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Shooting Musicians
I want to shoot some musicians this year. Probably I'll start with a couple of co-workers, but I'm really interested in doing some live performances.Which of course can mean low light. I have done only a few musician shots, and they were more like portraits. There are three in my portfolio. I mainly work on the business side of the movie/video camera business. I have access to that sort of gear, but I need to re-equip my stills gear after selling all my film stuff and taking a break. So, the question is, if you've shot musical performers, what did you absolutely need? Specific flash gear? Favourite lenses? I know Canon better, but I'm very open minded. All digital now though. Techniques that work well for you? Dealing with geting good angles where the subject is elevated? Hillarious stories? Anything you're willing to share... Thanks. Jan 19 07 09:43 pm Link
Post hidden on Feb 08, 2013 04:21 pm
Reason: other Comments: Anonymity request of quoted poster Jan 19 07 11:03 pm Link
Post hidden on Feb 08, 2013 04:22 pm
Reason: other Comments: Anonymity request of quoted poster Jan 19 07 11:06 pm Link I have gelled my flash to match the lighting. I used a Sunpack 611 The venue had a second floor balcony type arrangement and I used a longer lens. The bands were my roommates and a good friend so I didnt have the horror story and I got to hang with the band. LOL Jan 19 07 11:16 pm Link Mr Anthony wrote: now THAT'S funny Jan 19 07 11:25 pm Link My first time shooting a band. 17-50/2.8 1/60 second curtain sync on both camera and speed light speed light set at 1/8 power or so for fill.   Hair flip   Jan 19 07 11:31 pm Link
Post hidden on Feb 08, 2013 04:22 pm
Reason: other Comments: Anonymity request of quoted poster Jan 19 07 11:36 pm Link Retro Photo wrote: Yeah, having been in many bands over the years, I can tell you those guys work as hard or harder than you for very little money too. 95% of bands are perpetually broke. Its a miserable market unless you swing with the big boys. You might as well be a rock star yourself because precious few photographers get access to the top guys who actually pay for their pix. Jan 19 07 11:39 pm Link Other than shooting Hank Wiliams Jr. for a Washburn Guitar Catalog I have only shot the local bar bands. If you are shooting bands to make money I hope you like Top Ramen! I don't shoot bands anymore. I've shot a few, the key is to get paid WHEN YOU SHOW UP WITH YOUR CAMERA!! I always make it clear that I will reshoot if there are no good shots but put cash in my hand or I am going home. Live stuff is fun but hard to shoot. I would get an old 35mm slr and a 50 1.4 manual focus, they are very affordable now. Nothing fancy, I do like a split image in the center of the screen. There are films with a higher ISO than digital. Shoot a roll of color and a roll of black and white, hand them to the band and go home with your $100. They will kick out the bass player and ask for a reshoot if you try to sell them prints like you might with civilized people. Or just use the snapshots their buddy took. Hardest one to get is the drummer, they hide behind all their gear. Just walk right up on stage and shoot him. Or stand on a chair. If it is a rowdy crowd you will need to be careful. If someone bumps into you, body slam them back into the mosh and then go to another spot before they come back for revenge. I used to use a Nikon F and I never had to split anybody's skull with it but it is nice to know that you could! I would rather shoot them at one of their practices, you can get a couple of those yellow 500 watt work lights for $20, it is all they deserve! By the way, played professionally for 20+ years. Had a lot of fun, met some sweet ladies (too many of them were other men's wives tho) and made a few dimes. I got some good tear sheets in the local paper. If I had to do it all over again I would pass on shooting bands. Have fun!! Jan 20 07 02:34 am Link Retro Photo wrote: Thanks, everyone for these cool and very informative answers. This is something I'm interested in for fun, and not that I'm counting on to make money. You guys have some awesome band and concert pics. I have restarted learning bass after an extended break, and it gave me the idea to do some of this. Jan 20 07 02:52 am Link They think that singing into a microphone makes it look like they are singing instead of giviing a blow job or honking horns like a trained seal Snap them out of it Jan 20 07 02:54 am Link Excellent example of a blow-job shot. Craig Thomson wrote: Jan 20 07 02:55 am Link trying to get musicians together for a shoot is a nightmare. solo artists are cool & easy, though. Hope you're cool with weed... a  Jan 20 07 02:57 am Link Hope you're cool with blow jobs and very phallic symbolism. Ashley Barrett Photo wrote: Jan 20 07 03:02 am Link here's one of my shots from completing some concert work. I guess I must have been lucky because there was no three song minimum for me. I was right on stage and was there the entire night.  Jan 20 07 03:19 am Link ok... so when i was to take photos at a gig i quickly realized, that using the lightmeter is damn hard when u have lights everywhere in all colors and constalnty moving and musicians running all over the stage, so i simply switched to all manual mode, set some aperture (i guess i didn't care much which one was it... ) and had some fun with the time values ranging from 1/8th to 1,5s i guess, with the flash firing when the shutter opens. I didn't even have a dslr at that time.... now i would do the same thing more or less, of course with a better flash and some wider lens. Watchout for ur equippment, i had my camera accidently kicked a couple of times by some stagedivers (and yes, i was on stage at these moments) :>       Jan 20 07 03:20 am Link Is it sick of me that, everytime I see this thread, I immediately think of John Lennon...and the fact that Yoko was standing right next to him and didn't get even ONE round? -Major Jan 20 07 03:22 am Link Prodigal M wrote: Don't do that. What if the band becomes famous? You just lost thousands of dollars selling those early images to the major magazines. Even if they don't go anywhere they could use it on merchandise. They pay the people who make the stuff, so why shouldn't they pay the people who make the artwork? Jan 20 07 03:36 am Link I've heard the same things from other band photographers which is why when I do it it's just for fun. I usually just shoot wide open with a Nikon 17-35mm f2.8 lens, which usually gives me a shutter speed of slow... Actually, usually around 1/20 or so. I try to avoid using a flash, but the last time I shot a band I used it and the shots turned out rather well. I do recommend dragging the shutter in order to capture the ambient light, although your shutter speed will be quite slow. If you do use a slow shutter speed wait for those moments when the performer pauses their movements. This is a shot I took of Aesma Daeva in 2005 (a local symphonic metal band); there was no flash used on it:  Here's the stats: Taken on 3-26-2005; 1/60 sec, f2.8, ISO 800, 35mm Jan 20 07 03:44 am Link i know this is a lucky shot of carie under wood! except i have another 400 of them from the same concert so maybe not so lucky. i had first row tickets(thanks to my fiances dad) then the security gaurd i was talking to befor the concert grabed me and said no cameras and put my in the buffer area between the crowd and the band where the other professionals were shooting and i i took this and the others images with my cheap p&s fuji s5100. i was just there enjoying the concert with my fiance but hell if i get the chance like this im taking it and my gf got in with me ................. lol the show was awsome and i got some good images  Jan 20 07 03:50 am Link Use fast glass-I use a Nikon 1.8 50mm with an ISO at least 800. I also use a monopod so I can move around for great angles and reduce camera shake. AND DON'T USE FLASH, IF YOU DO MAKE SURE YOU GET PRIOR PERMISSION FROM THE PERFORMERS. FLASH PICS WASH OUT ALL THE GOOD COLORS, LOOK SNAPSHOTTY, AMATEURISH AND PISS PEOPLE OFF. And it's true musicians are pretty flakey close to models in flakiness. At least half of them won't pay for pics and the best way to get any money is to get paid the night you photograph them and burn them a cd and be done with it. It is a big pain to get them to meet you a few days later to view the pics-alot of NO SHOWS. The good thing about it is it's good photography practice, gets me into alot of live music and comedy venues free and maybe one of them will get famous and hire me for their 100,000 audience gig someday.     The Elvis Tribute Artist, Jason Netherton, in the above pics is the best Ive ever seen and he's in Kelowna Canada lol. He is one of the few that paid and you can see a bunch of my pics in his gallery at http://almostelvis.ca Jan 20 07 04:01 am Link Jan 20 07 04:50 am Link |
