Taiwan indie singer Crowd Lu on stage. Lu won Best New Artist and Best Composer at the 2009 Golden Melody Awards in Taipei.

You have three songs. Sometimes two. No control over the lighting. So how do you get great shots during a live concert? Start out with your camera set to RAW, meter set to spot and white balance on auto and a fairly high ISO.

Before we continue, professional photographers as well as those who aspire to be shouldn’t miss out on portfolio consultant Selina Maitreya and her audio series The View From Here. It’s available at a 50% discount using the code FOSCFI.

As you take your place in the photo pit, shoot a quick test shot. Spot meter the singer’s/guitarist’s face and shoot a test exposure based on that. Check the LCD screen image and histogram, watching out for blown highlights in the important areas (and what’s important will largely be up to you). Adjust as necessary, and lock the settings in. Shooting manual is easiest for consistency. As the stage lighting changes, make any adjustments necessary. Something like f2.8 and 1/250 is a good combination to start from.
That’ll keep you covered for your basic exposure. You’re going to want to decide on some settings in the first few seconds of your allotted three songs and try to avoid changing them too much. Each second spent changing settings is one less second shooting, and when you’re only in the pit for ten minutes, every second counts. When you do need to change settings, you need to know how to do it quickly. The photo pit is not the place to discover that the new model of camera you’re using has it’s ISO button in a different place than the old model. It is essential that you can change settings on the fly, without needing to look for the correct button. Practice at home in a dark room or with a blindfold first. Know exactly where each button is, and how to adjust be feel only. Decide on whether you want to set your camera to change in full stops, ½ stops or 1/3 stops and make this consistent with all your bodies.

View of the crowd from the side of the photo pit at an Oasis concert.

Shoot a lot. Make sure you have plenty of memory cards and also that they are all preformatted and ready to go. Ensure that spare cards are easily accessible – you don’t have time to search through your bag to find a new card. I use a Black Rapid RS-5 strap that has a useful pocket that I can store spare cards in. I know exactly where they are and can pull them out instantly when necessary.

I’ll look at composition tips, dealing with stage lights and more in a future post.

That was the 55th Daily PhotoTip. If this post was useful to you, why don’t you subscribe to my feed, leave a comment and share it with your friends. You can also get access to exclusive content and special offers by subscribing to my newsletter. Sign up today. Thank you.