Outdoor concert photography

[rachelpattison]

Hi everyone!

So I have my first outdoor concert to shoot this weekend, any tips? I think the weather will be quite sunny. I'm not sure of the stage setup. Will I get away with dropping my ISO lower than 1600 and not such a wide aperture? The gig is from midday till 6 so should be light for full show.

Thanks
Rachel

[basroil]

1600 is overkill... at this time of the year, unless you are down under, you won't have to go above iso 200 (maybe 400 on a really bad day). just make sure you have a fast lens to isolate your subject, and don't be afraid to use telephoto lenses even closer up.

[Steve Parr]

I'm shooting a blues festival on Saturday. I expect an ISO of 100 or, maybe, 200. I'm not at all worried about the shutter speeds I'll have.

There's no need to go to an ISO of 1600. That's "low light" territory. You're shooting during the day; plenty of light...

[René Damkot]

Did one (http://www.moonglade.net/~rene/060513Flatrock/) recently. (EXIF should be in the images)
If anything, I find it harder, because the stage lighting is all but invisible, so backgrounds can be very distracting....
Aperture is up to the desired DoF rather then 'keep the shutterspeed managable'

[Big WIll]

step away from the iso 1600!!! Go 100! Unless weather gets bad!

[DwightMcCann]

Rachel, you should probably at least add your state to your profile. And I urge you to take all you CF cards and try lots of things. You cannot take too many images even in perfect light. Try Av with f/2.8 and f/11. Try ISO 100 through 800. Shoot wideangle and telephoto. An all afternoon event is a gift for experimentation. Maybe try Custom Whilte Balance! :-) Just be sure to go back to what you normally use after a few images!

[livewire-photography.com]

i recently just done outside gig for the first time, and as dwight now knows what i meen i was bricking it! lol
Dont worry i just tryed alsorts but i agree with the rest iso 100-200 ound there!
good luck
James...

[kmb]

I completely agree with what René said. At the first concert I shot, most of my photos that went to the trashbin suffered from a great amountof visual clutter that distracted from the subject. Taking single performer partial body photos - while minding the background - with shallow DoF is the key to getting at least some succesfull pictures. Going wider and wider in daylight conditions makes it respectively harder and harder to get good, effective photos.

Also harsh, direct sunlight is a bad, bad thing. Fill flash helps a bit.

While there is enough light for almost any aperture, the trick, as René implied, is to keep it as shallow as possible so as to detach the subject from the background. Of course, some times deep DoF images come out nicely, but the bg has to be an element of the picture, e.g. you cannot forget about it when taking the photo.

Here are some pictures that I think exemplify the conditions and things related to outdoor music photography. Just think what makes them work (or what makes them bad, if that's your opinion), and act accordingly:
http://www.bjorklid.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/_MG_9295%7E0.jpg
http://www.bjorklid.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/_MG_9237.jpg
http://www.bjorklid.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/_MG_1219B.jpg
http://www.bjorklid.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/_MG_9817.jpg
http://www.bjorklid.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/_MG_1316.jpg
More here: http://www.bjorklid.net/gallery/index.php?cat=10

[rachelpattison]

Wow, thanks everyone, thats really useful. I'll definitely use the day to have a play around with all my settings.

kmb - great outdoor shots, interesting angles I wouldn't have though of, shall be stealing a few ideas!!