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Archives
Looking back |
Before I ever photographed concerts for publication, before I began writing about music professionally, I took pictures at concerts for my own amusement. Photography was my hobby long before it became my job, and like all hobbyists, I photographed what interested me. Music interested me. Eventually I gave up photographing concerts. Carrying a lot of equipment can be a hassle, and focusing my attention on taking good pictures distracted from the music. Most people aren't so obsessive that their enjoyment of photography would necessarily interfere with their enjoyment of live music. Later, when I began working at a newspaper, I found the opportunity to combine my interests in writing, music and photography irresistible. Five years of experience has taught me how to get the great shots without sacrificing my enjoyment of the music. Of course, when I'm only allowed to shoot the first three songs, as is the rule, my job as a photographer is finished pretty early on. That really helps. The other thing that helps is the challenge of getting just that one shot to do the job of illustrating a review or story. Shooting for publication is a challenge and a responsibility, but it also clarifies my purpose. I'm not there to get three dozen cool photos, I'm there to make one great one that will fit the size a newspaper ca run and support the story. Most people never get to shoot from 'the pit,' but some of you may get the opportunity someday. Some of you may just want to move down as close as possible to take a few shots. Once in a while you may decide to bring a camera to a concert when you've lucked into some especially good seats. However you manage to get close enough to the stage to "see the whites of their eyes," there are some things you can do to increase your chances of getting some really good shots. Shooting pictures is about making decisions, and the more you know, the better the choices you'll be able to make. All of your decisions lead to a permanent record on film. You can never reshoot a picture, you can only make a better decision when shooting the next one. Most of what I know is based upon my bad decisions. If you don't take the time to understand your mistakes, then you've wasted an opportunity. If you do study your failures, you'll gain important knowledge which will lead to better pictures. When your pictures don't 'come out,' don't just discard them, figure out why. Ask a pro or experienced hobbyist if you can. Most of your choices are made in an instant, others are made ahead of time. The most important choices you make are those of your camera and film. When shooting concerts we have limited control over our physical relationship to our subjects, and we have virtually no control over the lighting. While concert lighting is almost always lower than we would prefer, what's more troublesome is the highly variable level and color of concert lighting. Because I want to shoot at the fastest shutter speed I can, I select a lens with a large aperture and film with the highest ISO rating possible. I find that any shutter speed slower than 1/100th of a second is pretty useless for concert photography. Anything slower will give me blurred images of all but the most sedate performers. At that speed, drum sticks and guitar strums will be a blur, but that's OK. My main lens for concert photography is a 70-200mm f2.8 zoom. I find that lens fairly easy to hand hold. Use what you have, long lenses with small apertures aren't going to be very useful. Use a faster lens even if it's short, and get closer if possible. In order to shoot at f2.8 at 1/100th, I need a very fast (light sensitive) film. There are a number of really good, fast films made by Fuji and Kodak. My preferred film is Fuji's 800 speed film. I push it a stop to 1600, which requires special processing. Pushed to 1600, it's still superior to Kodak and Fuji films that are rated at 1600. At it's rated speed of 800, it provides many opportunities to freeze the action. I don't recommend the use of slide film in such challenging conditions for any but the most experienced photographers. I recommend the use of an automatic camera set to aperture preferred mode. I set mine to f2.8 and pay attention to my through-the-lens light meter, shooting only when the camera indicates that the available light will set a shutter speed at or above 1/100th. Because the lighting can vary so wildly, I'll often find opportunities to shoot at speeds as fast as 1/600th. When the lights go bright, take advantage. If your meter is telling you that there's plenty of light, but the light is predominantly red, be careful. Red light will trick many cameras into thinking there is more light than there really is. Film is not as sensitive to red light as meters are and you'll end up with junk. Shoot the folks with the bright, white spotlights shining on them. Take time to learn to operate your camera properly. A lot of film is wasted in borrowed cameras that the shooter doesn't know how to work. If you're wondering why I've not mentioned the use of flash, it's because flash isn't allowed in the pit, and only really powerful professional strobe equipment is even remotely effective from any further away. Your little flash is not helping you from where you are, and in fact, it's probably overriding your light meter and preventing you from getting pictures. In the next column, I'll discuss how I choose a shooting position and how I approach composition.
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