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I realized that theres alot of events happening in theatre or concert lighting, dim, visually exciting, but a nightmare to capture, i know that you guys have tried  it at one point or another, and i bet once you take a peek at the back of that LCD, things are not as exciting as it seems. After shooting quite a number of events in low lighting its my turn to share my half of concert photography, or low light photography. Now what seems to be the problem with most modes, Aperture, Programme, Auto, is that the in-built metering can’t accept the low level of light, so it resorts to using a very slow shutter to capture the image.And we know that people don’t freeze for your camera, so your end result is a blurry image of slush thats visually un-exciting.

Johan Collective goreng bai… image setting: Shutter 1/10, aperture f4.3, Manual Mode, Spot metering, 0.00 exposure compensation, ISO 1000

So how the heck can you freeze them, but get a bright enough exposure?

The first thing that comes to mind is a fast lens, well yes, but you cant call up Jessops or Calumet on the event day itself and order a lens can you? Well unless your Richie Rich,haha, lame joke. I’ve read that there is no reason not to get a 50mm f1.8 in your gear. A prime is indispensable in low lighting, its cheap at less than a hundred quid, with excellent quality optics. And in the world of photography not alot of things are like that. SO GET ONE! Other fast lenses are zoom lens, such as a 17-55 f2.8 or a 70-200mm f2.8, i know right? you wouldnt be able to pay a couple of months worth of rent! There goes a homeless photographer ; p

So what are the other options? well i used a nikon 18-200 f3.5-5.6, coz thats the ONLY lens i have after being robbed, to capture Estrella and 7 Collar Tshirt, i was high nervous that i was going to screw things up. I took a deep breath and rethought about how i was gonna do it.

1- Set metering to Spot Metering, as we want to get a perfect exposure of the person on stage, the rest of the lighting is unimportant coz their just lights. We want the exposure of the person to be spot on, without any blown outs.

2- ISO 800, or 1000 if your DSLR can control the noise, dont be afraid to crank up the ISO, a sharp pic is always better than a noiseless blurry image in my opinion. And they’re programs such as Noise ninja to remove those pesky noise in post processing.

3- Use Manual mode, now it may seen difficult at first, but its the best way to make a good concert image. Errr, so how exactly do i set it?

it all comes down to remembering a few important numbers, and adjusting it form there, so remember roughly that:

Shutter value 1/60, 1/80 is enough to freeze motion, with a bit of motion blur suggesting motion , while keeping the static parts pin sharp. Crank it up to 1/125 to freeze sports.

Aperture, id set it to the widest aperture possible, say mine is, f3.5, so you dont have to change it. Or if your lens has widest aperture f1.4, use that.

Duan from 7 Collar T-Shirt in his zone, camera setting: Shutter 1/40, Aperture f4.2, Manual mode, Spot metering, 0.00 exposure compensation, ISO 1000

So the only thing you have to worry about is the shutter value, start from the values suggested, and adjust according to light conditions,going up and down. constantly taking test shots and readjusting, in concert photography, time is crucial, and you’re not using rolls of film anyway, so shoot away mate.

If the event goes hella dark , you need to adjust the shutter to about 1/20, 1/10 or lower (slower)

if the event suddenly goes super bright, all the better, change it to 1/250, 1/300 or higher (faster)

So there you go, event photography is all about timing and light conditions, have a look through my  flickr photos and go through the EXIF data to know what settings i use for that particular image. Hope this was helpful and i’ll be waiting for your post on Lensa’s flickr. Till next time. Enjoi_learning.

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