Music Photography Tips

I often get asked to give tips on how to get photos at gigs when you're only allowed a point and shoot camera with you.  I thought that I should write these down and add to them when I think of others.

With a point and shoot camera you have two initial disadvantages. The first one is zoom capability the second is aperture. You will (even with a good light show) be working in a low light environment.

Ideally you need to keep your aperture wide open to make the most of the available light. In the case of most point and shoot cameras the aperture won't be constant across the zoom range. Therefore to maximise your chances use less zoom. Now as a result you need to be nearer to the action and unless youhave accreditation you won't get into the pit at the front of the stage.

If you are near enough, you can use flash however you will probably not get the effect you are after. Most professional gig photographers won't use flash (and most gigs specifically exclude its use ("three songs no flash" is a mantra often used by PR people)).

So working on the assumption that you aren't using flash and because you need to maximise your zoom range, how can you hope to get a half decent shot? The first thing to do is to change the metering on your camera. Whilst it may look like a good light show as far as your camera will see it there will be a lot of black and the camera is likely to over-expose the artist to pull the whole scene into correct exposure. Therefore, set your metering to spot if you can and centre on the artist that's most important (i.e. main singer or lead guitarist, whichever is your preference).  Try and meter on skin rather than clothing, especially if the clothing is very dark or very light.

As I mentioned earlier you will often be working with your lens fully open and as a result you will have a narrow depth of field. It's therefore important to ensure your focus is precise on the main musician. If your camera has the facility, try to set a minimum shutter speed 1/60 or 1/30 depending on how good you are at holding your camera steady. Also remember that your subject is moving, so using a tripod won't help nor will making the minimum too long. Try and anticipate light changes and the actions of the person you are photographing. Try and get them at a point when they are still. i.e. a guitarist as he holds that high note or singer holding a long one to minimise blur.

The next thing to consider is ISO. As you are working in low light and need to keep shutter speeds up to prevent blur it's likely your camera will compensate with higher ISO settings. Whilst this is a good thing (mostly), High ISO brings more noise particularly in cameras with small sensors as found in most point and shoot models.

Don't fight ISO too much, it's much better to have a sharply focused image with some noise than it is to have a blurred photo that's more clean.

I started my career by getting acceptable shots with point and shoot cameras and using these to convince magazines and websites to put me forward for accreditation. I still use some of those shots in my website gallery so don't feel like you can't get good music photography with smaller cameras.

Good DSLRs will allow you to have higher ISOs with an ability to make noise less of an issue. A Nikon D90 with 50mm f1.8 is a good starting point if you get serious, however most gigs will need you to get accreditation with any DSLR but that's a different subject. and a topic for a different day.


Roger Goodgroves
www.goodgroves.co.uk