Gig photography

In about a month im shooting my friend playing at the carling academy liverpool

Does anyone know what focal length would be best for the gig? Ive only shot much smaller venues before.

I was looking at the 50-135, but having seen the exif data of a popular photographer here in liverpool, he was shooting 30-40mm, which seemed odd to me. Perhaps the 16-50 would be the best option?

Im looking to buy a better quality fast lens anyway so it doesnt matter much about price, I was already torn between the 50-135 and 16-50.

If I am shooting indoors, Its always the 16-50 with either the Metz or Pentax flash

Why would you think it odd :

Ive always heard the gig lens was the 70-200
on aps-c thats 50-135 equiv.
the carling academy is a full size venue, one down from arena.

[quote:3496ace15f="ikillrocknroll"]In about a month im shooting my friend playing at the carling academy liverpool

"so it doesnt matter much about price" Lucky to be minted

Maybe have a think about fast primes, maybe Limiteds as you can usually gain a stop or two over zooms. Some of the bigger venues you will probably need to run highest ISO and lens wide open.

Good luck and enjoy.

When I say it doesnt matter about price, I was already saving for a £500 lens, and Pentax dont make much more expensive than that

Primes = no
Gig photography is one situation where you need to zoom, and you cant change lenses.
Well I have before but thats because ive been allowed on stage and to store my equipt on top of amps etc
Itll be dusty anyways

And bigger venues have better light, so infact its alot easier
Ive shot 2000ISO before with the K20D and the shots came out great.

I shoot indoor gigs with a 27-50mm Tamron & found this range ideal for small gigs like the Academy as opposed to the larger arenas & festivals where I would recommend the 50-135mm. I have used a 70-200mm at a festival & found the 70mm end too long for wider stage shots.

I use a Samsung GX20, fortunately I have not had need yet to shoot higher than ISO1600

Lots of links to my work on my site www.garystafford.co.uk

Gary

I have been shooting gigs for a while, and I can honestly tell you that a PRIME lens will give much much better results than a zoom. ANy zoom.
Last night I shot a little venue with the 31mm and the 50mm. THe speed is incredible compared to zooms, and the IQ is absolutely superb.

Anyway, it really depends on how big the place is, and how far away you are from the stage, and how much you can move around, and how many other photographers you have to fight with.
In your situation I would suggest the 16-50, and then something a bit longer, as you will want the odd 'solo artist' shot. POssibly something fast that you could use without flash. A 77mm would be good, but (depending on distance) anything between 70mm and 200mm would be ideal.
Remember that big group shots are not necessarily what the band wants, and thats why using primes is not a big issue. Its probably worth considering your movement around the stage, and getting as close as possible to the musitians in order to take their head-shoulders portrait.
Other thing. Flash is almost essential, and with a powerful one you can get very good action shots at rather fast speeds. Don't forget though that the atmosphere of the live concert matters, and the lights, and colours that naked eye can see, are certainly more interesting than a direct flash. So try and shoot with slow flash, a monopod maybe, or a prime without flash, (at least for some of the shots, after you've got the correctly exposed ones with low ISO and flashpower) and give some feeling to your photos.

Hope this helps,
Nathan

If you have 'been asked by a friend' to shot his gig then I assume you will have pit/stage access.

It obviously depends on the size and of the pit but I find that my DA*16-50 is OK for the pit and f2.8 is sufficient for the light, and if its a small pit then it will be good for portraits too. With reasonable stage lights you won't need flash which would 'kill' the ambience anyway.

The pictures below were all taken last weekend with pit access, and when the action was close to the front sometimes even 16mm wasn't wide enough (see first pic where guitar and feet are cut off). Not necessarilly the best but do show the range that 16-50 is capable of (all resized from jpg no postprocessing - not done the 1500 RAWs from last weekend yet!).

If the pit is deep then you will probably be limited to shotting from the side of stage.

Bogus Brothers
K20D, DA*16-50 variable light levels so ISO 1600, spot meter from faces.







Drifters
K20D, DA*16-50 better light levels so ISO 400, spot meter from faces + 1/3 stop over expose to allow skin tone







Good luck and post some pics
Bob

Yeah when I say asked by a friend I mean, I have a photopass for the gig, Ill be in the pit
I have shot gigs before alot, just at smaller venues. (Mainly liverpool barfly if you know it).

I think the 16-50 will probably be a good decision.. we shall see.
Id never use flash, it kills the awesome lighting, and most of the time it isnt allowed (general rule, 3 songs no flash.. but ill be there for the whole time)

The tamron 28-75 would be another option, but the lack of SDM and weathersealing..

[edit]
I find 1600-2000ISO is probably the max Ive had to shoot so far, but the lighting will be alot better so I will be able to shoot 800-1250 probably

You really should have bought that 135mm I had for sale, easy to hand hold, fits in a pocket, very sharp wide open and it was very cheap, well I don't like to say I told you so but !

I used to do that sort of thing and flash often kills the atmosphere but it depends on the group. If it's say a punk or rock band then sometimes the harshness of the flash makes it more exciting and dramatic especially if it reflects off of all the silver of the drum kit & mike stands etc.

I'd say f2.8 lenses are the absolute slowest you should consider and only then if you can use them wide open with good results ( 135mm cough cough). I always found that my 55mm F1.8 or 50mm F1.4 were the most useful simply because you could use them at F2. The other two lenses I used a lot were an old screw mount takumar 85mm F1.9 ( favourite lens I ever had, it got nicked) and the M series 85mm F2. I also sometimes used a Tamron AD2 28mm F2.5 but not a lot.

One lens on the camera one in each pocket.

You lads are lucky, pushing HP5 to 1600asa was the best we could hope for and colour ? Forget it.

Anyway I'd say take the fastest you have and that would be an FA50mm F1.4 and use it at 1.7 or F2. I've never owned a 50-135 but if it's good wide open then it would be my 1st choice of lenses you can actually buy. If you're in the mosh pit however and need something wider I'd probably use flash and the 18-55 you have already.

Weather sealing ? I remember coming out of on "Big Country" gig, I think it was Tiffanys in Charing Cross, Glasgow and my Fujica (ST705) was white from the salt off my hands and my fingers looked like they had been in the bath too long. Weather sealing for gigs ? Who needs it.

I'm not saying I was any good and these are some of the first gigs I ever took pictures at but this is one of the gigs that my Fujica ST705 got white at. All I had then was a 55mm F1.8 Fujinon lens ( very good ) and a Tamron AD2 28mm F2.5. The Takumar 85mm F1.9 came later, it was my first bit of Pentax.

Big Country, Glasgow Tiffanys, August 1983, negs in a bit of a state now, reticulation from poor negative development, one of my first, a struggle in the crowd a few rows back but this is what I managed. I've never posted these anywhere, I've lots.


[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y102/buggerdefano/The%20Arts/GIGS/Big%20Country%20Tiffanys%20August%201983/wee/14-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y102/buggerdefano/The%20Arts/GIGS/Big%20Country%20Tiffanys%20August%201983/wee/23-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y102/buggerdefano/The%20Arts/GIGS/Big%20Country%20Tiffanys%20August%201983/wee/04-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y102/buggerdefano/The%20Arts/GIGS/Big%20Country%20Tiffanys%20August%201983/wee/06-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y102/buggerdefano/The%20Arts/GIGS/Big%20Country%20Tiffanys%20August%201983/wee/28-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y102/buggerdefano/The%20Arts/GIGS/Big%20Country%20Tiffanys%20August%201983/wee/33-1.jpg[/IMG]

I like your grain John.

This one was shot last night, and later processed to give a good film grain look.

Shot taken with 50mm f1.4 1/10 sec ISO 1600.

I don't like the photo itself, but I am very pleased with the result of the post production, as this was my main intent, I wasn't shooting the gig, I was there for pleasure, and only took a few 'artistic' shots.


[IMG]http://i517.photobucket.com/albums/u332/nathanever82/14.jpg[/IMG]

Artistic Nathan nudge nudge know what I mean. Seriously though it does look pretty realistic, I'd have thought it was film if you hadn't said. It's funny though, I used to try and spend all my time trying to minimize grain and here you are actually adding it. The world is a funny place.

What I was saying about flash though, this lot were a king of hard core garage/grunge/spaghetti punk band from about 1985 called the Nightcrawlers. Tiny back room of a pub, flash worked quite well here and of course makes sure everything is sharp which suits. When there is no stage lighting then you're not exactly ruining the atmosphere with flash.

[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y102/buggerdefano/The%20Arts/GIGS/Nightcrawlers%20Clowns/Untitled01.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y102/buggerdefano/The%20Arts/GIGS/Nightcrawlers%20Clowns/Untitled02.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y102/buggerdefano/The%20Arts/GIGS/Nightcrawlers%20Clowns/Untitled32.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y102/buggerdefano/The%20Arts/GIGS/Nightcrawlers%20Clowns/Untitled24.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y102/buggerdefano/The%20Arts/GIGS/Nightcrawlers%20Clowns/Untitled35-1.jpg[/IMG]

I would recommend primes! Get the shots you need first in available light then switch to the zooms and play around. Look at my site www.edstonephotography.com to see what I do