Sports shooter doing 1st concert this weekend, couple questions...

[namasste]

Hey all, I am primarily a sports shooter so bad lighting isn't exactly new to me but shooting a concert, well, I'm a virgin. That said, I've been asked to shoot a benefit concert this weekend and want to be sure I'm on the right track and also have a few questions. BTW, the FAQ is VERY helpful so Dwight and all that contributed to it, thanks!

Here's the situation, 4 bands, high school auditorium. I have no idea how they are going to light it but I do know that it's used for a lot of theater so lighting should be semi well done. I'll have full access to go anywhere so my first question is whether certain angles tend to yield better images (low perspective vs high, camera tilt, stuff like that). I figure I should mix it up a bit but want to be sure I don't miss the "standard" stuff.

I'll have the option of either my 70-200 2.8 or 24-70 2.8 and from what I can see in the FAQ and exif info on many images posted here, it seems that the key is to keep ss up by shooting high ISO and wide open. Sound right? At 1/100 and up, do I really need a tripod or can I leave that at home? Maybe the monopod would be easier to use for this?

I also have a metering question. Do most of you spot meter when shooting shows? Any technique tips or special tricks in how you meter for a show? Along those lines (and hopefully without stirring up controversy) should I forget custom WB and just shoot tungsten or auto? Seems a custom WB might be difficult to keep straight under constantly changing lighting conditions. Rene, seems you favor T or Auto while it seems Dwight is more the custom approach. Just wondering if I can get awayy with T or auto to amke my life simpler while there.

Lastly (for now), is there anything that I should absolutely avoid doing both image and etiquette wise? FYI, I personally know some of the bands and the headliner and the benefit is for a group I am a board member of. I have let the bands know I'd be shooting and that they could use any images for promo purposes (I'd make high res images available to them) and I am not selling anything I shoot, this is just for the bands. Anything I am missing here?

Sorry for so many questions. I'm just a little nervous since this is a completely new adventure for me and I'd like to produce decent results for these guys/girls since they are doing such a great thing for us. Thanks in advance!

Scott

[DwightMcCann]

Every event is very different. Let me zip through and answer the easy questions. If you are limited to one lens then the 24-70mm is the better of the two mentioned if you can get up near the stage area ... while you may not get a lot of good close ups, you will get a much better sense of the stage and bands as a whole. OTOH, if can take both and switch at mid-set, then that's the thing to do. Yes, a monopod with a 70-200mm can be useful, but as Rene so often points out, the shutter speed is to "stop" the musicians more than camera shake. Yes, use AWB ... there is no sense in trying to defeat the lighting color cast for a stage production 95% of the time. I shoot AWB at almost all concerts and expect that any suggestion otherwise may be poor communication on my part ... but I do have examples where it would have been a good idea, sigh, mostly when the only lighting has been fixed tungsten or gels that just made everything orange the whole time ... then at least a mix would be nice. As for etiquette ... don't stay in one place in front of the audience for more than a minute or so. Try to avoid shooting "up the nose". Try to avoid cutting off instruments or body parts of primary subjects. Chimp, check histogram and make any adjustments that are obvious.

[namasste]

Every event is very different. Let me zip through and answer the easy questions. If you are limited to one lens then the 24-70mm is the better of the two mentioned if you can get up near the stage area ... while you may not get a lot of good close ups, you will get a much better sense of the stage and bands as a whole. OTOH, if can take both and switch at mid-set, then that's the thing to do. Yes, a monopod with a 70-200mm can be useful, but as Rene so often points out, the shutter speed is to "stop" the musicians more than camera shake. Yes, use AWB ... there is no sense in trying to defeat the lighting color cast for a stage production 95% of the time. I shoot AWB at almost all concerts and expect that any suggestion otherwise may be poor communication on my part ... but I do have examples where it would have been a good idea, sigh, mostly when the only lighting has been fixed tungsten or gels that just made everything orange the whole time ... then at least a mix would be nice. As for etiquette ... don't stay in one place in front of the audience for more than a minute or so. Try to avoid shooting "up the nose". Try to avoid cutting off instruments or body parts of primary subjects. Chimp, check histogram and make any adjustments that are obvious.

sounds good Dwight, thanks for the clarification on the AWB issue. I can actually be on stage off the the side so I suppose I can do both close ups and wider stuff using both lenses. The headliner is going to be an acoustic show with just two guitars so I know I'll have to focus on the closeups more anyway. Speaking of focus, when you shoot shows, I assume it's ctr. pt. or top pt. focus and generally trying to focus on eyes as much as possible?

[DwightMcCann]

I use 1DMIII's almost exclusively with Spotmeter tied to active AF point and I move my AF point around A LOT so that I can put it on the face of central character. If closer, as when using my 300mm I put the stop on the near eye, which is the rule of thumb. I am not familiar with the features of the 30D WRT AF/spotmeter ... check your histogram often! I generally shoot Av at f/2.8, ISO 1000 bracketing 0, -1, +1 and RAW, but I have excellent light 90+ % of the time. If I am shooting from off to one side of the stage and band lines up so I need a bigger DOF I will sometimes think to go as far as f/7 but then shift it back again, this usually being with the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS.

I would urge you to touch base with the LD (if there is one) and try to ensure that there he will try to light things up for you, maybe during the first couple of songs if possible ... but it may not be possible. I have a very good relationship with the casino LD but he is very limited by what the bands want.

[namasste]

I use 1DMIII's almost exclusively with Spotmeter tied to active AF point and I move my AF point around A LOT so that I can put it on the face of central character. If closer, as when using my 300mm I put the stop on the near eye, which is the rule of thumb. I am not familiar with the features of the 30D WRT AF/spotmeter ... check your histogram often! I generally shoot Av at f/2.8, ISO 1000 bracketing 0, -1, +1 and RAW, but I have excellent light 90+ % of the time. If I am shooting from off to one side of the stage and band lines up so I need a bigger DOF I will sometimes think to go as far as f/7 but then shift it back again, this usually being with the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS.

I would urge you to touch base with the LD (if there is one) and try to ensure that there he will try to light things up for you, maybe during the first couple of songs if possible ... but it may not be possible. I have a very good relationship with the casino LD but he is very limited by what the bands want.

gotcha, thanks Dwight. For sports it's all about shooting M so I guess I'll have to play with AV and see if I can get comfortable or if I just wind up getting insanely poor shutter speeds:lol:. Either way, I'll take some readings in av and probably just use those settings in M checking the histo often. Thanks again, wish me luck!