First attempt at Gig Photography

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Si.

Si.

Si.

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I've had my D7000 for a week now and picked up a 35mm F1.8 on Friday so I thought I'd nip to local club and do some gig photography. This is the first time I've done this, and first time on Manual, so go easy on me, but any comments/ critique is appreciated.

I was quite impressed by how well the lens and camera performed under the conditions.


SRA_0596 by shuttermonkeys, on Flickr

SRA_0547 by shuttermonkeys, on Flickr

SRA_0576 by shuttermonkeys, on Flickr
 
How much did you crop in? For 1.8 there's not much depth of field so you must have been quite a distance away from them! if so then it's more ideal to have a longer lens in that situation - Though it's your own preference and it also comes down to what's possible on any given gig I guess.

Need to see more shots though to fully get an idea of what that session was like! Personal recommendations would be to compose to suit the type of musician on stage. The first shot works well for this and even in a contrasty BW process it would look as good as the colour, maybe more so even.

Wait for the smoke on the stage to be fuller if possible as smoke coupled with stage lights always gives that rock star on stage feel to the image and gives the illusion of it being much bigger than it probably actually is :cool:
 
Thanks..

They had some smoke but it was fairly weedy and never really filled the stage more than in those shots.

The 2nd picture isn't cropped so that gives you an idea of how the 35mm lens coped. With the 1.5 crop factor on the D7000 the 35mm is more like a 50mm in reality. I agree that I need a longer lens, got my eye on a 24-70mm F2.8 but need to wait a month or so before I can afford it.

I've got lots more to go through so will process some more todays and post them up.

Thanks for the comments.
 
Yup on the right path I'd say! you've noticed areas where you want to improve and you definitely will the more you shoot - Being your own self critique is the best way to go about it as well.
 
Si. said:
Thanks..

They had some smoke but it was fairly weedy and never really filled the stage more than in those shots.

The 2nd picture isn't cropped so that gives you an idea of how the 35mm lens coped. With the 1.5 crop factor on the D7000 the 35mm is more like a 50mm in reality. I agree that I need a longer lens, got my eye on a 24-70mm F2.8 but need to wait a month or so before I can afford it.

I've got lots more to go through so will process some more todays and post them up.

Thanks for the comments.
Click to expand...


You'll find you'll need prime lenses for gig photography more often than not. It's what I do 90% of the time. Unless you're going to be in a well lit environment all the time, it's very difficult to get decent photos without a flash, which most venues won't allow. Personally I prefer to use the light at the event too, as it gives you more of a feel of the gig, than having a perfectly balanced level of light over the performers.

I have tried several lenses of F2.8-F4 and they are almost always useless at F4 unless you've got VERY good noise handling when using high ISOs. Some venues are in near darkness at times, with various lighting set ups causing a multitude of issues with focus and exposure too. You CAN get by with 2.8, but will definitely need to push the ISO up more, which will limit processing choices too. 35mm, 50mm & 85mm are generally the perfect lengths for gig photography unless shooting from quite a distance away, which would be rare really.
 
Would love to see some of your shots..

I'm hoping that the F2.8 24-70mm will do it, but might have to consider a 50mm to go with my 35mm. The D7000 seems really good with high ISO levels, I was shooting some at 3200 iso as a test and they had almost zero noise.

Defiantly not going to use a flash, as someone who also plays in a band I hate flashes going off in my face, it really distracts you.
 
Nikon are pretty good with noise handling. No idea about low light stuff, although my mate just bought a Nikon camera and is coming out with some nice photos. The only trouble with my observations is the fact that it's based on sensors on Canon from the 60D days. With the 5Dmk3 I use now, it's much easier to use in low light, and the prime lenses are a godsend. I've actually got some usable shots in a recent open mic night, in very poor lighting.

I've got loads of gig photos in my flickr link below. This has just reminded me that I bought hosting and a domain last week and still haven't built my website. Oops :D
 
Flash kind of ruins the atmosphere of some stages as well so worth keeping that in mind! Ambient light and letting the sensor capture all that light in with high ISO gets the moody shots people want in their gig photos :)

I shot an entire gig once with the 35mm 1.4 at ISOs ranging from 400 to 3200 and got really good results. They were all at 1.4 though as I wanted to freeze some of the action while keeping other action in motion to give a sense of motion. I opted for manual exposure with a 1/200s shutter to account for this and just auto ranged the ISO.
 
As you know, I was just looking at your old photo from pre 35mm days :p

The trouble I have to fight against is a slight trembling in my hands, so I can't do longer exposure. I'm extremely lucky if I can go lower than 1/60. As soon as it gets to that point, or lower the quality degrades massively. I'd love to be able to stick to 1/200 :D
 
Some nice pictures there..

Going to try an get out again next weekend to a different venue and give the 33mm another try :)
 
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