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Firestar in Rathmines – C&C
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Below a few pics I took for the band Firestar at their gig in Rathmines. I’d appreciate your comments – for most of these i was shooting f2.8 at iso 800-1600 – even still found it hard to get above 1/25 second – how do you meter for this type shot given the moving lights and multi colour scene – any tips appreciated
1. 1/8 sec f2.8 17mm iso 800
2. 1/50 sec f2.8 50mm iso 1600
3. 1/25 sec f2.8 200mm iso 800
Hi Jason.
I’m no expert on this, so this may not be the best advice, but I feel I’ve been getting much better results from gigs since I started using the spot meter on my camera,
and metering for the face of the performer, when they look like they have decent light.
It’ll allow for faster shutter speeds, so you won’t have to shoot wide open, and you’ll be able to reduce the ISO too.
It will mean lots of black in the dark parts, bit of burn out here and there too, but the highlights will be in control.I like the viewpoint in your first picture, love the movement in the hand of the drummer.
If you metered for the bright spot in the middle, you’d have probably got something like 1/125, which would have allowed a few stops in aperture. ISO too.The second is more difficult as the singer is the focus point, but the drummer has the best light.
I think if you want to use the third you should maybe try a bw conversion, or something to reduce the red a bit.
It might just be me, but I’m not fond of a strong cast like that, looks like the kind of pictures I see on beebo, that kids have taken at gigs then think they’re cool,
coz they’re all red. I hope that doesn’t sound rude.
But a band might be expecting a bit more from the pictures.Just keep trying, but I do think spot metering is the way to go.
Sinead
Thanks Sinead
Spot metering – i’ll give that a try next time – wish the lights would just settle for a second – at the gig continuously moving and changing colour so found it hard – thanks for the advice.
Set your camera to deliberately underexpose by one or 2 stops. You’ll lose the shadow detail you don’t need and all that will stand out are the brighter areas. It’ also gives you a fast shutter speed too.
On matrix metering your camera is trying to get detail in the dark/shadow areas that aren’t important.
Hi Jason,
Nice to see some gig pictures so well done for posting these.
I wouldn’t claim to be an expert in any way but I have found that
my shots that take in a wide view don’t turn out as well as tight
shots on a particular musician or action.Sinead’s spot metering suggestion seems like a very good suggestion and
your camera has this facility.
I often wished my 20D had it. :cry:
I have just procured a 40D which has it and I can’t wait to try it out.The other thing I think might be advisable is to take plenty of shots.
Also some shots that don’t look so good in colour might just be spot
on when converted to mono.I think generally getting important parts of the picture like the eyes of
the singer into focus is important.
That said I have seen excellent images (I seem to remember Sinead posting
some) where the photographer deliberately uses soft or out of focus tecniques
to great effect.So the next time I try to photograph a band it will be tight composition, spot metering,
careful focussing and loads of shots.I hope I can do as well as you.
Look forward to seeing more.
Good luck.
John.
Hi Jason,
For me the shots are a little soft, although this can also be acceptable and 1/25 is far to slow. Here are some setting you might want to try.
Manual Mode
Iso 1600 (There’s not to many vanues in Dublin you can shoot below 1600)
Spot meter (Meter of the artists face as this is the most important and watch the lighting)
Shutter will be dictated by correctly exposing but dont be afraid to ignore the meter and shoot 1/60 sec. min. as anything else with result in motion blur.My site is http://www.myspace.com/paulandrewsphotography
also look at http://www.ishootshows.com you will get some great tips from it.
Regards,
Paul
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