Concert photography is fun and rewarding, also a great way to learn low light photography. I started concert photography in 2008 by going out to small pubs and clubs, afterwards I made my way up to shoot in bigger venues like Horden Pavilion (Sydney, Australia).
My interests in concert photography started in 2005, when I saw my first live concert by my favourite band Oasis. I was amazed by the stage setup and how the stage light can set the mood of the song. After that night, I wanted to experience more live concerts.
First advise about concert photography is don’t expect to be paid. I started out going to small venues and being a contributor for online music websites. The organiser/management lets you enter the venue for free (sometimes you will get a plus one ticket, to bring a friend). This works out as your payment for your service.
If you’ll like to do this as a professional job and get paid, you’ll have to find a company to work with.
Once you understand about giving your free photography service, lets begin the tips for shooting in concert photography.
Taken with 50mm f/1.8 lens. ISO: 800. Shutter: 1/100sec.
Taken with 35mm f/1.4 lens. ISO: 800. Shutter: 1/100sec.
First, 5 rules to follow:
1. NO FLASH
I can’t empathize this enough. Make sure your flash is turned off. You don’t want to blind the musician and annoy people around you. In smaller venues, I’ve seen people use flash and was pulled aside, then told off by other photographers/staff.
2. Three songs time limit
In most venues, you will have a time limit to take pictures during three songs. Afterwards you will be asked to leave the photo pit. Make sure you have your camera setting correct and lens cleaned because when the performance starts you won’t have time to change things around, besides adjusting the aperture and shutter speed.
3. Be nice to each other
While inside the photo pit, please don’t push and shove other photographers. You are all there to do the same job and take pictures. I like to enter the photo pit first and stand in a spot I want and I stay there until the musician comes on. If there’s less photographers around, feel free to move around to get a better camera angle.
When you go around to other venues, you may encounter the same photographers. So be nice to each other and you might make a new friend.
4. Don’t annoy the musician and crowd
The photo pit is located between the musician on stage and the crowd behind you. Just do your job; take pictures and leave. Don’t try to touch, talk or get the musicians attention.
You may be required to take photos of the crowd, then you can take pictures of the crowd before the performance starts.
5. Carry a small bag
During larger gigs, the photo pit can get crowded. Other photographers will move from one side to another, so you may get bumped around. It’s best to carry a small bag, for you to move freely.
I always carry a small messenger camera bag with me everywhere. I would store my camera body with 2 lens, spare SD card and cleaning cloth.
If there’s space, you can tuck you bag somewhere but I never liked the idea of someone stealing my bag or getting stepped on it, which is why I prefer to carry my bag.
Love it when the musician looks into your camera 💗 Taken with 50mm f/1.8 lens. ISO: 800. Shutter: 1/80sec.
Now that you understand the rules, we can move onto the camera settings:
Camera
You will need to invest in a DSLR camera. Canon and Nikon is more common but there’s other options like Fujitsu and Sony. I went with Nikon because I liked the feel of the button and body. Before that, I did play with a friend’s Canon camera but I didn’t like it as much. My first camera was a D80 (and still my favourite camera), later on I upgraded to a D610.
The main thing you need to look for is a camera that will produce less noise at a higher ISO levels. Your main focus is to shoot in the dark with minimum light.
Lens
In the small to medium size venues, in my kit I always carry my 50mm f/1.8 and 35mm f/1.4 lens.
The main thing you need to remember is: the smaller the aperture number on your lens, the more light it will allow to enter into the camera.
I started out with the 50mm f/1.8 lens. When you have saved enough money you can invest in 50mm f/1.4 or 35mm f/1.4 lens.
Setting up ISO
Depending on the camera you have will determine how high you can set your ISO.
The higher the ISO number is, the more noise (grainy look on picture) you will encounter in your picture because your camera is letting less light into the camera for the exposure.
I recommend setting the camera’s ISO from 1250 and change it depending on the stage size and camera body. For example, my started camera D80 was a basic camera, so would set ISO to 800. Any higher and my pictures would have too much noise. But with my next camera, D300s it’s a better camera body and I can push the ISO to 3200.
Shutter speed
I like to start my camera’s shutter speed on 1/200sec. When the musician starts playing you can adjust the speed as you take pictures.
You don’t know what will happen until the show starts and you have to consider many factors like the stage lights and how close or far you are from the stage.
Camera Settings
Always shoot in RAW. When using a photo editing software it will help with the process and you'll have more capability to edit the picture.
I like to shoot in continuous mode/burst mode. The time frame given to take pictures is short and it’s best to take as many pictures as you can before you have to leave the photo pit. As you’re using a digital camera you can take as many pictures. When it’s time to edit the pictures you’ll get a few blurry shots but there will be some clear pictures too. I love it when I’ve captured the musician looking into your camera or doing different expressions.
Also, never use auto mode. You’ll need to use manual mode, so you have full control when you’re changing the aperture and shutter speed.
Stage lights
When the musician starts playing different colour lights will be on. There will be white, red, blue, yellow and other colours. The worst colour is red and second place would be blue, but don’t be afraid to take pictures. Just keep on shooting! It will be worst if you miss out on good pictures because of the lighting. If you have set your camera to take pictures in RAW you can edit the colour balance later.
Taken with 35mm f/1.4 lens. ISO: 3200. Shutter: 1/30sec.
Taken with 50mm f/1.8 lens. ISO: 800. Shutter: 1/60sec
As a final review for this post, before I start taking pictures I make sure I have the correct settings. Below is a summary of my recommended camera settings:
Make sure flash is off!
Use manual mode
Make sure your lens is on auto focus settings
Set your aperture to the lowest number
Set shutter speed from 1/200sec or faster
ISO is 1250 or higher (depending on the camera you use)
Make sure burst mode/continuous is on
Most organisers has a deadline for you to give the photos to them (about 1 to 3 days turnaround). Taking the pictures is the fun part, but editing can be daunting. I enjoy editing part because when you have a three song limit, you don’t notice the small things because you are too busy taking pictures and there’s no time to look at the preview screen all the time. It’s nice to find the hidden gems, like when the musician looks at your camera <3
Another thing I enjoy about concert photography is watching the musician grow. You see them start out in small venues, then they start playing in bigger venues. It’s nice to see when a band is still together before they disband.
I prefer to take pictures at the medium size venues because it is less crowded with other photographers in the photo pit and you have the freedom to go away between performances. When you go to the bigger venues with the popular musicians, sometimes you need to follow the organiser around between each acts and have less freedom to roam around.
My experience with concert photography has taught me how to take photos without using flash and even to this day, it is how I prefer to shoot my pictures.
If you’re based in Australia and want to get started, you can google around music websites/communities on who accepts contributors. I use to take pictures for fasterlouder and inthemix but as of 2018, the company has now been rebranded to Junkee.
Thank you again for reading this post and I hope this information helps you with your journey with concert photography.
