So, this past week, I was able to photograph the legendary punk band The Circle Jerks, when they came through Lawrence, KS on their tour with Negative Approach and 7Seonds (legends in their own right). While waiting in line to get my ticket and photo pass, I met a guy who was also there to photograph the show. He let me know that that show was going to be his fourth ever concert that he photographed, that he was nervous, and wanted to know any tips that I could give him to help.
Now as a teacher, I am always willing to give out any helpful hints that I can give, but this lead me to think of what and how I shoot shows.
I have thought a lot about this over the past week, thought about all of the research that I have done into other photographers, their work, and how I have adapted that into my work. This is what I told him and then a bit more.
To start off with, ALWAYS shoot wide, or as my old graduate school professor once told me, “Back the fuck up”. This is more than true. While getting a good, clean shot of a singer’s face, with all of the emotion that she or he brings to the night, it is better to shoot wide and crop in than to shoot close up and wish later that you got a wider shot. My rule of thumb, you can always crop in, but you can never crop out. This goes without saying that if you have a good camera that you are using, with a high megapixel shot is a lot better than a lower one. That way when you zoom in to crop, you will not be losing information and your image will be come pixelated. This is a major plus. There is no better sign of this than when I got my new Nikon D750. Previously I was using a much older Nikon D300, which only has about 12mp verses the D750 which is about double that. Now, I can shoot from the pit with my standard 35mm prime and still be able crop in, pretty far, if need be. This also helps with my next point.
Start from the outside and shoot in. What I mean by that is to start at the outer edges of the stage, out by the speakers on the edges of the stage and work your way in. This will ensure that you can get the band members that are out there when all of the other photographers are focusing on the Lead Singer, even before they start the concert. Don’t get me wrong, it is good to get the lead singer (of course), but I have noticed that the lead singer is better for photos at least half way into the first song or the start of the second song. The other artist on stage still have to get that same energy flowing as what the singer does, but everyone is SO concentrated on the front person that this is your chance to get the clear shots of whatever side you are on. Not to mention that you can always turn your camera in towards the middle , where the singer is, to get that amazing wide shot of them, but work from the outside in.
Also, when you are in the middle of the pit, right in front of the lead singer, don’t forget that you can also turn your camera towards the outside again and work that way. Just because the lead signer is in front of you doesn’t mean that some amazing action is not happening on other parts of the stage. You have to constantly be looking around with your eyes on stage to see where the action is happening. Don’t get so absorbed into that one moment that you are shoot, wherever you are in front of the stage, to look around.
But as I stated, I started with a Nikon D300. It is not a bad camera. It is actually a great camera. I couldn’t have asked for better camera. That thing is a true worker, and I have put it through a LOT, from photographing concerts to sporting events, small little local stories to photographing three different US Presidents. That camera has done it all for me and then some. However, the ISO and Megapixels not up to par with what I needed Yes, outdoor events are good, but for indoor, I needed a little more. The D750 is amazing. End of story. I have only had it for a month, but I have used it to cover several different concerts, even places I didn’t like to necessarily shoot because of lighting, and the images came back a lot better than I thought they would.
So what I am saying here is that while yes, the camera doesn’t always make the photographer, and there are a TON of things that help (from understanding Shutter Speeds, F-Stops, ISO settings, the rule of thirds and other composition rules, it will only get you so far in today’s photographic world. A camera like a D300 is great to start with, learn the ropes and get your technical skills up to where they need to be, to start that portfolio, but you need a good camera that will help with capturing images in low lighting where older cameras don’t have the ISO capabilities, and the most Zoom lenses cannot help with since they are not fast enough for low light (take for instance the photos I did at the Lied Center at KU. Great jazz concert, legendary jazz, but flat/low lighting that my D300 could not adjust for, since anything over 1000 ISO on the D300 creates noise, and my D750 can get up to an ISO of 10000 and no noise…same can be seen in the Tool concert photos).
That is about it for now. That is the update that I can give. More later as I come up with more info and thoughts.