Hey everyone
I’m shooting a pretty big gig coming up this week. I have done a bit of concert photography for some smaller bands but will be shooting a massive venue with Bloc Party & Interpol headlining.
Just wanted to ask if anyone had any tips I should keep in mind while shooting.
This will also be the first gig where the ‘3 song’ rule will be applied so I’m stressed about getting all that I need within that timeframe.
Any particular shots I should try and get? Also, is it worth trying to see if I can get on stage to shoot from behind?
This is the rules that were sent to me:
“Please note that the photo restrictions are the first three from the pit only and nothing from front of house/crowd after the first three.”
Does this mean it will only be first three and then everything else is just from the crowd?
A lot of people are covering etiquette but a couple of things to try insofar as technique:
try playing around with a low shutter speed and intentional camera movement; something like 1/4th sec, hold the camera still for 75% of the exposure and then swoop the camera in a direction of your choice. This works best with bright lights in the background that generate trails. The look is something like this
Try setting your metering to “highlights” mode - a stage environment will likely have very bright highlights and very dark shadows, default metering will try and balance exposure for both. Highlight priority can let those shadows fall away and get a dramic contrasty look
Practical effect filters like a mist filter, prism filter, or star filter are all really fun and a little spice to your set.
Get a good mixture of individual shots and whole-band photos.
If you can have two camera bodies for two different looks (close ups/wide, effect filters/clean) its absolutely worth it instead of trying to swap lenses and filters on the fly. Use a versitile zoom lens if not.
Have fun, remember you deserve to be there they hired you because they like your work, and you’re gonna do great!