[VikingPhotography]

My last gig shoot of November was just a few hours ago; the Pussycat Dolls were playing at the Glasgow SECC with Rihanna as their support act - talk about the crowd getting their money's worth!









These represent some of the 'average' shots that didn't make the grade for going to the agency, though personally I still like 'em

[P-E]

Nice shots.......not a bad little job you got is it

[Dave]

Decent set of shots. How do you meter for concerts like these, where lights are flashing/moving all over the place ?

[Angela]

I can't see the pictures for some reason. Anyone else have a problem?

OK forget that, can see them now

[skipper954]

Good shots, but I would have liked to see their feet (no, that is not a fetish - I don't think).


I would be interested in how you metered, too, and how you got to do such great gigs!

skip

[VikingPhotography]

Metering: shooting a concert is usually about being in full manual mode and reacting to the light. As a baseline, I start with ISO 500, f/2.8 and 1/125 second exposure - which is good enough starting point.

You really need to chimp the first few frames you shoot, checking the histogram for blown highlights. I shoot RAW mode only for gigs since I can recover about 1 stop of blown highlights and I prefer to expose to the right anyways.

If the lighting gets really bright, then I'll adjust either the shutter speed (1st preference) or aperture value (2nd preference) to suit. The fingerwheel on the front of my D2X controls the shutter speed and is thus the easiest parameter to change on the fly.

Regarding not getting feet in shot: well, that's the issue when the subject you're shooting is a few feet above you and the stage has monitor amps and footlights blocking a full view. If I can, I'll do my best to position myself or my camera inbetween these obstructions but sometimes that's simply not possible. Last night was just one of those occasions.

To overcome this, I might stick my camera in to closest object focus priority mode, hold it at arm's length above my head and hope for the best. The results from this method are quite hit-and-miss since you're never sure what the lens is pointing at and you have no control over the focus - but it's worth the chance sometimes.

As to getting access to these gigs: I started out in December of last year by calling round some of the national newspapers to see if they had photographers covering certain gigs. If they didn't have a shooter there, I'd ask if they wanted some freelance shots on spec. A few said okay and I applied for accreditation stating that I was shooting for publication X - a fact that would be backed up by that paper's picture editor.

I didn't always get a sale from this method but it did get me the necessary experience and confidence to continually shoot live acts - not to mention a portfolio that was steadily growing.

After shooting a few gigs I got to know the folks at the Page Ranking firms and record labels whom routinely arrange the passes and therefore knew whome to speak to for which act. Now that I shoot for one of the largest photo agencies in the UK, selling my shots after a gig isn't something I need to worry about anymore.

Gig shooting is a 'pressurecooker' environment for photographers: you don't have the cooperation of the subjects, you have very limited time to get the shots and you have absolutely no control over lighting, which is often wildly variable. I firmly believe that, if you can handle gig photography and get decent results, you should be able to turn your hand to any other photographic subject without too much trouble - except perhaps combat correspondence

[Dave]

Thanks for sharing those tips VP. So what % of keepers do you get from the night ?

[VikingPhotography]

Dave;

Last night I took 450 shots between two bodies. 343 of these were with the wide angle lens, and the rest with the telephoto. Bear in mind that I was shooting two acts almost back to back.

Out of these, 40 shots of PCD were selected for wiring to my agency, and 22 of Rihanna. Those shots represented the very best pick in terms of subject, lighting, focus and composition - around 14% of the total shots taken.

Bear in mind that I was shooting in bursts at 5fps owing to the very dynamic nature of the PCD on stage; it's a bit like shooting sports insofar that the simplest way to nail "the" shot is to shoot a burst of four or five and then cherry pick the best one.

If I'd shot in single servo mode, I'd have taken a lot less less shots but possibly had a lot fewer keepers as well. I was doing the best I could to keep my eye on six different performers at once and that's no mean feat Of course the majority of shots were of Nicole Scherzinger (lead singer) since that's what the rags and mags look for, but I tried my best to mix them up as best I could.

[skipper954]

Amazing stuff....thanks for the insiders look into the genre.

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[Rob Barron]

Thanks for the details you have given there Viking, very informative and helpful. Have a rep point :o)

Cheers,
Rob :o)

[VikingPhotography]

Thanks Rob

Just got word that one of my agencies got pics from this gig placed in the Daily Record and the (cough) Daily Sport (cough) as well

'Tis all good though, since one rags money is as good as the rest of 'em!

[Rob Barron]

Originally Posted by VikingPhotography

Thanks Rob

Just got word that one of my agencies got pics from this gig placed in the Daily Record and the (cough) Daily Sport (cough) as well

'Tis all good though, since one rags money is as good as the rest of 'em!

I agree, don't bite the nad that feeds you. One exception though: I would rather be hanged by my toenails and dismembered