I was hoping someone could give me a few tips on taking some pictures at an indoor concert. The venue is quite small, about the size of a bar. The lighting will be constantly changing and the band members will most likely be moving around. I have never taken pictures at an event like this and would appreciate any advice people could give me.

Hope to hear from someone Andrew

-- Anonymous, April 01, 1997

Answers

No 1. Better make sure its OK to shoot in there. Many concert locations won't allow it. If it is, what film, lens combination are you using? Get a spot meter & use it to determine exposure. Another option is to get access early to take meter readings in all the light variations so you will be ready for the performance.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 1997

Night Club Lighting

When I shoot live performances in Night Clubs and on Stage performances, I always coordinate with the musicians and the club owners first.. It is a great advantage when the entertainers anounce "So and so is one of the top photographers in the Music Industry and is here to shoot (tell them what)." I also pre set Three Strobes on stands to cover the different face angles of the Musicians on stage. Make sure that the strobes are Infra red Synched, but have the Modeling Lights turned off. You can meter remotely before the Music starts.. This flood effect gives a good background light, because the light that isn't directly on the musician usually falls behind them and lights thru the depth of the shot. One caution: Get the shots EARLY in the Performance.. Sweat on faces and wet hair dulls the Snap of the shot. Also, the cigarette smoke in a poorly ventialted Club will often times reduce the effectiveness of the Infra Red Synch.. You end up with wierd affects as the main doesn't fire and the Musician is side lit or back lit. Also, Shoot medium format.. I use the Kodak PRO 400 film in the 120 format.. God sharp images thru the smoke, and a full stop better than VPS. Feel free to discuss the pro aspects of this with me. The latest Album/CD Cover and liner which I was hired for contained 10 Images and One morph.... It only took 7 rolls of film at three locations to produce. Good Luck! Bill

-- Anonymous, April 14, 1997

I shoot available light performances (mostly jazz musicians) at concerts and in clubs where I have permission to do so. I use Kodak TMZ 35 mm film shot at its rated speed of 1000. I develop the film for 7.5 min. in T-Max dev. (1:4 dilution at 68 oF). To do this successfully requires reasonble stage lighting and very fast lenses (min f2.8). To catch the action it is ideal to shoot at 1/125 but have achieved acceptable results at 1/60 or even 1/30 in a pinch. I used to bring a spot meter and expose for the flesh tones, but found the in-camera meter in my Nikon FM2's was accurate enough. Check out some of my work at www2.magmacom/~rbour/fowler.htm

-- Anonymous, April 19, 1997

Tips on indoor concert shoots

I'm not an expert or anything, but I've had some good results with Tri-x pushed to 800 under similar conditions. Develop in D-76. Should produce some classic shots.

-- Anonymous, April 25, 1997

I've done quite a bit of concert photography.I tend to use Tri-X 400 with a flash. Some places won't allow flashes, so I tend to push it to 1600 and hope for the best. Standard shooting time is 3 songs. But it all depends on the venue and the band. Check with the band first, most don't care. If not get some 1600 and haul it around with you just in case. Concerts really suck without a flash cause 75% of the light comes from behind the performers.

-- Anonymous, September 26, 1997

Available light shooting I have done a lot of experimenting in concert photography and this is what I came up with so far. I basically shoot with Ilford HP5+ pushed to 3200 or 1600 depending on the lighting conditions.I always have a flash ready to save the shots if the light is extremelly poor or is a backlight.But real concert photos are flashless so mainly I use the flash for fill in or for stoping the action(with slower films). I've used also the TMAX 3200 and the results were great especially if you like grainy stuff. But all in all some of my best shots were made on the HP5 without flash.You just have to get lucky with the timing of the action and the lighting.

-- Anonymous, October 18, 1997