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bagpusses
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Posted: Tue Sep 27th, 2005 10:54 am |
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Hello All,
I have been invited/demanded by my friend to attend his gig this Saturday night and get some band photo's down for their biog.
I have absolutely no experience of photographing people, portraiture or otherwise. I have always been involved with Landscape/urban landscape photography.
I am, it has to be said, a little nervous as the band and my friend will be expecting good results and I really don't want to disappoint.
Unfortunately, I am unable to view the venue beforehand as it is in Manchester and I can't get there until the night, so I'm not sure about the lighting, but I'll assume it will be subdued-indoor lighting. I want to shoot in black and white.
I am very fond of the old blues photographs, where one musicain is highlighted under a spotlight and the contours of a harmonica and their face can be seen, but mostly just varied dark tones.
How would I achieve such an image? And what film, equiptment and techniques could you advise that may help in this kind of environment?
Any suggestions would be VERY greatly received.
Cheers.
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bagpusses
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Posted: Tue Nov 1st, 2005 12:17 pm |
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Wow, thanks for the enthusiastic response! 350 views and no advice.
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admin
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Posted: Wed Nov 2nd, 2005 01:42 am |
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see this thread it may help
http://forums.photographysites.com/forum10/230.html
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MarkMarek
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Posted: Tue Jan 24th, 2006 07:51 pm |
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Hi,
I only just joined forums and I realize that this comes late. I was wandering though how your gig went, how did the pictures turn out, etc.
I do professional live band photography big time and my work is on websites of many famous bands. If you'd still require advice I'd be more than happy to assist. I might be too late though.
Some of my band photography can be found on my personal website --> http://www.markmarek.com/
Mark 
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bagpusses
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Posted: Wed Jan 25th, 2006 09:21 am |
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Gig was a failure. I couldn't push the film far enough and most of my shots were obviously from lack of experience. The band didn't use them, which is a real bitch because they're just starting to take off and it would've been a good route in for me.
Your site is amazing. You've got quite a portfolio of kick-ass bands going on there. What film do you use for the black & white shots if you don't mind me asking? Or are those digital, I expect they'd be digital.
Thanks for the reply by the way. It had been ignored for about 5 months. 
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MarkMarek
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Posted: Wed Jan 25th, 2006 06:42 pm |
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Hi,
All pictures you can see on my site are digital. I switched to digital almost 3 years ago (bought my 10D as soon as the model was released) and has been shooting digital since. My 2 Mamyias were sold on eBay and I practically gave them away (which I regret to this day), either way, I only shoot digital these days and I don't think i will ever go back.
I never used to do live shows like that when I was shooting film, but since 10D has very grainy pictures at higher ISO I always keep it down as much as light permits. I was only in need of 800 once, that was a concert of the band playing scenic music and they had the whole stage show going with virtually no lights on, just jugglers swirling fire.
Right now that I've been doing band photography professionally for 2 years i already have good grip and there's barely a situation to surprise me. Good fast lens is a must though for this type of photography. You wouldn't get too far if your lens' lowest f number is 5.6. My most used one is 70-200mm f/2.8 IS, but I also have a prime lens - 50mm f/1.4 which I often use for live shows and at times I want a wide angle so I have 16-35mm f/2.8 on hand as well. In general I set my camera to a reasonable speed (at least 90) and wait for the spot light to hit the person and I snap it right there. There's going to be a spot where you need it at some point of time, and that's my secret of getting these pictures done. It's similar with the full stage shots - I wait for the lights to illuminate audience. - that's much nicer a picture than darkness where the crowd is and the stage bright lit.
I'm sorry to hear your pictures didn't quite turn out. failure is not a rare occurance in this business and it shouldn't turn you down. I would probably end up in a similar disastrous situation had I been asked to take pictures of someones yard, or architecture for the town or so. It's not as simple in photography as some might think. Every cow used to be a calf and so even the best master photographer was useless at some point of time. I had photograph many many bands at their live gigs. Many had someone there, someone who must have been a friend and had some experience with photography and was asked to take pictures by band member. Later on I get contacted by the band and asked if I could provide them with pictures because their friends just didn't turn out. And that all fine. I know not everybody has $15 000 photo gear to be able to achieve good results in difficult situation (low light and fast moving people on the stage) plus it takes some time to get it right even if gear is right. And I've been doing it for a long time and many, many gigs each week. There's far more of it than I could put on my website. And believe me, my first gigs were a disaster too
Mark
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carmen917
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Posted: Sun Jun 15th, 2008 05:46 am |
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| i specialize in band photography for my boyfriend is a musician. the best way is to try to capture them when the stage lights hit just right, its a matter of timing, talent, and the motive to capture the image, live band photography is tricky but can be done with practice
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