Pixiq

Awesome article.

I love concert photography, but unfortunately I only have a point-and-shoot for now. However, I was able to get some pretty good shots at a recent Rhett Miller concert, check out my site and let me know what you think.

Hi,

I read your tips with interest. I am devoted to taking concert photos and do so on a Panasonic DMC LZ1 which, after trying several other cameras is the best for taking low light photos.

I already have intuited two or so of your rules in that I always get close, never use flash and take a million shots, often in continuous shooting mode. One or two of the continuous mode shots generally turn out well and give one an interesting picture of the artist in action.

I live in Australia and carrying a small camera into venues is never a problem. I always get there early to grab a good postion up close to the stage.

you should check out: http://www.andrewkendall.com/pages/photogallery/favouritephotographs.php

there’s a great podscast about gig photography on his livejournal too: http://andrewkendall.livejournal.com/

Nice article. I think it mostly applies to rather large venues though, where there is actually a separate pit for the photography people. Though I’ve only started recently, I’ve only done more indie bands which play in smaller venues. This means there’s no separate photography pit and you’re in the middle of the audience. In my opinion, the rules then change.

Which is why I wrote my own guide a while ago, geared mostly towards people like me: just starting out, with smaller bands. :) It’s here:
http://on-no.net/concert-photography/

Could you describe the technique you used to convert the digital color to black and white? I used to shoot concerts in college and shot w/ a Minolta X7-A using either a 50mm f1.4 and a 70-210 f4-5.6 using 400ISO Ilford pushed to 1600 w/ a 1/60 exposure and the lens wide open. Some day I’ll have to sit down and scan a bunch of my old work. Great photos.

Nice tips, I’m just getting into photography with my new Nikon D70s, and events are something I’m interested in.

I guess the fixed focal length 50mm lens would be best if you get get close!

Definitely some good advice there about getting better at concert photos. I wrote something a little similar on my blog – but concentrating more on the technical and technique side of things.

http://www.boudist.com/archive/2006/02/08/tips_for_live_music_concert_ph...

Interesting read although I have managed some great shots with a lesser camera and no front area access but I enjoyed reading your experiences. The last concert I went to was Depeche Mode. Had an older digi that did me proud considering ;) Here are an example of some of the shots- http://www.creativeemotion.com/DMshow/index.htm – again, not like the pros but all things considered it worked great and put together in a group gave me a kick ass 30×40 poster as well as a lot of single 8x10s =)

You make some good points. I like what you say about getting in with the venue. I take alot of live reggae photos-club shows. However I personaly allways use flash. Only one reggae artist in 4 years has said something. It makes a difference. Being in the front row has been the best advice I have got. It means going an hour or so early to the show and waiting often. One thing left out here is to ENJOY THE SHOW.. dont let the pictures ruin your good time. Thanks for the info / good read !
Bean
http://www.reggaetraders.com/gallery

There is a lot of life in your shots! You've really captured the essence of the performers. Well done.

Thanks for the article. :) I had always wondered how people got all the way up close and personal with their favorite bands, snapping away while I was in the back being pushed into the mosh pit. I figured you needed a pass or some sort of badge as such. I always wanted to be the one up in front taking some awesome pictures. Next time my favorite band rolls into town, I'll look into contacting the venue ahead of time and see if I can do what I always wanted to do :]

I can't believe this article was witten basically three years ago, and it was the first result that popped up on my Google search for "concert photography". I can see why, though, because it's a great article!
I just photographed Hinder here in my hometown, Fairbanks, AK, last Friday for my college newspaper.
I really liked the "three rules" given. They make a lot of sense, especially the third- I almost wasn't let into the concert with my Canon 40D. Begging helps :)
I didn't face any lighting issues, here in Alaska it's sunny 24/7 in the summer, and the concert was outdoors. However, the lighting tips were also extremely helpful. I've shot an indoor hip hop concert, and my GOD, what a challenge that was!
Thanks for the tips, everyone!

Good article.
While lens choice is most important, it seems these days camera bodies are being developed with incredible high ISO handling. But yeah fast lenses also help to separate musicians from the cluttered backgrounds, by producing shallower DOF.

Take a peek at an article I wrote on ways to obtain photo credentials for concerts: http://www.justingillphoto.com/blog/how-to-get-concert-photo-pass

- Justin | www.justingillphoto.com

I’ve been shooting concerts for over 4 years now. I started out with a disposable camera and slowly worked my way up to a decent camera. I’m after a top of the line Canon as my next camera. With only 24 shots you need to be selective and on point. As I got better I learned what the clubs and bouncers will let you get away with, how to interact with them and the band and I made it back stage over 90% of the time. I completely agree with the original post and have these 2 rules in addition to what was said already…

1) Be cool with everyone and act humble. They remember you and will treat you as you deserve. If you have a digital camera and get a pic of a chick flashing, show the bouncers, you will be their best friend!

2) Don’t be a paparazzi. Your name will be dirt and you will be hated by all. If you get that $5000 shot, tough. I have many and I don’t want to bring myself down to that of pond scum.

Okay so I have been invited by a local band to be put onto their guest lists’ so that I can photograph them. I think I do an alright job at getting the shots but I have a Canon P.S A630 and it doesn’t work very well under the conditions of concert lighting and such. It’s almost impossible to get a good shot without it looking super amature. Is there something i’m missing? Help?

Enjoying all these stories and tips very much I must say, I keep learning. My concert photo’s are all collected on my website http://www.kamerado.nl

Joep

Nice article…I can relate well. I took hundreds of concert photos of rock bands in the 80′s and it was always a challenge.

I tried fast films, slide films, even had some 3D pics too. After all these years I finally made some of my collection available for viewing.

My concert photo website is evolving and will have more as time goes on.
Thank you

http://www.liveloudphotos.com

Great tips – I already practice many of these and am glad to see someone is willing to say it!

Great, this is going into my photo Bible. Thankfully I live some where where the first two rules have not been introduced yet so it is free hunting season for amateur and pro shooters and been a great platform for me to go and get pics of bands and then show them how I can get great candid moments of them and many hire me next time and it is paying for itself now and hope to take some of your print advice too and give them some big prints too and sell them to the band members or for their fan clubs.

The hardest thing is getting good moments to the lighting, moments come regardless if the lighting techy gives you the best or worst lighting possibilities for that moment but you got to take your shot anyway or up or down your ISO or other aids to get the shot in a split second, it grows on you though and I’m getting to where it’s a “junky” rush, I hate portrait set shoots, give me rock and roll baby!

Just wanted to drop a line and say thanks ever so much for the insight, inspiration and technical as well as the common-sense-we-often-forget knowledge.

this was helpful-
i’ve been do 5 shows now where i’ve had a photo pass and i love the opening of this article haha. thats exactly how it’s described, and its one of the most nervewrecking nights you will ever have. ive gotten stuck in between the security guards legs while they were pushing off the stage to push a crowd surfer back, while the other security guard was yelling at me to ‘get the f*ck out of there’. also, at my last show, there was a kid in the photo pit with his little digital camera, just shooting away, with flash, and actually for the most of the show was kneeling on the floor so i pretty much tripped on him every time i needed to get by him.

Interesting stuff.

I like the photo tips for concerts.

Cool blog site you got going on.

Keep it up!

Good tips.

I’ve found just as a music fan going to concerts, my trusty point-and-shoot has been great. Granted you haven’t got the advantage of using an DSLR with a bright lens, but then to get permission to use these cameras, your only allowed in the pit for 3 songs. (I’ve heard reports of people only being allowed in the pit for mere seconds!) I find getting to the venue early, so you can get as close to the front as possible is the biggest advantage. Once you’ve done that, everything else is easy. You have the WHOLE concert to take photos. Like you say, you tend to dump 90% of the shots, but if you have a full 90 minutes – 2 hours to take your photos, your bound to get some good ones right?

Fantastic article. I’ve been shooting concert photography for about 6 months now and keep coming back to this article.

At the level I am at, I can usually shoot for the whole show. It’s a great way to practice: go to small local shows. The challenges are the same and it makes you get to know the surroundings and the camera.

I wrote a short guide as well: http://tinyurl.com/mtxa2n

Thanks for some great advice. It didn’t take me long to realize the most important thing in ANY setting is the speed of the lens; I picked up the Canon 50mm f1.8 and see why the extra speed is so important, but now I have my eye on the f1.4. I’ll second the “don’t bother with a crappy camera”, I managed to spend a night processing a picture from my original Digital Elph of The Skydiggers and Gord Downie from The Tragically Hip, but it is more computer generated than actual photograph…

Hi:

I have been added to a credential list for a particular concert in a couple of weeks. The woman is the media coordinator of the venue, and she emailed me back, after I emailed her requesting this. I gave her all the proper info. I have a canon 40d and have a 28-200mm 3.5-5.6 lens and a 50-250mm 4.5-5.6 lens. I am thinking of getting a 70-200mm 2.8 lens as I know I need a very fast lens. I need to know if after taking the pictures if I am in a pit, do I get to sit in my seat, as I was invited to the concert also. I have contacted the venue and they said that cameras are allowed. I would take more pictures in my seat, but my flash won’t reach even though it is powerful. I have a point and shoot fuji s7000 with a telephoto attachment, and have taken photos indoors in a concert and I was in the 25th row and then in the 14th row in another one and got great shots with it, and I used an external flash unit. Do you think I would be able to sit down after taking the pictures since I was given a ticket. I don’t want the person to lose a lot of money. I would rather sit down then have to leave after taking the photos up front, and take my chances by shooting from my seat.

Thanks
Mary

THANK YOU for any help you can supply me with.

Mary

really very interesting post!concert photography is great…love this article.thanks for sharing..

digitalpicturezone

great photos, and great writeup! just starting out a photo blog so i’m happy to have come across this site..

can you post pictures of bands on your professional portfolio website without a signed release form?

As long as you’re not making money of the photos; yes. You can’t use band photos for commercial purposes anyway (unless you pay the band a fortune, and then it’s usually done in an advertising context), so use the photos for news, features, and your portfolio, and nothing else :)

I heard about this photo contest Billboard and PDN are having…basically you could either be an amateur or a professional and all you need to do is submit your photos from a concert or of an artist. The winner gets a completely free trip for 2 to a Billboard star-studded event plus your photos published in Billboard magazine and on Billboard.com. The link is http://www.billboardphotocontest.com/ and the deadline is Sept 8th…check it out!!

Hi Haje, I’d like to use a photo you took from Sonisphere (August 1,2) in my article. This photo is also featured on Wikipedia. I just want to obtain your permission to be sure I’m being compliant with copyrights, etc. I’d be happy to credit you as photographer, of course and put a link to your article here. Please e-mail me and let me know a.s.a.p. Thanks in advance.

First of, I’m going to try my best to staying civil here. You’re making it hard for some of us Pro Photogs, that make a living on concert photography. Your insight on how to obtain a photo pass is not something that should be done, even less suggested.

The industry doesn’t need to be saturated with “wannabe” concert photographers that are prostituting the market with free services. What the heck are you thinking?? Some of us do this for more than a hobby, and need to put food on our tables. Work is work, and should be compensated!

Now on a more technical side, your comment on ISO settings is no very coherent. Buy decent equipment, and you’ll be able to set your ISO value to 6400, without the slightest amount of noise whatsoever.

Hi Patrick – can you post a couple of links to concert photos taken at 6400 ISO which have no noise in them?

Nice article, but The Cribs aren’t really a “local band” anymore, they’re quite big in the UK!

I have been doing concert photography for some time now. The advice i can give is that you should move a lot (except when i am not allowed by the venue, or musicians agent). Fast lenses are something photographers should consider also.
Other than that is just a question of having your eyes open and “read” the moves the musicians make.
Every concert is a challenge, most of our photos will be “average”, but sometimes we can get some real good ones!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/retorta/sets/

Speaking of concert photography,Billboard and PDN just extended the deadline on the ultimate music moment photo contest to Sept 18th. Billboard and PDN are gonna give out a bunch of cool stuff and publish the images of whoever can capture the best pic of an artist, crowd, or music moment on their magazines and websites. They’re taking both amateurs and professional, more details at http://www.billboardphotocontest.com/.

I shoot every show with a Nikon D40 with f/3.5-5.6 55mm-200mm and a 18mm-55mmf/3.5-5.6. and use a Manual Flash I get rude looks from some Big Lens Photographers but My work proves I just have to work a little harder. I have photographed Bachman Cummings Band, Kim Mitchell, and Shoot for The Carpet Frogs (Backing Band for Bachman Cummings. Have Shot Rik Emmett of Triumph and Many local acts.
I bust my ass and enjoy all of it.
Thanks for posting the Inspiring article

Great article. Concert photography is an especially rewarding form of photography. It’s hard work and you have to battle bad lights, lots of movement and everything else.
I always plan for the unexpected. My quick words to someone starting in concert photography would be: know your surroundings, know your settings and trust your instincts.

Great article, I would love to start doing concert photography. This article is very helpful.

Great article, check out my concert photography http://silvijoselman.wordpress.com/
hope U like it

Great article . nice photographs. I like photo of eighteen vision. well done

i took this shot with a point and shoot. so have i proved you wrong?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/preston_r/4498156939/

I shoot a lot of concert photography (for large and small bands and venues) and I will agree with most of what you have said. Shutter speeds at 125th or more are a must to keep from getting blur with most bands (though a small amount of artistic blur can be acceptable in some shots.) High ISO is also must but good noise software can help. I always shoot in RAW so if I have to underexpose to get the shot I can add brightness in post (much more options when shooting RAW and editing than JPEGs such as white balance,contrast,saturation,and exposure) You have to be careful of large apertures and being very close as your DOF becomes shallower the closer you get to the subject. The Canon 24mm f/1.4, 50mm f/1.4, and 85mm f/1.8 are a perfect trio of fast primes for low light concert photography (even for a crop camera such as the 7D) and they are not expensive. Just a few of my thoughts. You can check out some examples at http://www.matteroffactart.wordpress.com.

Excellent article. I share many of the same sentiments. Both in the article and the thread comments.

Love the photo of Tarja… Nightwish is one of my all-time favorite. The black & white usage is phenomenal as well.

Best tip is to jemmy that LCD out the back of that fancy dSLR and shove a roll of Tri-X at 800Asa in.

dSLRs have made everyone a photographer and yet, ironically, there are almost no decent rock photographers out there. Just people with expensive kit and no eye, taking hundreds of shots and hoping it’s ‘in there somewhere’. Even the so called best of them produce sterile shots as if lifted from an HDTV documentary.

The discipline of a roll of 36 exposures is the best teacher and the b&W results more ‘soulful’. Digital technically captures it all, but who wants technically perfect dullness?

Take a look at the pictures from the 70s and 80s, forget whether you know the band or not, the pictures are ‘real’ and worth something every time.

If you like concert photography check out my collaboration with REM, available at misc.section – int store – at remhq.com or just see remtsp.com – great article!

if some read this i need little advice, what if you go on concert alone, and got chance to take picture with main artist/singer

did is safe to give on next man your camera and he to take picture of you and singer, or ??