Gig photography

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Hi all,

about to phone a few small local venues to see if i can get in to take some pics, and was wondering what terms are normally agreed with the venue regarding pictures taken, eg usage, who holds copyright etc.

As its for my own benefit / experience, i don't mind allowing the venue some usage of my pics, but wondered what was the norm in these situations.
 
You always hold copyright if you took the picture.

Its up to you if you want to allow them usage. If they ask, then say yes or no. There is no "norm"

Most venues will hire thier own photog for particular events they want photos of, but some smaller ones might want some promo material. At the end of the day, it boils down to if the pics you take are any good or not as to if they want them.

Ive never had a venue ask for photos, but Ive always gone straight in for the bands and bypassed the venues altogether.
 
I've done a few small local venues....
The venue is not really who you need to talk to; it is the organisers of the event - the promoter.
They are paying to hire the venue - It is their rules.
If your presence detracts from the paying punters experience then it is their reputation that suffers.
They may or may not be interested in your images - it will be easier for you if they are interested; point them to some online examples of your work.

You still need to check with the bands; in my experience refusal is rare.
But you will need to be ready to be bombarded with "can I use it on Facebook", etc.

We are just starting an experiment using a Creative Commons license (attributable, non-commercial, non-derivative) so we can actively encourage bands to use our images without it being a grey legal area.
The gamble is by doing this they know we exist, know we do good work and will come and talk to us before anyone else about licensing images for use on merchandise or promo materiel :)
Like I said, it is an experiment - but early indications are our images are getting way more positive feedback from the artistes. The artistes are keen to show our images to their fans, and can now thank us without raising the whole dodgy grey legal area thing.
Fingers crossed this will lead to exposure and income that would have otherwise missed out on.

Edited to add.....
This is for small venues and small bands (as requested by the OP).
Getting access to larger events is much harder; but you gotta start somewhere - right ?
 
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Hi Duncan and Carl,

looking to shoot less well known bands, will be surprised if i get to shoot U2 at the Millenium Stadium.

I have spoken to one venue who do their own promotion, and they said no problem for any paying punter to bring any camera. I may try to contact the bands prior to turning up as that may help the shots i get in the venue.

And i dont have long enough lenses for stadium shots anyway...!
 
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Rapscallion said:
Hi Duncan and Carl,

looking to shoot less well known bands, will be surprised if i get to shoot U2 at the Millenium Stadium.
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If you dont ask, you dont get. I asked and ended up firstly on an all expenses paid trip to Poland for 1 gig, and then later on an all expenses paid, plus wages tour around Europe for 10 days on the tour bus with a well known European metal band. I had to help out with the set building before the shows, but the rest of the time was free for photography. I even got asked If I'd be the drum tech for thier future tours, but i had to decline as I have a full time job and homelife!
 
TCR4x4 said:
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If you dont ask, you dont get. I asked and ended up firstly on an all expenses paid trip to Poland for 1 gig, and then later on an all expenses paid, plus wages tour around Europe for 10 days on the tour bus with a well known European metal band. I had to help out with the set building before the shows, but the rest of the time was free for photography. I even got asked If I'd be the drum tech for thier future tours, but i had to decline as I have a full time job and homelife!
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Lucky b****r! Hopefully if i build a decent portfolio (and of course some decent experience) one day i may be able to do something similar. Not a lover of metal, but i think the bands may offer a lot of interesting photo opportunities.
 
Have a look if a local pub do regular gig nights - local bands / tribute bands etc.

I've just started shooting the odd gig or two and one venue have bands on 2-3 nights a week. Rarely a charge for entry and they are cool with folk taking photos.

You'll have a much harder time with the lighting in smaller venues but will also learn lots quicker!
 
agree with Richard there,also have a look in your local press for gigs etc etc

here in Liverpool we have quite a lot of venues big and small and lots of up and coming bands from LIPA to shoot

as bands or promoters get to know you then you will have the problem i have this saturday is ive got to try and cut my self in half as ive got 3 bands all after some shots at the same time, il manage 2 but not the 3rd


best hint i can give you is leave your flash at home, try and get a custom white balance and get stuck in
 
Right guys, I'm looking to do this as a fair few of my mates are in bands & i have recently picked up my first DSLR. Now I'm very inexperianced with using an DSLR & i have a fair few gigs coming up.
My lens is an 28-135mm f3.5 - f5.6 Canon lens with IS. I have attempted to take some images in low light But they've turned out blurry (due to the long shutter speed). Is there any way i can compensate for this?
I'm guessing using my lens at its most open (28mm f3.5) & increasing the iso. I understand having the iso set too high would add noise, but am i going along the right path to taking images in low light/gig's??
 
Ideally you want f/2.8 or lower(higher, you know what I mean!)
At f/3.5 you will really need to bump the ISO up, but there is no other way without using flash.

My baseline when shooting any gig was f/2.8 and ISO 1600. I'd then adjust up or down as needed. If I could lower the ISO to 800, I would do that first before upping the aperture.

Its easyish to get rid of noise, but you cant deblur a blurry shot due to slow shutter speeds, so if you have to, whack that ISO up to get the shot.
 
So maybe investing in a 50mm f1.8 then, as i've been toying with the idea of that. Now i know that lens is really cheap & plasticy but supposed to be very good for the price.

Thanks Tom :)
 
My most used gig lens was an 85mm f/1.8, I also used a 24-70 f/2.8 quite a bit too.
I was shooting bigger venues though, so a 50 should be a good range for a smaller venue.
 
the venues around here are fairly small, and i'll be getting fairly close. Looks like i have some spare funds this month so i'm gonna try to grab a bargin online.

Thanks for the advise though Tom, really appreciate it :)
 
TCR4x4 said:
Ideally you want f/2.8 or lower(higher, you know what I mean!)
At f/3.5 you will really need to bump the ISO up, but there is no other way without using flash.

My baseline when shooting any gig was f/2.8 and ISO 1600. I'd then adjust up or down as needed. If I could lower the ISO to 800, I would do that first before upping the aperture.

Its easyish to get rid of noise, but you cant deblur a blurry shot due to slow shutter speeds, so if you have to, whack that ISO up to get the shot.
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That was true, but getting less so now....
A good low light body at ISO 6400 with f4 can be used, even with a 1.4TC.
Here's one I produced earlier....
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=4539383&postcount=611
 
I was shooting gigs from 2005-2007. We didn't have such good high ISO back then, which is why I said my baseline was that. With my d700 now, I'd have no hesitation at 6400. I don't think my d200 even went that high.
 
DuncanDisorderly said:
LOL - I hear you - love my 5DII and the IS on that 70-200 :)
BTW - Inspirational story earlier in this thread; many thanks for sharing.
I'd love to have the courage to do that.
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Thanks! One of those tell your grand kids stories. I've actually done the whole sex, drugs and rock n roll.

Well the rock n roll part anyway!

I think the pit shooters have it pretty easy now. A D4 shooting clean at 6400 and higher.
I had to wait until a spot light was thrown on a person before I could hit the shutter. Now these cameras can pretty much see in the dark.
 
TCR4x4 said:
I think the pit shooters have it pretty easy now. A D4 shooting clean at 6400 and higher.
I had to wait until a spot light was thrown on a person before I could hit the shutter. Now these cameras can pretty much see in the dark.
Click to expand...

Yes and no. Camera tech is getting amazing now, 5D3 at iso25600 is unreal for example. On the flip of that, lighting is seemingly getting worse with all this LED stuff and some access now is a joke! Still the most fun thing in the world when it goes right, and the most frustrating when a band are seemingly lit by a candle from the mixing desk from the front and a sea of red from the back.
 
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