LESSONS LEARNED: ‘CONCERT PHOTOGRAPHY’

I have shot a few performances now for my friend’s band KAOTIC CONTROL.  They have all been fun experiences.  I mean you get to take images and enjoy awesome music at the same time.  They were not all flawless experiences though.  There are a few things that I have learned while shooting them that may be of help to people out there.

• GET PERSONAL – Learn the names of the band members.  When you arrive, introduce yourself with a handshake and use their name.  “How ya doing? I’m Brandt.  You’re Mike right?”  This may be a small thing but it is crucial in opening the door of access with the band.  They will be quicker to open up to you.  If you don’t think so then think of it in reverse.  You respond more favorably to people that use your name as opposed to “hey you” right?

• DO YOUR HOMEWORK – Scout the venue if you can.  Find out where the band is going to perform.  See what kind of space you will be working with.  Check out the lighting.  If you can’t scout the venue see if someone can provide you with that info.  I made this mistake the first time I shot the band.  They were playing a small bar and I brought a 70-200mm with me.  It turned out I was 3-10ft from the band all night and the 70-200mm was not the right tool for the job.  Do your homework, you’ll be thankful that you did.

• PLAN FOR THE WORST – So you scouted the place and see they have tungsten lighting, but when you arrive the place is super dark because they are having a special “candle light” night and the entire place is lit with only candles.  What do you do?  Plan for the worst.  Always bring the fastest glass you have.  I have a 35mm f/1.8 that goes everywhere with my.  It has become my “OH SH*T” lens.  When all else fails I open that sucker up and fire away.  Plus the short depth of field is an added bonus.

• LEARN THE BAND’s TENDENCIES – One thing I noticed with KAOTIC CONTROL is that they usually play 3 sets a night.  The bar is packed during the 1^st set.  It thins out a little during the 2^nd set.  By the time the 3^rd set comes there is plenty of room to work with.  So I work the wide and specialty shots early.  Then later on I have enough room to get closer and work tight.

• INTERACT WITH THE BAND – Due to the small sizes of some venues, I get fairly close to the members when shooting.  At first they always look at me strange because I have invaded their personal space.  The last thing I want is for them to freak out.  So I usually give them a thumbs-up or a nod to reassure them that they are doing great and I like what they are doing.  This usually provides them with comfort and they can focus on singing/playing and not on worrying about the camera guy.

• DEVELOP A GAME PLAN – This will take time to create, but come up with a plan for the shoot.  Shooting the same band over and over can become boring quick.  So make a list of certain shot that you want to try that night.  Change things up.

• HAVE FUN! - If things get a little overwhelming for you, take a deep breathe and remember this.  DUDE, YOU’RE PHOTOGRAPHING THE BAND! HOW COOL IS THAT

AN “INCREDIBLE” WEDDING

This past weekend I attended my cousin’s wedding.  The wedding was wonderful and lent itself to the opportunity to capture some wonderful images.  However, there was one big problem…

You see, a little while back my cousin asked if I could take some pictures during her wedding.  Nothing special or outrageous, but just a few mementos from a professional would be nice.  I was excited to do so.  However, upon arrival at the wedding I realized that I had left my DSLR at the hotel (30mins from the ceremony).  There was no going back for it.  What was I to do?  I had just committed one of the cardinal sins of photography.

After calming down, I remembered those famous words said throughout the photography community, “The best camera is the one that’s with you.”  So I pulled out my new HTC Incredible and captured images with that.

There was no learning curve for me.  I had to get acclimated with the interface fast!  I was surprised by the amount of settings that could be adjusted on this device.  You could change the ISO, METERING, and WHITE BALANCE.  This was pretty impressive stuff.  I made the adjustment quickly and was able to capture some nice moments for my cousin.

“WHO SAYS YOU CAN’T COME HOME?”

Not me! As far as I’m concerned, Bon Jovi can come home as often as they want.  For those of you that don’t know, I am the cliche.  I’m the typical home-grown Jersey fan-boy.  I was born and raised down the shore.  I love Bruce and Bon Jovi.  I’m not goo-goo for gaga crazy in love like some OK, I may have a little man-love for Tico . However, seeing these artists perform for their home crowd is an awesome experience.

Also, this was the first time I got to see the new Meadowlands Stadium.  This place is cool.  I can’t really explain what makes it cool though.  Maybe its the bars in the mezzanine.  Maybe its the kick-ass coaches club underneath my section that had Air-Conditioning.  It could also be that when you are down on the field or lower level, the stadium feels like it towers over you.  The place just has an awesome aura about it and I cant wait to see some football games there this fall.

Back to the concert.  I was very surprised that security let me in with my DSLR.  Especially since it had the Nikon 70-300mm lens on it.  But, they said, “go right ahead.”  So I did.  My seat was located in Section 113, Row 13.  For those of you without a seating chart, this is the level directly on the 50yd line.  The stage was setup in the end-zone to our right.  I had a pretty good view with the naked eye.  I knew that the 70-300 was gonna yield some good results.

Speaking of gear…. This is what I packed.  I had my Nikon D5000, the 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 lens (rented from Lens Rentals), 2 batteries, and 2 8GB SanDisk Ultra cards.

I learned this next lesson when shooting my friends band a while back (pics here).  Spot Metering is your friend. This was especially helpful from my vantage point.  I was just far enough away to capture some ambient stage lighting.  By using Spot Metering, the camera exposes just for the subject’s face and ignores the ambient lighting.  If I wanted to take a wider crowd shot, i would just change to a different metering mode and switch back when I zoomed in tight.

When your stuck in one seat the entire show, you can find yourself easily taking the same picture over and over.  I tried to change this up by taking horizontals, verticals, 45 degree angles.  Sometime I would take pictures of just the big-screen and the crowd. Other times I would take pictures of the artist and the big-screen.  I kept trying to get creative with composition. If you don’t, the night could turn very repetitive quickly.

I often I had to remember to enjoy the show.  I would force myself to put the camera down and enjoy the show.  I wasn’t there on assignment.  This was a fun night out for me and I wanted to enjoy it.  The show was awesome!  They played for 3hrs.  They mixed it up with fast, slow, acoustic songs.  They played old and new stuff.  It was a great experience and by using the tips above, I came home with some great pictures too!

LESSON LEARNED: Golf Outing

I’ve decided to start a new series here titled LESSON LEARNED.  It is going to be a series of posts based on the lessons learned through my photography experiences.  It’s not necessary going to be about just mistakes made.  It will also contain suggestions for how to obtain better results the next time around so that maybe you can benefit from my experiences.  You can find my first lesson below.  Enjoy

LESSON LEARNED: Golf Outing

I shot my company’s golf outing earlier this week.  I started shooting at 10:00 and needed to be done by 2:30.  My requirements were to get group shots of all the foursomes and get Candids as well.  This doesn’t seem so tough.  Here’s the thing about the group shots.  You gonna be setup at a Tee for a couple hours to take the shot of the groups as they come through.  I was informed that the best place for this was the 10th hole.  So this meant that I had to wait for the groups to get to the 10th hole.  I took a few Candids between 10-11 at the clubhouse.  At 11:00 I grabbed a cart and went out to the course to find the 10th hole.  I arrived about 10 minutes before the 1st group arrived at 12:00.  So from 12-2:30 I was stuck doing group shots.  This left no time for Candids afterwards.

So the lesson learned here is to take the group shots as early as you can.  In hindsight it would have worked out better to take the group shots on the first tee from 10-12:30.  This would have left me with plenty of time to drive around and take Candid shots on the course afterward.  Plus I wouldn’t have felt so rushed at the end of the day.