Emmett Lollis+Concert Photography Tutorial by Emmett Lollis Jr.
About this Photography Tutorial
Among the different types of photography one of my favorites is concert photography. From the energetic local artist to the awe inspiring national act, this is one of the most rewarding of photography styles. This tutorial is designed to give you the basics you need to get started with concert photography. The tutorial covers a wide range of subjects, from technical aspects of getting the right exposure, to general tips on ways to capture the moment in various conditions such as low light and fast action. This tutorial also covers the basics of getting your foot in the door at your local venues.
Part 1 - Getting your Foot in the Door
 Scott Weiland of Velvet Revolver. Settings: ISO 1600 f/2.8 1/100 |
The first challenge to concert photography is getting into the venue in the first place. You aren't going to be able to just walk right in to that Aerosmith concert with your 20D and expect to be met with open arms. The best thing to do is start off local, you have a few ins that you can go with. A good place to start is by talking to some bands. Most local acts are more than willing to allow you to take some concert shots, of course they will want copies of any good shots you get. Another avenue you can take is through the venue itself. This is a good way to build your portfolio, you also gain the advantage of learning their lighting setup which will have a major impact on your work. Going through a venue will also open up the possibility of access to regional and national acts when they happen to show up there. Another road to concert photography is through editorial channels. Editorial photography is good exposure for both the band and the venue, you also get the added benefit of them knowing you're not just going in there to get some money shots to sell off. This brings me to another point. Don't get into concert photography for the money or you will be sadly disappointed. Bands are very protective of their image and their trademark, this is why its so hard to get in to the show in the first place. No one wants you free loading off their image. Concert photography is however, a good way to get noticed and build your portfolio.
Part 2 - Photography Equipment
 Todd Lewis of The Burden Brothers. Settings: ISO 100 f/2.8 1/200 |
The equipment you choose is up to you but I have a few recommendations. For local and regional acts a good choice is to go with a wide angle to medium telephoto zoom. My lens of choice is the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8. Even if you can't afford a good zoom be sure that the glass you get it no slower than f/2.8, remember you are working with very little light at concerts and anything slower will force you to underexpose a lot of shots. If you're on a budget a fast 50mm prime is a good starting point but you will find that you can get a lot better composition with the freedom to zoom. For tighter shots a good prime is the EF 85mm f/1.8. It's one of the sharpest lenses I own and its a good choice if you can't get access in front of the stage. Once you move up to bigger shows a good 70-200mm zoom makes an excellent choice, I use the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS. The image stabilization is a great benefit to low light photography, you can get the equivalent to 2 stops of extra light. Whatever brand of camera you choose be sure it has a manual mode, this is very important as you will see in the next section.
Part 3 - Technical Aspects of Concert Photography
Now that you've put all that work into getting access to the concert it's time to take some photos. There is one little problem though.. Someone turned out the lights! Over time, the lighting at concerts will become a major pet peeve for you. Each venue will have its own setup ranging from virtually no light to a lot of lighting from the back to decent national act lighting that includes that nice spotlight giving you a chance to take a real picture. No matter what you're presented with at an indoor concert you will need to bump up your ISO to 1600, this allows you to capture as much light as possible. You will find that even with this fast of an ISO you will end up pushing up the exposure on a lot of shots in post production. You really need to use manual mode in concert photography, its a lot more reliable than the auto settings for the lighting situation. In concerts you will find that the bright lights behind the performer tend to throw off the exposure on auto settings. I highly recommend using a digital SLR for concerts since the exposure is so crucial, you really need to check the results in real time. For settings you want to get as fast of a shutter speed as you can to stop the motion. Try for 1/200 or 1/250 if you can get away with it. In some cases you may need to drop down to 1/100. I'll go over some tips for slow shutter concert photography in the next section. I set the lens to the fastest aperture as well, f/2.8 in the case of most of my lenses, then adjust the shutter speed according to the amount of light there is to work with.
Part 4 - Techniques for Low Light Photography
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You will undoubtedly find yourself in a myriad of situations during the course of a concert shoot. Here are a few tips and techniques to deal with them. The first situation we will go over is when you just don't have the light for a fast shutter speed. Lets say there is a guitar player doing an awesome solo, one problem, someone forgot to light that part of the stage! When lighting demands that you step down to 1/100 shutter speed its time to get creative. In this situation you definitely aren't going to be able to catch a moment with the artist running across the stage or jumping in mid air without having an unacceptable blur ruin your shot. The technique I find most useful in this situation is to anticipate when the performer is going to stop, when they're still and you have a steady hand, chances are you will get a good shot. Over time you will even notice that some of the better acts have learned the power of the pose and will literally strike a pose just for the cameras and hold it for 2-3 seconds several times during a show. Now on to capturing the action, lets say the venue you are at actually has enough light to get away with 1/200 to 1/250 shutter speeds. Now you get the chance to capture that once in a lifetime shot of your idol stage diving, doing back flips or whatever his trademark stunt is. Don't get so caught up in the action that you miss those candid poses though. This leaves us with the most important part of good photography, no matter if its concerts or portraits you want to frame the shot right. That picture you have of your favorite guitar player in mid air isn't going to do you much good if you don't have the right parts in the picture. Remember, if there's a lot of action, shoot wide because you can always crop later. That being said, when the action slows down don't forget to get some close ups. Close ups not only give you a more intimate view of the artist but they have the added benefit of getting rid of distracting backgrounds.
Summary
Well, I hope this tutorial has shed some light on the ins and outs of concert photography for you. If you're interested in some of my concert photography, feel free to visit Tulsa Rock 'n' Roll.
Article by Emmett Lollis Jr. February 10th 2005
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