Expert Advise and Opinions Required!!!

[JuSlaughter]

First post in this forum for me and my first time taking performance shots. A guy at work has a band and asked if i'd like to go so them so I took the trusty 5D with me. I read up on the forum before going to get some hints about doing this kind of shoot. One poster said crank the iso up use a 50 1.8 and get shutter speeds over 1/125. IN MY DREAMS!!!! I put on my 50 1.8, cranked the iso up to 1600, and on the odd occassion, 3200, and the fastest speed I got was 1/60 and a boat load of noise to go with it. So, I'm posting some of my shots and would like all you photogs out there who get pin sharp no noise images to advise me where I'm going wrong.

1.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1214/1279939202_e18243c675_o.jpg

2.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1276/1279940026_b698cd4f99_o.jpg

3.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1290/1279940872_2d29736522_o.jpg

4.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1049/1279076141_1525edefa6_o.jpg

Thanks for looking

[bacchanal]

You'll find that the amount of light varies greatly in different venues. There is low light and there's low light. Looks like you were pretty near the limits of your gear. I'd say you did well given your lack of shutter speed. Sometimes you just have to live with what you can get. Noise is acceptable in this arena of photography. Anyway...I hear Nikon makes a camera now that goes to ISO a million or something with absolutely zero noise...;)

Well that's my opinion...but I'm no expert!

[Lefty Ray]

tel your band to get better lights.

[JuSlaughter]

bacchanal, I thought it was quite bright for a gig hall to be honest, thanks anyway.

Lefty, these were taken at a small gig hall where the lights are already provided.

[tipsy]

You're not doing anything wrong with regards to that. You'll find its a rare occasion when a music tog gets the luxuary of dropping below 1600 iso. As Bacchanal said, noise is acceptable here and rarely avoided. Check out some of Kalle's (KMB's) images, he's an expert at putting unwanted noise to good use!

x

[kmb]

Check out some of Kalle's (KMB's) images, he's an expert at putting unwanted noise to good use!

Noise happens :)

By the way (not especially to respond to this thread), I'd recommend that we digital concert photographers would every now and then check out photo books from the film era to remind how pictures can be made interesting and moody without aiming for an "engineered" technically perfect picture.

[tipsy]

Interesting suggestion kalle. Made all the more interesting by the fact that i'm a film student and just wrote an essay on the effects of early motion pictures on stanley kubricks cinematographic style :s..
x

[skifurthur]

In situations like the above, I am glad that I gave up some f/stops and went with IS. I find that with some good technique I can get some sharp, usable shots in almost any lighting condition...of course I have gotten pretty good at holding my breath.

[JuSlaughter]

OK, so noise is acceptable. Barring that then, are these images OK or was there something I could have done differently. I thought about flash but many on here say don't use it. What could I do to improve next time?

Cheers

[kmb]

One thing is to choose the angles and compositions to fit the situation. This would mean that if there's a lot of cluttery stuff around, try to take tighter images (for example, cropping closer the drummer shot would help). Of course, this does not go well with the low light situation (using teles instead of wides, that is).

If you didn't shoot raw, that may be something you might want to try also. Just to have more flexibility at the post processing stage.

[JuSlaughter]

kmb, thanks for the advise. I did shoot RAW but when I tried to increase the exposure a little, it introduced even more noise. I know now that noise isn't such a problem with these type of shots but there must be a limit somewhere.

[bmoguy]

... but there must be a limit somewhere.

I don't know... have you seen some of kmb's shots? :D

[René Damkot]

Eehm, I don't see noise in the posted images....

[johnms88]

Take a whole bunch of shots and hope some of them are sharp. In a situation like this, I just spray and pray. Lol.

Like everyone has said, other than getting more light, there is not much you can do about it.