Gig advise please

Phate

Phate

Phate

Caporegime
Joined
1 Nov 2003
Posts
35,691
Location
Lisbon, Portugal
Hello All,

Going to a gig for a friend at work on Saturday night, The Purple Turtle in Camden, I've been asked to take some pictures for the band for their site.

Want some advise, as it'll be dark and won't be able to use a flash as it'll distract the band.

Think I'll take the 50mm 1.8, unless people think I should take the 17-40L, would rather not take the L as it's a £425 lens compared to a £50 lens and I'll probably be drinking a bit, and I might be doing a little portrait work as well.

So I'm thinking, depending on light, ISO800?

any other low light tips? :)

Thanks all.
 
divine_madness said:
I'd imagine even with the 50mm at 1.8, you'll need ISO1600 or higher if you can, unless pubs/clubs near you are a lot lighter than they are here...
Click to expand...

350D doesn't do higher than ISO1600

I'll have to see how I get on, if the lighting is good (I haven't been before) then it should be ok...
 
you'll find that becuse of the insanely bright stage lights (purple turtle has good lighting if i remember rightly) you should be ok for the band, depends whether you are able to get in front of any barriers. which if you're specifically doing the photos for the band you should be able to - but i'm not sure if you mean 'of' or not.

you should be fine for ISO800
 
SidewinderINC said:
you'll find that becuse of the insanely bright stage lights (purple turtle has good lighting if i remember rightly) you should be ok for the band, depends whether you are able to get in front of any barriers. which if you're specifically doing the photos for the band you should be able to - but i'm not sure if you mean 'of' or not.

you should be fine for ISO800
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He'll say I'm the photographer if it means getting through any barriers :) - But I don't think there will be.

Thanks for the advice though :)
 
no problems, at festivals if i'm front row in any of the tents i'll not use a flash and be at ISO50 or 100 on my old Powershot A75 and i'll still be able to get results.

and thats from at least 5m away, so when you're 1 or 2 away using a good camera i'm sure you'll be fine lol.
 
Gigs I have shot I required ISO3200 for non assisted flash work at F2.8.

Take your 50 F1.8

The gigs I have shot have had no RGB strobes or any for that matter.

I used flash for some of my shots but flash can destroy the mood of a gig if your looking for something to set the mood. Alternatively slow sync flash can provide retro effects.
 
I agree take the 1.8 but bare in mind the depth of field your restricted to, also try to shoot at 1/125, a slightly underexposed sharper image i think can be recovered over a brighter blurred one, adjust iso accordingly.
I would fiddle with shutter priority to do this, get the fastest speed you can comfortably. I would take a tripod, and switch between aiming at a certain area, say mic stand or drummer, and walking around the lead. Ive read before that the best shots come from when singers step away from the mic, or tries hittng difficult notes.
 
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ChroniC said:
I agree take the 1.8 but bare in mind the depth of field your restricted to, also try to shoot at 1/125, a slightly underexposed sharper image i think can be recovered over a brighter blurred one, adjust iso accordingly.
I would fiddle with shutter priority to do this, get the fastest speed you can comfortably. I would take a tripod, and switch between aiming at a certain area, say mic stand or drummer, and walking around the lead. Ive read before that the best shots come from when singers step away from the mic, or tries hittng difficult notes.
Click to expand...


Because its a 1.8 does'nt mean that the dof will be at 1.8. Its what ever you want it to be. The 1.8 will be fine, maybe set the iso somewhere between 400 and 800:

01.jpg

Exif will reflect that this was taken by me using my 50 1.8 @ ISO 800, Fstop of 1.8 and shutter speed of 1/60. This was also very dark but if I wanted to I could up the shutter speed slightly and correct exposure later in CS3, I would also suggest you shoot in raw as well as a precaution. Just relax, have a play in different light enviroments and most important of all - ENJOY YOURSELF !!
 
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This is what I do for gigs:

Manual mode, f1.8 and I vary the shutter from 1/60 to 1/180 depending on the lighting and my angle, anything faster and you can lower the ISO and use a slower shutter. Start on ISO 800 and play it by ear, I often have to go to ISO 1600. If you're close to the band think carefully about the autofocus points you use as the narrow DOF can lose a subject.

Good luck with anything less than f2.8 also. The 50mm will get some great portraits.
 
StaticThought said:
Because its a 1.8 does'nt mean that the dof will be at 1.8. Its what ever you want it to be. The 1.8 will be fine, maybe set the iso somewhere between 400 and 800:
Click to expand...

I was assuming considering the low light conditions that he would be using the fastest aperture available, I thought that was obvious :confused:
 
divine_madness said:
What would be the advantage in taking a F1.8 lens if you're going to stop it down then? Surely that defeats the entire point of taking a wide aperture lens to deal with the low light problems... :confused:
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I guess he's saying just that you dont have to use it at 1.8 all the time. At a gig you probably wouldnt want to use less than 2.8 i'm guessing.
 
Scam said:
I guess he's saying just that you dont have to use it at 1.8 all the time. At a gig you probably wouldnt want to use less than 2.8 i'm guessing.
Click to expand...

He probably was, but if it is a real light problem you may have to use f1.8 to compensate, and thus this is why a lot of us have mentioned the dof, its really a case of trial and error within a certain situation, taking into account which you rather have low dof or high noise or blur.
 
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I admit I know not a lot about taking photos but can usualky take quite a few good ones.
When at gigs I have a compact digital camera and the ***** for taking photos is the smoke machine, a flash can usually take it out for poeple staning at the front of the stage, but the drummer is allways invisible through the thick fog. So thats what I would watch out for. Only neg for using a flash is that it can take away the pretty lights....

Watch your language.
Tolien
 
Hi All,

Had the Gig tonight and my ears are still ringing :D

my battery is dead so I'm charging it so I can get the pictures off and get processing!

Will probably post some late tonight or tomorrow.

Watch this space!
 
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