American Idol Contestant

[Transcendence]

This is a friend of my girlfriend who just made it past her first American Idol audition for next season. This girl can reall sing. Anyway here is a shot from her last gig.

[johnstoy]

This is a pretty good pic, but give yourself a chance to get some super captures...

Which lens did you use?

At ISO 200, 190mm and f5.6, you fired the flash...With the 5D you can comfortably shoot at ISO 1600 and get very good results without flash... With flash, you'll wait for the flash to recharge and lose precious moments...

I would shoot a lot of shots to try and get a real special moment... Mike away from face and eyes open, would be ideal... If you have to shoot with the mike in the face, try a profile capture...

[LeesaB]

Could you have gotten to the side? we will have to look for her this season...

[lostdoggy]

Nice shot and good luck to her let us know if she makes it to the final TEN

[Transcendence]

This is a pretty good pic, but give yourself a chance to get some super captures...

Which lens did you use?

At ISO 200, 190mm and f5.6, you fired the flash...With the 5D you can comfortably shoot at ISO 1600 and get very good results without flash... With flash, you'll wait for the flash to recharge and lose precious moments...

I would shoot a lot of shots to try and get a real special moment... Mike away from face and eyes open, would be ideal... If you have to shoot with the mike in the face, try a profile capture...

28-300 IS USM

[Transcendence]

I have really limited experience shooting concerts. As a matter of fact this was my second one so I am still experimenting.

[johnstoy]

I have really limited experience shooting concerts. As a matter of fact this was my second one so I am still experimenting.

Not to worry... There are a lot of real good shooters here willing to help with info and samples... Just visit a lot of threads, and ask a lot of applicable questions... You'll be on top of things before you know it... Most of us gain a lot from each other's experience...And many are pros still picking up lots of ideas all the time...

Your lens is an awesome piece of glass... It will be great for outdoor events, but indoors, even with IS might still be a struggle.

The major obstacle we all had to overcome is getting faster lenses... f2.8 for zooms being the slowest ...and the primes; f2, f1.8, f1.4, and for some the wedding portrait lenses at f1.2 are considered...

Now I can see why you chose to go with flash... You obviously didn't want to miss this special opportunity...

It often is a trade off between lens speed, ISO, IS and shutter speed...Almost all of us shoot at a higher ISO (1250, 1600 3200), and hardly ever, ever use a flash. (The general consensus is that the professionally done colorful stage lighting, enhances the action... and flash blows out the color highlights, everytime).

Actually, I shoot in RAW, and "bracketed" (one stop in either direction) in bursts of three shots per attempt... Several hundred pics per show has lately been my norm... Picking out the best ones is done at home, and usually every good pic is post processed...

During very important shows I've topped over 1,000 pics and picked out a few dozen real good ones...

[Transcendence]

I own an event photography business and we specialize in Drag Racing and little league sports. Needless to say low light is not usually a big issue for me. I went with the 28-300 for its versatility. I am out in front of the cars most of the time so i like to be able to get a burnout shot and the launch from the starting line. It works pretty good for outside sports as well. So far the only time it has bit me was with a few concert shoots and a couple of weddings. I am not a big fan of the flash either and try not to use it as much as possible. I have shot this band a couple of times. I shoot about half the show with the flash and about half of it without the flash. Even using the 5D I just found many of my non flash shots really noisy.