How’s it going everyone? My name is Ace Wheelie and I’m the sole owner and photographer of Wheels of Rock Photography. I have been photographing bands for the past 5 years along with other sorts of photography but my heart and soul still lies with concert photography. I have shot in bars and much large venues. I haven’t quite got the credentials for stadiums and arenas but I’m working on that. With my experience I’ve learned a few tips that has helped me to get the best images so I figured I’d share some of them with you so let’s get started.
Tip #1 COLOR BALANCE – This can be a very difficult thing to work with when shooting concert photography. It all will vary on your venue you’re shooting at such as clubs, bars, stadium, or arenas. So how can we combat this? Well theirs a couple things we need to know. First is the sort of lights that get used at various venues. Your cheap lights that get used to light bars, clubs and small venues are usually just tungsten lights with a thin colored paper filter to give the variety of light colors we see for the shows. The other kinds of light we see are very similar to LED lights which most of the time are colored bulbs. You’ll see this at larger venues stadiums and arenas and every now and then I will come across smaller venues using them but it’s uncommon.
Now he’s the tip, if you’re dealing with a smaller venue with the tungsten lights you’re going to deal with a color temperature closure to 3000-4000 kelvin, which admits an orange hue despite the color filter over the light. If you’re dealing with the LED kind the color temperature will be closure to 5000-6000 kelvin, which admits a blue hue despite if they are using colored bulbs. Our eyes tend to adjust automatically for that but our cameras are not that smart so we have to pick a white balance that is going to even things out. So here’s how I handle it in the simplest terms because I don’t using custom white balance.
Tungsten lighting – use tungsten white balance preset
LED lighting – use daylight white balance preset
Most of the time this is full proof but some times you may get an image or two that may be quite blue or quite orange but that’s an easy fix in any editing software such as Adobe Lightroom
Tip #2 ISO SETTINGS – This is something that I always see other concert photographers afraid to experiment with. You can’t be afraid to put it at 1600 – 6400 range. Yes the higher you go the more noise you introduce to the image but that’s an easy fix with the amazing noise reduction software out there. I personally LOVE Adobe Lightroom 4’s noise reduction but if for those severe cases I will use Photoshop and a plug-in from either Nik Software, OnOne, or Topaz Labs. Each one makes an amazing noise reduction plug in so take your pick, I personally prefer Nik Software’s Define 2. The settings I use again it depends on the lighting but more on the amount and the strength of the lights. The more the lights the lower you can have your ISO the less you have the higher it needs to be but my settings always stay between 1600 and 3200 and every now and then I will push it to 6400 but I try not too
Tip #3 APPERTURE – This is another important factor when shooting shows that is really purely based on taste. It comes down to one thing. To BOKEH or not to BOKEH. If you don’t know what BOKEH is it’s the blurred circles that form when you’re using a lens with a big aperture like 2.8 or 1.4.. Now some people swear by always using an aperture of 2.8. In my opinion a couple things come into factor. 1 is the lighting strong enough to use a smaller aperture and 2 Do I want everything sharp or do I want BOKEH. This is where the creative artists in us come out. But if I can boost my aperture to make sure I can get more sharpness I will. Plus when you are using an aperture of 2.8 you have a small window of opportunity to get the band member sharp and clearly in focus which leads us to my next tip.
Tip #4 SHARPNESS & CLARITY – This EXTREMELY important! Probably the most important part in my opinion! Now don’t get me wrong. You can still have a lot of BOKEH but your subject matter MUST be sharp! The sharpness draws the attention to the subject makes the image much more impactful. There are a number of ways to increase the sharpness but the Raw image still needs to be pretty spot on to begin with. Now to increase sharpness and clarity I tend use Lightroom for most of my sharpening and clarity, especially if I’m editing a ton of photos. That way I can a make a preset and apply it to all the images at one time instead of doing each individual image. I think I’d gouge my eyes out if I had to edit 700+ photos one at a time hahaha. Now if I have a photo that really stands out and will most likely become a portfolio piece I will put it through some further editing and sharpening in Photoshop which opens the flood gates to different kinds of sharpening which I’ll cover in another tips and tricks.
Tip #5 RECOMMEND EQUIPMENT – This isn’t necessarily a tip or a trick but I thought I’d cover the lenses I use and recommend for beginners. First up is the common Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8. This is a great lens for pretty much anything and is probably my most used lens. It’s nice and sharp at every stop and every focal length but any zoom lens between 24mm and 75mms will be great just make sure it has a static aperture of f/2.8. Next up is the Canon 70-200mm f/4 L. This is by far the best telephoto lens I’ve used! It’s successors the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L and Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 II L and both are VERY heavy lenses and if you’re trying to be quick to get that drummer flipping sticks you can’t be weighed down by a bulky lens so I chose the f/4 cause it’s MUCH lighter! My third lens in my arsenal is the amazing and infamous Nifty-Fifty. The Canon 50mm 1.8 is a must have lens in any photographers bag of tricks! It’s always super sharp! I tend to use this if I’m focusing on one member of the band that way I ca get the sharpest image. Finally is what has become my favorite lens, which is the Tokina 11-16mm 2.8. It is a very wide-angle lens and is used to be able to capture a wide angle of the stage so I can get all the members, especially if they are all very wild on stage!
Well That’s all the tips I got for now but I will be doing plenty more so keep an eye out for them and keep those cameras clicking and never hesitate to send me an email at Ace_wheelie@wheelsofrock.com for any questions or more in depth explanations. But for now I must get rollin’.
~ Ace Wheelie
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Ace Wheelie's Photography Blog 