first concert photos (busta ryhmes/ dem franchise boys)

[dou_b_14]

I shot at two seperate concerts. At the Dem Franchise Boys concert i used a canon A510 camera. I know its only one pic, but thats the pic that got me interested in shooting live entertainment events. The other 3 pics are at the Busta Ryhmes concert. I was lucky enough to purchase a 20d before that concert. They were both taken during spring break of this year on South Padre Island. My rap group was to perform at the busta concert, so that is why all my shots are from back stage. I'd really like your comments and advise on my shots. I see my self taking more concert photos in the future and I want to see my images get better. thanks
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f340/el-dee/busta-ryhmes.jpghttp://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f340/el-dee/busta-crowd-shot.jpghttp://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f340/el-dee/girls-at-busta-concert.jpghttp://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f340/el-dee/DFB-wit-green-light.jpg

[DwightMcCann]

Welcome to POTN. The image of the girls doesn't seem to fit in. The first image includes a lot of area that doesn't add to the image. The problem with the second is that in general, pictures of people are all about faces but the audience doesn't really count. The last image is dark, and you have cut off the right side, and once again the faces are all pretty much hidden by microphones. Dou, I realize that this is all pretty negative sounding, but it is straight up ... concert photography is very difficult to do well. It is al most impossible to be both a participant and a photographer. It is a lot of hard work, trial and error, experimentation, and frustration. It requires just as much effort to do live entertainment photography as it does to be a musician, even if it doesn't seem like it should require so much practice and effort.

I would welcome your comments and comparison of your images to mine to get an idea of where you think you would like to go with this. Just for fun, a hobby, or trying to do it well enough for some recognition?

[dou_b_14]

Thanks a lot for you honesty Dwight. I wish to do this for some recognition. I understand that its going to require much more time and effort. In both instances of the photos, i was working as a musician. So i just shot no more than 20 photos at both concerts. I just got a shot off here and there. I enjoyed it, so that got me interested in doing this on a more serious level. I am actually going to start attending more conerts of different genres to practice more and hopefully turn what i had fun doing the first time, into a hobby that will hopefully get me recognized as a live entertainment photographer. Thanks once again for your honest advice. I know what i need to work on now. By the way, your photos are crazy good. I want to be at that level one day.

[DwightMcCann]

Well, then, you've only got 37 more years to go! :-)