Gig / Festival Photography - hints?

kully

kully

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Hallo,

Rather elated at the moment, managed to get a photography pass at a 3 day festival/rave here in England. I didn't lie about press affiliation or anything.

Hopefully this will be the first one of many during the summer.

Would anyone like to share hints and tips? I'm wondering how I'd meter for stages (it's a techno festival) &c.

I'm also having a wander about which kit to take

Cameras
M2, M4-2, Bessa R2m, Bessa R2a, IIIa

Lenses
Heliar 50/2, Nokton 50/1.5, Nokton 40/1.4, Skopar 21/4, Jupiter 85/2, summitar, coll. summicron.

Film
Superia 400, Velvia 50, Provia 400F, PanF+, HP5+ (OOD), Neopan 1600...

Lots of things to decide - should give me something to think about on the way home tonight.
 
I shoot at a lot of gigs in small venues. In low light, 1/30 or 1/60 at f2.8-f4.0 at either ISO 800 or 1600 (depending on light) seems to generally work out, but often the stage is well enough lit to use much faster speeds. Longer exposures can give some great effects though. If it's a bigger event you will need a long lens, the longer the better, distant people on a stage are usually boring photo subjects unless there's a back projection or a light show.

Take a hand held meter and do some incident readings if you can. Get near the front. Move around as much as you can to vary the angles, take some shots of the crowd.

Olympus 7070 digicam. 400 ISO, slow synch flash:

st5.jpg


Olympus 35 RC, Tri-X pushed to 1600:

nww5.jpg


Ian
 
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like ian, i tend to be more in small intimate venues where the artists aren't tiny figures on a far away stage. i'm amazed at ian's results with his 35RC, it never crossed my mind to take it to gigs as i just assumed the lens was too slow. i did take my yashica GSN recently though and it did beautifully even in very dim red light.
 
For this kind of job, I'd grab an SLR with long lenses and fast film... very fast film, given that SLR zooms tend to be on the slow side.

But then, that's what I'd do. Good luck and enjoy the experience! 🙂
 
At first glance I would take both the Bessas one with the 21 Skopar and the other with the Nokton 50. I would load both up with the Superia 400 and keep a couple rolls of the Neopan in the bag for when it gets dark.

The Bessas are metered, taking two bodies one with a wide and one with a normal will allow you different composition options without the hassle of changing lenses.

The Superia will give you usable color with wider latitude and the Neopan could come in handy for those 'late night' shots.

I would add a small flash for fill lighting in bright daylight, and lighting in darker situations if needed.

It should still be a fairly light weight kit that you can carry around all day.
 
Thanks for all the advice so far. The excitement is dying down a bit now and the practicalities are creeping in.

Ian: I have an incident meter, which I'll be taking.
SolaresLarrave: I'll be able to get very close to the stages/DJs so I won't need very long lenses (if I even had them 🙂 )

kmack: That's what I'm thinking film wise, however the Provia 400F pushes quite nicely... And I've never shot Velvia and am wondering whether it would enhance the tripped out day-glo of costumes and scenery.

Lilin: I saw some of your photos - cool!
 
kully

Try and get access to musicians when they are practising or even relaxing, if they get big an informal shot could be really money in a photo agency.

The groupies wanns see flesh, not hear the music...

Noel
 
Cheers Xmas, that is what I was thinking, I won't be able to compete with the 'proper' photo people with their huge lenses and flashes at the press pits.

And thanks too memphis, I was wondering if/when you would post - I've been studying your previous gig posts and gallery 🙂 If I shoot colour film, should I use a colour correcting filter or just sort it out later (if at all?).
 
My choice for typical rock gig is Fuji Press 800 - pushes well to 1600, though better overexpose a bit then underexpose...great colors and general performance.
I did quite a few rock gigs on mid and small venues, but all were in-house, i.e. under roof, crazy dynamic lighting that swings around in all imaginable colors and intensity, spots, you name it...indicent metering would make very little sense if any at all, the only what could work (IMHO) - an immediate spot metering with proper adjustment which isn't the case of RF (I shot with Canon pro SLR and f/2.8 lnog zoom).
I'd say RF have clear egde over SLRs (aside of heft, size and intimacy factor) if you have an access to stage itself or very close to one so that reliable focusing and frame-filling with 28-50mm lens is possible, though 90mm lens may also count however bears slow focusing which may impair your abilities if the performacne is dynamic enough. I can image off-stage shooting and behind the scenes may also benefit from RF merits with fast film.

I wouldn't bother with any slide film at all, IMHO, fast and good color negatives are so much easier to work with in such demanding conditions. Having said that, for a classic-type performance (Jazz or similar) I would certanly go with pure B&W though, perhaps Tri-X pushed when needed...

just my 2 cents...for what it worth..
 
I'd like to second memphis' advice: Do not drink overly much. I photographed a gig recently and somehow, accidentally, I got a bit over-indulged in substances and as a result, the latter roll of film was ruined. And I splashed some sugary drink on my zoom lens 😱. Fortunately, it wasn't destroyed. Just got a bit sticky. 😀 But the stickiness is gone by now, phew. 😱
 
Thanks memphis and POSTI, unfortunately I cannot moderate only abstain... However I have trained myself never to lose cameras, no matter how legless I get....

I think this may be the first time I stick to bottled beer and soft-drinks 🙂
 
Kully

How do we explain Simon's bag, it must have exited the pub via the entrance that you were at... Suggest you need a tea shirt.

'my camera is not digital please dont steal, I am generous to beggars and ...'

Noel
 
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