Gig at Birmingham Academy

danielfellowes

danielfellowes

Messages
757
Name
Daniel
Edit My Images
No
I got myself into a gig at the Academy in Birmingham :D

Only the second room but it's a start :) The band was Bell X1.
It was my first gig without flash, so it was mostly a lot of practise, luckily I got a few decent shots, but mainly of the same guy who was in a good position with the lighting! This one's my favourite, the others are on my flickr if you'd like a look.

I might be going back there soon with a couple of other bands which is good :) I'm excited, lots of stuff's happening!



Click to view it bigger. I know I missed with the focus a bit, but I think I just about get away with it...Click Here for the set of all the photos from the night.

Hints for getting interesting photos without flash would be appreciated!
 
danielfellowes said:
Hints for getting interesting photos without flash would be appreciated!
Click to expand...

I'm still trying!!!!!!

Watching the support band to see what the lights are like doesn't always help, as they sometimes improve for the main band (and you may be shooting the support too!!).

I try to keep shutter speed up, to match the reciprocal of my focal length plus a bit (e.g. 100mm = 1/125th+). I used to shoot on aperture priority, but this meant I often didn't notice shutter speed got too low to hand hold, so now I tend to go manual......set an aperture of 1 stop up from wide open (depends on your lens as to what this will be); set the shutter speed to at least 1/125th (depending what lens I am using, max focal length is generally about 50-70mm if I am close to band) and try to find something to lean on. (speakers, barrier, own knees if sitting on floor!!).


I've just looked at your Flickr shots and there's a couple of crackers! well done for getting the gig.


PS: try using centre/partial metering, NOT spot (too easy to get wrong)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the advice :)

I realised very quickly that manual was necessary!

So far I've left it wide open and stuck it at around 1/125 to stop any movement. I only have a nifty fifty, this is going to change soon as I'm doing loads of gigs and I need to really. Also, the noise on my camera is terrible even on ISO 400 so i'm sticking to 200 and being naughty by under exposing and bringing it back once it's on the computer...

I guess I just need to keep playing about with it and find what's good for me! I've got a low pressure college gig on Thursday so I'm going to restrict myself to not using flash there too as practise.

And I'll have a look at the metering, I'm still yet to discover all the different options on my camera so thanks for pointing that out :) Should read that instruction manual at some point...
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top