Red lights are easier to shoot than blue. Sometimes you can time a song for the “drop” or climax and they’ll use white flood lights. Anticipate these moments if you can. But most of all have fun!

No disrespect I am genuinely curious. How did you get passes to be in a photo pit if you’ve never really used a camera??

I would look online and figure out what the max ISO for your camera is before it becomes too noisy to be useful and set that range for the auto ISO. Then you can use the widest aperture and a fast shutter speed so your images will be sharp. Somewhere between 1/250-500. Whether you are shooting in daylight or at night, you’ll be able to think less about settings and look for the moments you want to capture. You don’t want to be looking at the screen and trying to change ISO while the action is happening. If your camera has a continuous shutter mode you might use it(sparingly, you dont want 10,000 selects to comb through) 55-200mm would be my choice but try and bring both like others have said. Be kind and courteous of everyone else in the photo pit and every once in awhile, jump in there and try and get “the shot” if you see it coming

You should have included that you won a sweepstakes for this pass! I’ve been doing concert photography for ages and it took at least 3 concerts for my photos to start looking decent. If you’re not looking to make a career out of this, don’t waste time learning the camera because you’ll have to shoot in manual mode and it’s hard to get the hang of depending on the lighting at the concert. Just shoot with your phone and make sure to take some videos! 😄

Bring the 18-55 cause it’s probably a bigger aperture.

Don’t be shy to bring up the ISO. A noisy shot is better than a blurry one. Shutter should be at least 1/100 if no image stabilization.

Practice before in low light at home with your cats.

Not knowing the aperture of either lens nor any details except it’s a 3-day festival, I’d go with the 55-200mm since even in the pit you probably won’t be close enough to the performers to make the 18-55mm useable.

Is this all outdoor stages from day to night?

Based on my experience shooting live music in “easy mode” for the first few months I had my DSLR, including some festivals, you could get some decent shots but the camera will tend towards slower shutter speeds, resulting in less sharp images if the subjects are moving fast on stage. Trying to keep the camera as steady as possible helps but there’s only so much you can do handheld.

Get some earplugs since it’s a 3-day festival. Wear comfortable shoes. Take breaks and stay hydrated.

I would advise getting backup batteries and memory cards also but that depends on how much you think you’ll be shooting and whether you decide to shoot JPEG or RAW. I’ve been okay with two 64GB SD cards lasting me through a 8-10 hour day of shooting RAWs.

Be aware of your surroundings and keep in mind that when you’re in the pit, there are hundreds/thousands of people behind you that paid to be there so don’t block their view any longer than necessary.

Recycling some tips I wrote in a previous thread, but hopefully, some of this should be helpful.

General useful info:

• Bring earplugs, sometimes festivals will provide them, but just in case it might be good to get your own pair.
• Get to stages early. usually, security will let you into the photo pit 5-10 minutes before the act comes on stage, but may not let you in once they’re already on.
• Stepstool. Depending on the height of the stages you may want to bring a little stepstool to help you get some height. Note: Worth checking with the festival that they’ll allow you to bring it in before Friday if you do want to bring it.
• Be mindful of others. Pits are busy (security, other photographers, band crews etc etc), keep an eye out you’re not blocking other people’s shots when moving around, stash your bag under the barrier, don’t put your camera on the stage.
• Drink water, eat some food. It’s so easy to forget if you get into the swing of things, running about a festival with a camera trying to get to things on time, so when you do get some time do some self care.
• Wearing black (or darker neutral colours). Again just general courtesy to the bands/other people working around you, bright colours are distracting.
• Depending on the size of the festival there may be a ‘press tent/area’ you might have access to to drop off bags, take a rest etc, so might be worth checking the festival has this

When shooting:

• On the lenses, it really depends on the size of the festival. If it’s smaller, bring the 18-55, if it’s bigger bring the 55-200mm. If you can find a way to bring both, bring both and stash one in a bumbag or something for easy access to swap around when needed. If the space issue is because of the festival’s bag policy, they’re usually waved for photographers with a pass (check with the festival if this is the case beforehand as every festival is different.
• Settings-wise, honestly, there’s no hard and fast rule with concert photography. But the I Shoot Shows blog has some really good guides on settings etc if you’re unsure, so I highly recommend checking that out.
• Phone-wise, some festivals can be a bit fussy about phones in the photo pit, so check with them it’s okay to use if you do want to do that
• Experiment, from what you’ve said on the thread you’re there mainly for fun. Don’t stress yourself out trying to get the perfect shot every time. As someone who’s been doing this for years, not every photo will be perfect, or even good, you’ll be lucky to come out with more than a handful per set. Figure out what works for you and what you like. I recommend at the end of every day import your photos somewhere and have a look through to figure out what you think works and what doesn’t and use that to learn for the next day. If in doubt ask other photographers, we’re (mostly) a very friendly, if not shy, bunch.

Hope you have fun with it! And any other questions pop them below