Beer Fest Band

Natty94

Natty94

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Nathan
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I've been asked to take photos of the bands performing at Kent Beer Festival next weekend but I'm unsure as to what settings and what lens to use.

The venue is a cattle barn which is dark in the daytime so I'm going to need a wide aperture.

The lenses I have are an 18-55mm kit lens an 18-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS and a 50mm f/1.8

So what do I do?
 
Use very high ISO as apart from the 50mm, your lenses are quite slow. Nothing else you can do. You can use on camera flash, but they'll look pretty crap if you do... to capture the atmosphere you need available light... so crank the ISO up high enough to get the shutter speeds you need.
 
It's going to be ISO high and nice 50mm most likely wide open...and then hoping that there's a fair amount of stage lighting, but it's certainly going to be challenging to say the least...what camera are you using your profile says Canon 1100D how well does that handle ISO?

Sometimes you need to also consider the limitations of your kit
 
Natty94 said:
Hi, yeah have an 1100D which goes to 6400 iso but gets noisy at 800-3200
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I really wouldn't be surprised to see you need to go right up to your max ISO to be honest...it's likely to be a very low light situation even with stage lighting..
 
Highest ISO you can manage and if there is stage lighting, go one or two stops underexposed.

You could invest in the Canon 50mm f/1.8. They cost no more than £80 new. You could pick one up 2nd hand on eBay cheaper. The Mk1 has better build quality if you can find one.
 
AnnieC said:
Highest ISO you can manage and if there is stage lighting, go one or two stops underexposed.

You could invest in the Canon 50mm f/1.8. They cost no more than £80 new. You could pick one up 2nd hand on eBay cheaper. The Mk1 has better build quality if you can find one.
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Thanks for the reply, I already own a 50mm f/1.8
 
Sorry I didn't read your first post properly :muted: :muted:
That's the lens you should be using then.
 
Use the 50mm F1.8 and zoom with your feet. Shoot manual, start of at 1/125th F2 ISO 1600 and see how your exposure is (Use the histogram to check, along with the highlight alert onscreen). With the sort of lighting you will get at a beer fest it will remain fairly even intensity when the artists are lit. Should you be under exposing open the ISO to 1.8 first... then up the ISO to 3200 (Maybe even 6400) and finally start dropping your shutter speed. So far I have only shot a couple of places where I needed to be down to 1/60th while at ISO6400 and F1.8 - and they were dark!

All hinges on one thing though, have they actually got stage lighting?

You don't generally get huge crowds watching the band at a fest, but it make sense to get as many shots as possible in the first 3-5 songs - if they are really good then it can get busy down the front. You want to be filling the frame as much as possible - avoid shooting then having to crop. Also move around in front of the stage if you can - get some different angles on the band.
 
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