 BetterPhoto Member |
Shooting at concerts and dim lighted situations I am going to be going to a concert that is made up of a lot of local bands and I would like to take pictures there. The problem is that it is usually really dark inside the building and the musicians are usually jumping around or moving a lot. In your opinion, I was wondering what would be the best settings to use on my camera. I will be using a film canon rebel and I have a wide angle and a telephoto lense. Also, I can use flash, but I would prefer not too. Thanks for all your help!
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BetterPhoto Member |
If you don't want to use a flash, my advice is this-fast film and fast lenses. You are going to need to keep your shutter speed high enough to freeze the action. Canon has some great AF lenses with large apertures. These can be quite pricey, but well worth the money if you are going to use them regularly. I would probably go with ISO 800 speed film. Remember, high speed film has a tendancy to get grainy in low light situations. Have fun and keep shooting,
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Mark Feldstein |
There are lots of solutions, some of them Mark mentioned. If you really get the urge and have the dough, you can probably rent an AF lens with a wide aperture. Also, there's nothing wrong with working with stage lighting which in many instances can be pretty effective and help you produce some interesting images. My own preference, shooting color negative film is to use something like Fuji-Press that allows for different ISOs on the same roll. (Color film has a wide exposure latitude.) I use transparency film a lot, usually Fujichrome Tungsten at 160 ISO or even daylight film depending on the venue lighting. You may notice some color shifting using daylight but it may not be too bad. You can get some really great images using black and white. Try using either Ilford HP5 shot slightly overexposed at ISO 320 or Kodak Tri-X (regular, not TX Pro) exposed at ISO 250. Yeah, you may be working at slower shutter speeds, say down about 1/60th, 1/30th of a sec. at f-4 for example, but it's still very doable and it cuts your grain problem. OTOH, T-Max 3200 is basically T-max 800 iso push processed at 3200 ISO. That can help get you out of a low light jam. Regardless of the film you use, to capture the real ambiance of what's going on, it's ok to have someone a little motion-blurred, while others aren't. (Using fill flash is still handy for stopping the motion of some while others out of range will show be movement. I highly recommend that you use a camera support of some kind, either a tripod or monopod...or the head of the guy sitting in front of you. Use a cable release too. That helps ensure less or no camera shake which may not be noticeable at smaller sized prints but at larger ones, say 8x10 or larger. Have lotsa fun. And don't forget the model releases if you plan to use any of the images to sell for stock or publication.
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BetterPhoto Member |
Reading what Mark F. said reminded me of the best stage shot I ever photographed. I shot a band in Springfield, MO. The band leader had a habit of jumping off the drum riser while playing a certain song. He wanted me to try to capture this. I watched the band for about a week to get the timing of his jump and sprint down. When I shot the photograph, I mounted the camera on a tripod, Took flash in hand (not in any way connected to the camera), and waited. When he got to the top of the riser, I opened the shutter. I popped the flash when he hit the stage. Then, I closed the shutter. What I ended up with was the guitar streaking down to the stage, subject frozen on the stage, and streaks going right from the subject. It also got me a CD cover. There's an idea for ya to try. Have fun and keep shooting,
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Mark Feldstein |
Yeah, my point exactly, Victoria. As Mark noted, there are a lot of ways to use flash in these types of situations, best to get it off camera though and just let it pop a bit of fill flash into the scene. I know you want to avoid using a flash, but it can be very effective, especially when it's diffused somehow. My favorite diffuser (aside from a 3x4' soft box, is a tupperware container with a hole cut in the bottom for a Vivitar 285 HV flash head, used with the lid (to really soften the light) or without for a little brighter hit. AND when it's not being used for a flash diffuser, I use it to carry film and parts in. Just a thought.
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BetterPhoto Member |
On the subject of flash diffusion, Lumiquest makes a very nice bounce system. The promax system offers an 80/20 bounce deflector, a white bounce card, a gold bounce card, a silver bounce card, and a diffusion screen, all for about $60.00. The system attaches to your flash bounce head via velcro (also included). A good idea to soften the blows. Have fun and keep shooting,
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