Could have been better

[Rasbury]

Here are a few photo's that i took at the Blue Crab Festival this past friday of the band Blistur.They are sooc except for a slight brightness addition to the guitarist in view nx during conversion and cropping to a 5x4 ratio.This shoot was a somewhat difficult task for several reasons the first being my need for a faster prime lens as i was shooting with either my 18-55mm or 55-200mm zoom lenses which i could only stop down no lower than f4 or there abouts.The lighting on stage was not what i was hoping for either as they had no white spot to light up individual performers doing their thing. C&C are welcome.

[jiro]

It's really hard to get good shots without the right lens for the right occasion, Ron Still, I think you did good on these 3 considering your case. The book that I have about concert photography tells of the photographer usually using 2 lenses alternately - a 24-70mm f/2.8 and an 85mm f/1.4 prime.

[Rasbury]

It's really hard to get good shots without the right lens for the right occasion, Ron Still, I think you did good on these 3 considering your case. The book that I have about concert photography tells of the photographer usually using 2 lenses alternately - a 24-70mm f/2.8 and an 85mm f/1.4 prime.

Thanks Willie.

[rpcrowe]

Shooting events like this is difficult even with the best equipment. However, I don't see anything wrong with your images. I don't expect super sharp imagery from concert images. Your images portrayed the feeling of a concert. BTW, I have found that subjects lit with blue lights are the most difficult for me to shoot.

On the other hand, if you are able to use a monopod (ability to use a pod will be determined by the venue and it is often not possible) in combination with IS capability in your lens, you can often get sharper images. A zoom lens with at least an f/2.8 aperture or a prime with even a faster f/stop will help you increase your shutter speed. However, since you often cannot, during a performance, move around a zoom will come i handy over a prime, despite the larger aperture of the prime. Additionally, when shooting wide open with a long focal length lens that incorporates a wide aperture, your DOF is razor thin. This will sometimes work to your advantage allowing you to isolate your subject with selective focus but, will be problematic at other times. This is especially true if you are shooting more than one performer or if the performer is moving around..

A camera which will allow shooting at high ISO will also come in handy. I will often increase the ISO and not worry greatly about the noise. I'd rather see a relatively sharp noisy image than a blurry one that is noise free.

Combining the monopod with IS will prevent camera motion but will not stop the motion of the performers. On the other hand, a sharp image with a performer blurred from movement is often very interesting.

I remember a shot of a Chinese juggler on stage in which the stage area was sharp and the torso and head of the juggler was also sharp. However his hands and the items he was juggling were blurred from motion. It was an extremely effective shot.

Often shooting during a pause in the action or a peak of the action will allow sharp imagery wit a slower shutter speed. I shot these images using a 70-200mm f/4L IS lens on a 40D camera. The IS and constant f/4 aperture, while not the absolute best, helped me get reasonably sharp shots...





Getting the point of focus is sometimes difficult. I tend to use single point focus and try to get the persons face and eyes sharpest. We are usually shooting with a very narrow DOF when we shoot under the relatively low stage lights of many performances. The shot of the drummer appears like the camera locked onto the microphone in front of the drummer as the point of focus.

[Rasbury]

Thanks for the very informative info Richard.I really do appreciate it.Never thought to take my monopod with me, will try it out tonight.Next time i'll post my exposure info with the shots.(Need to get in the habit of doing that anyway.)Thanks again. Ron

[Rasbury]

Here are a few photo's from sunday evening at the blue crab festival.The first one is from a Jimi Hendrix Tribute Band and is pretty much SOOC.The sun had not gone down yet so there was enough ambient light to help with the exposure some.Shot at an ISO of 3200 aswere the rest of the photo's that night(The above photo's were shot at 1600).I also took Richards advice and used my monopod which was a tremendous help on making thing sharper.Thank you again Richard.The second photo is the bass player and one of the guitarist from the band "Motor City Josh".Twas dark at this time and the noise started to creep in to the photo's.The last photo was noise central and i'm not to sure how photoshop noise reduction works so i did this to it because i relly love the composition on it.The man on the left is Josh.who is an amazing guitar player.The gentleman on his right is his son who is no slouch on the guitar either.
Oh....and all photo's were cropped to a 5x4 ratio.C&C are very welcome.Thanks Ron

[MiniChris]

Sorry I missed that weekend...family woes in GA...arrggghhhh.

[Rasbury]

Sorry I missed that weekend...family woes in GA...arrggghhhh.

No problem Chris as i woke up with a headache,played that afternoon with a headache and went home not to long after.Had a good time though.Hope everything is alright with your family.

[Rasbury]

A couple more from sunday of Motor City Josh.C&C are very welcome.Thanks

Ron