Carrie Underwood | York Fair, PA

Well, this was my first concert with my new 30D. (If you exclude Creation Fest which I only took daytime photos). I am not very happy with my photos. I was trying so many different setting on the camera and was geting a bit frustrated. I came out with some 'decent' ones, but am still not overly excited about them. They lack the quality that i see in a lot of concert photos on her. They seem washed out and blurry in spots. But I figure I just need to keep practicing. With that said, here are the only decent ones I got of the show.

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It's the lens. That lens is a total POS for low-light, sure it has a large aperture but it is very poor at focusing in low light. The bokeh it produces is also not that amazing.

But, IMO, the "decent" ones are pretty good! I'm sure there were not many though.

it helps to show EXIF data, but it looks like yr main problems were blown highlights and poor focus. the lens is likely the culprit for #1, and i'm guessing that you didn't need to shoot wide open (and probably needed to dial EC down a bit, if shooting Av). did you check yr histogram occasionally to see if you were blowing highlights? it's a good habit to get into, esp for the first few shots.

narlus wrote in post #3894363
it helps to show EXIF data, but it looks like yr main problems were blown highlights and poor focus. the lens is likely the culprit for #1, and i'm guessing that you didn't need to shoot wide open (and probably needed to dial EC down a bit, if shooting Av). did you check yr histogram occasionally to see if you were blowing highlights? it's a good habit to get into, esp for the first few shots.

I am not that fancy with the camera yet

carrie underwood rules!

#1 & 2 are nice. like Narlus said if they lights are good give yourself more dof and dont shoot wide open. maybe 3.5 or so.

jcw122 wrote in post #3894334
It's the lens. That lens is a total POS for low-light, sure it has a large aperture but it is very poor at focusing in low light. The bokeh it produces is also not that amazing.

But, IMO, the "decent" ones are pretty good! I'm sure there were not many though.

You call that low light?

Brandon...you need to get familiar with the histogram and looking for blown highlights, and practice adjusting +/- EC to compensate for dark or bright backgrounds while in Av/Tv modes. It's also a good idea to shoot in RAW or bracket exposures in jpeg...so you have some room for error in situations where the light is quickly changing.

Also, focusing can require a great deal of attention. It helps a lot if you manually select you focus point and do not recompose your shot (you can set focus point selection to the joystick via a custom function). One shot focus is the most reliable on the 30D, though AI Servo is usable.

That said...a good fast USM lens makes the job quite a bit easier.

bacchanal wrote in post #3894566
You call that low light?
That said...a good fast USM lens makes the job quite a bit easier.

And how much might that cost?

the USM version of the 50mm is about $330. you also gain 2/3rd of a stop.

Would it make a difference for these lighting conditions?

bacchanal wrote in post #3894566
Brandon...you need to get familiar with the histogram and looking for blown highlights, and practice adjusting +/- EC to compensate for dark or bright backgrounds while in Av/Tv modes.

Where can I learn more about this? As you all can probably tell, I am still learning...

Brandon James wrote in post #3894699
Would it make a difference for these lighting conditions?

brandon, it's not the light. you had great light. i wish i could shoot in such light all the time.

have you processed the creation raw shots? i even offerred to process them for you.

I offerred that over a month ago, in plenty of time for you to send and get feedback for your shooting now.

similarly, did you shoot Carrie Underwood in raw?

have you found the software that comes with your 30D that would let you see and process raw?

here's a quick re-edit of the third photo to take out some of the blown highlights [If I had time I would soften the veins on her left hand]

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I see. I downloaded a program to at least SEE my raw photos, and it does not work. I cannot find the software that came with my Camera. I have everything in the box still, but I don't see any software to indicate anything about RAW images. The carrie photos were shot in JPG.

First, calm down. We all go through this ... when I converted from Nikon/Fuji to Canon I had a fit! If it was totally a no-brainer everybody would do it and then I couldn't make money doing it. It takes a LOT of experience and learning about the camera. The camera is your tool and you have to understand it thoroughly ... none of this "what are the magic settings?" and expecting everything to suddenly be perfect. Maybe you should go to the FAQ and find my Q&A and read it cover to cover. I made my first $60K with JPEGs so that isn't a "problem" ... although now I shoot concerts RAW. But I also bracket, which is a big PITA for most here so they avoid it and think shooting RAW will get around it ... I do both. Nobody ever suggested this was easy, dude!

Brandon, I also shoot RAW and "Bracketed" with my 30D... You should be able to find DPP Digital Photo Professional and Zoom Browser EX software (included)... Both need to be installed.. You can convert from RAW starting in either program... That $70dollar, thrifty fifty, needs to be upgraded...