Three Tips for Low Light Concert Photography
Music is one of my other main passions! Taking photos at a show can be a little intimidating because of the unpredictable lighting and the crowded environment. This fall I decided to bring my professional camera to a show at a small local venue instead of just using my phone. I wanted to find out what worked best. Flash generally isn’t permitted at concerts so besides that what else can be done to properly expose images in low light? Concerts also usually have a lot of movement so your shutter speed will need to stay in the 1/200th of a second range. So that just leaves three things. Below are three tips I have found really help in creating the best images in low light concert situations.
Cheers and happy shooting!
Shawna
Use a full frame camera. These have the larger sensor. These are also called FX or full sensor cameras. The larger sensor is going to have an easier time focusing in low light resulting in sharper images. Worth it!
Use a prime lens. Prime lenses have the capability of a wide open aperture of F1.8 or F1.4. Say you have a 50 mm prime lens with and aperture of F1.8 and a 24-120mm zoom lens with an aperture of F4. Which would you choose? It’s nice that the F4 lens can zoom without needing to change lenses however F4 is not going to let in enough light to get the proper exposure. Also a lens that has a wider aperture is generally a higher quality lens which will also help create better images. If you can bring two lenses to a show, I would suggest a 35 mm F1.8 and an 80 mm F1.8 so you get some wider angle shots and closer shots to the band. A lot of times I will just bring my 50 mm F1.8 as a good in-between size and then you can crop later.
Don’t be afraid to up your ISO! The newer full frame digital cameras can handle the higher ISO without creating a worthless grainy photo that those of us who started in film are afraid of. I have upped my ISO to 4000 to bring in more light to the exposure. This allowed me to keep my shutter speed fast enough to freeze motion. A lot of times a blurry image is just not properly exposed so don’t be afraid to up your ISO! Plus you can always de-noise the image in post if you need to.
Richard Haig performing at The Knockout in SF