ones tonight, so if anyone has any tips ill gladly listen. In the kit bag is:
500D (which ive already discovered is far better at high ISO than the 400D I had last year).
Sigma 18-125 f3.8-5.6
Sigma 18-200 (yes I know thats two lenses that cover a lot of the same ground..one is my walkaround, and the other is the wifes!). I'll leave one at home.
Canon 50mm f1.8
Nissin Di622 (which i'd rather not use cause presumably itll take all the colour out of the on-stage lighting?). Not to mention the fact that I dont want to get drumsticks etc chucked at me if i blind them :D

I didnt have the 'nifty fifty' last year, and im thinking this may be my best choice for tonight? Its a tiny venue, so getting up close and personal with the stage wont be a problem.
 
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there is a thread / guide that someone has started on this topic in the tutorial section, well worth a look as a first port of call


general rules are no flash at many venues.

personally when i did bands i always aimed for fast primes, much better focusing in low light as well as extra stops of light giving you reasonable shutter speeds. my kit bag when i did gigs was a 50mm f1.8, 85mm f1.8 and an 18-50 f2.8, shooting with them close to wide open to achieve sufficient shutterspeeds to eliminate camera shake and subject movement

in your kit bag the 50mm would be the lens to use, however in a small venue you may struggle to get anything more than head and shoulder shots due to the focal length, however it is all I used for a very long time and i had lots of success with it.
 
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I would like to say the 50mm - it will be great for a soloist however you may run into trouble as obviously with the crop factor it is not as wide and if you can't get far enough back due to the crowd it could be an issue.
Difficult to recommend settings but if you have the ear of the Sound engineer it can help to ask how they will be lighting the band ( I always try and get them to turn off the green ! ) and they may put a spot on over the lead singers mic.

Flash can have its uses, just never use it direct, sometimes just pinging it up to the side, above or behind you can work well - so many variables tough without seeing it is very hard !

Have fun though !
 
Thanks folks. You've all pretty much confirmed what I had in mind. Now watch me go and cock it up monumentally :LOL:
I suppose if i never try it, im never going to learn am I. ;)

I might travel light. Just the body, 50mm, and chuck the speedlite in a pocket just in case.
 
Depending on the type and amount of light I would suggest using spot metering, using a mid tone tone as the starting point. Turn up the ISO if necessary to the highest setting that does not generate too much noise and select a shutter speed that will prevent camera shake or movement on stage. Enjoy the night.
Mick
 
Well I had a great night, took heed of a lot of your advice, shot over 500 pics too so with a bit of luck I got at least a few decent ones. You were spot on with the 50mm being the lens of choice, (plus the fact that its difficult to get a decent full length shot with it when youre only about 6ft from the band!). The lighting in there was pretty grim as well :(

Made a few schoolboy errors too. Take heed of where its focussing. Duh! I have some shots with nice sharp guitars and oof faces. Fortunately I realised part way through the gig, and corrected that. Its a long learning curve :LOL:

I think I did ok though in the end. It was more about taking some decent photos for a few mates, (and proving to myself that I was actually capable) than anything else, oh and enjoying the gig at the same time. Ill post some of the results later so you can all tear 'em to shreds (y)
 
Good job! I'd be happy with those. In my days of band stuff, my main lenses were the nifty 50 1.8 and a sigma 24-70 f/2.8. I tried with the 70-200 f/2.8 but it was far too long in most cases. Was useless in the pit, but got a few side of stage shots with it.
 
Cheers Tom. I did a few more last weekend (with the 50), and one of the bands had a bucket more light on stage than the others. Took a chance and tried some with a Sigma 18-125 f4, with some good results. I cant imagine that I will be that lucky very often though!
 
When I went on tour with a band around Europe. I got on well with the light guy. It paid dividends on my shots! We arranged certain points of the show where he would stick on certain lights, meaning I got some great photos youd normally not get. No more waiting for the crappy red lights to disapear, just sit and wait for the right moment and bam!
 
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