Need some help taking photos of a low light live gig!

hmsq · 20-05-2007, 3:46 PM

Hi guys,

Pretty new to taking photos with my new canon 400d, use/d Casio es-600 for all my photos, but now got invited to a friend's gig and i would like to take my camera along and take a few photos tonight.
But i'm a bit clueless as to what setting to use, i really hate using the auto setting as i want raw file to mess about with afterwards, and i want to have a better look to the image, that says i took it and not the camera(if you know what i mean).
Got myself a book, still reading through it but if any one has some settings/tips they would like to share, it would be really appreciated!

Hugo

hongkonguk · 20-05-2007, 4:24 PM

I was in a similar situation a few weeks ago. I used my 350D with the kit lens. I shot it in aperture priority with the aperture at it's widest and the ISO ramped up to 1600 so I could get the fastest shutter speed I could. I did shoot in jpeg though as I only have a 2gb CF card and wanted to shoot as many frames as possible and the 350D only lets you take a few shots before the buffer is full.

The only other help I can offer is to take earplugs! (seriously,my ears were still riniging 3 days later!)

The results of my efforts (mediocre) can be found on my flickr pages,link in sig.

hmsq · 20-05-2007, 4:49 PM

thanks shall try that, although i got 8GB CF so should be ok for RAW!

Any issues, taking them without a tripod because of shake?

hongkonguk · 20-05-2007, 5:24 PM

Will you have room to set a tripod up? I know I didn't! Because of the shutter speeds I was forced to use shake and motion blur were present in most of the shots I took. I suppose a lot of it will depend on the venues lighting though.

Just go,give it a bash and have fun!

hmsq · 21-05-2007, 8:43 AM

Well that was a total fiasco, it seems it wasn't yesterday the gig but next sunday!

At least gives me some time to prepare!

Thanks for the tips by the way!

ginger113 · 21-05-2007, 10:19 AM

I did a mate's gig a couple of months ago, and took a monopod. With my Nikon D200 and kit 18-70 lens, I was also 1600 iso. Suffered very badly as it was heavily underlit for the camera. Shooting black and white faired better. The downside of the very slow shutter speeds is not so much camera movement, but the actual band members' movements lead to a lot of unusable shots. Ended up using the onboard flash in the end, to at least give frozen movement within the blur. Had more 'effects' shots than any good band portraits. It definitely does depend on the venue and their lighting state.

ginger113 · 21-05-2007, 10:23 AM

I forgot to mention, the gig I referred to was a small pub venue affair, so nothing on the scale of your pics, Hongkonguk, which are great. Good for you having a stage, let alone a fair few watts of a lighting rig! Mine was just one heavily gelled parcan to light everyone! Like I say, depends on the venue!

hmsq · 21-05-2007, 11:18 AM

I should have said before mine, is in a pub so no stage! its a kinda pub/bar low light so i was thinking of taking black and white shots, because in that setting i think it would look great!
If i remember last time the gig there is no space for a tripod or monopod, so have to use my arms as support! And hope for the best!

Checking your photos

stevegreen · 21-05-2007, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hmsq

I should have said before mine, is in a pub so no stage! its a kinda pub/bar low light so i was thinking of taking black and white shots, because in that setting i think it would look great!
If i remember last time the gig there is no space for a tripod or monopod, so have to use my arms as support! And hope for the best!

Checking your photos

Colour or black and white will make no difference to the shutter speeds etc so it's always better to take in colour and convert afterwards, especially in RAW. Tripods and monopos won't make a grfeat deal of difference either as they are purely to support the camera at longer shutter speeds or at times where you are panning (monopod).

You need to be aiming for as fast a shutter as possible to freeze the action and not get motion blur on the subjects, that will mean high ISO and wide aperture. You will only be able to do what your lens will allow so shoot at the widest end (to give a wider aperture) and crop if you need to in post processing. I wouldn't worry about using ISO-1600 as the 400d gives perfectly useable results at that level, though if you do crop you will obviously notice it more.

When I took pictures at the recent Homegame festival (Pics on my Flickr) I used ISO 1600, wide aperture and then underexposed by a stop just to get a decent shutter speed. You need to aiming for about 1/50 at least to get good results, anything lower and you need to choose your shooting time to one of little movement