Minus the Bear + Apollo Sunshine @ UNH -- First concert shoot w/ new lens. CC please!

[Coppatop85]

Hey everyone. Just the other day I got a Tamron 17-50 2.8, and I happened to be going to UNH to visit some folks for the weekend. Minus the Bear was playing, so I decided to test out my photo skills at the show with the lens. I had literally taken 5 shots with the lens before I went in. This was my first concert taking photos.

Here's some of my best pics, with some Questions at the end. All Images were taken with 1600 ISO, f/2.8, on a Rebel XTi

Keyboardist, Minus the Bear
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh2/Coppatop85/Minus%20The%20Bear%20and%20Apollo%20Sunshine/MTBkeyboardcolor.jpg

Bassist, Minus the Bear
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh2/Coppatop85/Minus%20The%20Bear%20and%20Apollo%20Sunshine/MTBguitaristBW.jpg

Drummer, Minus the Bear
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh2/Coppatop85/Minus%20The%20Bear%20and%20Apollo%20Sunshine/MTBdrummercolor.jpg

Lead singer / Guitarist, Minus the Bear PP'd quite a bit
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh2/Coppatop85/Minus%20The%20Bear%20and%20Apollo%20Sunshine/1MinustheBearPSd.jpg

Lead Guitarist, Apollo Sunshine
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh2/Coppatop85/Minus%20The%20Bear%20and%20Apollo%20Sunshine/ApolloGuitaristBW.jpg

Singer/Keyboardist/Bassist, Apollo Sunshine
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh2/Coppatop85/Minus%20The%20Bear%20and%20Apollo%20Sunshine/Apollosingercolor.jpg

As Wide as I could get (Was near the front)
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh2/Coppatop85/Minus%20The%20Bear%20and%20Apollo%20Sunshine/MTBgroup1.jpg


So, here are some comments, observations, and questions

-First of all, I freakin love this lens, performed amazing, and is hella sharp (when properly focused) compared to my other lenses.
-However, it did have a hard time focusing when the performers were heavily silhouetted. There were a few cool shots I missed because I couldn't get focus (lens wanted to focus on the light), I would assume this is an issue with the lens, and I should use manual for this situation.
-Getting good angles was hard, I was almost right in the front, but I was sort of BELOW the band, and I couldn't get wide enough to get the whole band in the frame. Additionally, the lead singer, or mic stands were almost always in the way of drummers.
-Getting around people to take pictures while protecting my camera was interesting.
-Thank god I shot in RAW, Would have been very hard to get the white balance right for these type of shots with the changing levels of light. I would have to assume most of you do the same. If not, however, what white balance do you use?
-A lot of times I liked the B+W versions better, they looked less cluttered and noisy. That being said...
- Anyone have any good techniques for reducing noise? I tried a bit of a smart blur, and that helped a little.

Pleas, any and all CC is welcome, as I said, this was my first concert.

[Rock Photo Star]

The lens has a cool tone about it but most of your pics look soft not sharp.

For me, my keepers would be #3, 4. Check my Pillar thread and you will see the look and quality I aim for at a minimum that I feel those meet.

Probably would keep the last one but I would look to straighten a little and crop more. The guitarist is blurry but still kind of cool. The keyboardist is sharp. Maybe I'd crop and just make it a keyboard shot.

[Kirk Hinrich]

look good except for the one where the guitarist is glowing.
MTB kind of sucks live I hear

[Coppatop85]

The lens has a cool tone about it but most of your pics look soft not sharp.

For me, my keepers would be #3, 4. Check my Pillar thread and you will see the look and quality I aim for at a minimum that I feel those meet.

Probably would keep the last one but I would look to straighten a little and crop more. The guitarist is blurry but still kind of cool. The keyboardist is sharp. Maybe I'd crop and just make it a keyboard shot.


Thanks for the tips Rock, I'll check that thread out! I feel that any softness you detect may have been to very slow shutter speeds (Sometimes at 1/6th) or due to the lens having some difficulty focusing in the constantly changing lighting.

If anyone knows how to fix this, let me know!

[gravy graffix]

...40d ;)

[Coppatop85]

...40d ;)

Hmm?

[The Zman Abides]

Awesome photos of an awesome band

[johnstoy]

Interesting set... and for the most part, pretty good composition too...

Noise is actually an accepted part of "no flash" concert photography... although I do use Noise Ninja to help out on many of the pics.

Concerts with a f2.8 are also tough to shoot... Unless the lens has IS (Image Stabilization,)... Some pics will be less than sharp... Using ISO 1600 or even 3200 is common.

You lucked out with this show, as the lighting was sufficient to get by...That said...Overall, I find more shows lack the needed light than offer it.

[Coppatop85]

Yeah, I had considered the 50 1.8, but It's hard to get proper composition with not zoom, especially when near the front of a concert.

[zero99]

I'd like to see some of the images that have not be processed.The images do look a little soft.Dont worry about the noise, concert photographs look ok with it as long as your not cropping to much.

When I was shooting concerts with the 400d and my 50 1.8 the images where never really.. pin sharp.I would convert to B/W and add a little contrast.This worked for me
and alot of bands really like the B/W look.

Overall I think your off to good start.

The only tip I give you at the moment is watch your focus points at 2.8
its an easy mistake to get the (artist out of focus) and the (micophone/guitar in focus) at this f/stop.

[Coppatop85]

I did that exact thing on some other shots I did not post. The first one is not processed, save some cloning, and the shot of the drummer all I did was adjust the white balance and sharpen a bit.

[Coppatop85]

I forgot to post one! Guitarist from MTB.
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh2/Coppatop85/Minus%20The%20Bear%20and%20Apollo%20Sunshine/MTBguitarist2color.jpg

[johnstoy]

Spot focus on the eye... Consider the 50mm f1.4. It has USM focusing, with much better results than the 50mm f1.8.

[René Damkot]

I'd like to see some of the images that have not be processed.
+1

I think I see *way* too much NR going on...

[narlus]

i like 3 and 5. this is a solid start to your live music shooting career.

[simonSE15]

3,4 & 7 are decent. the others look too soft.