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General => General Discussion => Topic started by: 2Timer on May 16, 2011, 03:04:29 PM
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I don't know if this belongs in the concert forum or not, but I'm going to see Moon Safari in a theater on Friday night. The venue says no flash photography, and I am not good at using my wife's camera. It's a Kodak Easyshare Z950.
Does anyone have any suggestions for which settings to use to get the best quality shots? We're in 10th row, so I should be able to zoom right up on their faces, but I don't know anything about the light settings and stuff.
Thanks in advance!
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Just take the pictures with flash. What the hell are they going to do about it?
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IMHO, either take a camera that can handle low-light settings, or just don't take any pics at all. The problem with flash in these things is, they only annoy people, but they don't improve the picture. The stage is too far away to receive any significant amount of flash light, and so all you get is whitened out people in front of you.
rumborak
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TAC is the master at taking pics at concerts. PM him. He may be at work so he'll answer you later.
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I've always had just a regular camera. I've always used a flash. Security shouldn't bother you. If you are worried about that, then learn to use your wife's.
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I do concert photography, imo flash makes just about every picture look junky. Therefor, for good concert pics you have to know the settings of the camera. For the low light of a concert, you're gonna need to crank the iso in order to get a good shutter speed to prevent motion blur. keep the aperture wide-open, and shoot away. shoot raw if the camera allows and try and adjust the white balance to a good setting if it does not.
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I honestly can't remember the last time I used the flash to good effect.
rumborak
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I do concert photography, imo flash makes just about every picture look junky. Therefor, for good concert pics you have to know the settings of the camera. For the low light of a concert, you're gonna need to crank the iso in order to get a good shutter speed to prevent motion blur. keep the aperture wide-open, and shoot away. shoot raw if the camera allows and try and adjust the white balance to a good setting if it does not.
Your advice sounds really cool. I'm going to play around with the iso and aperture things. What do you mean by shooting raw?
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Just take the pictures with flash. What the hell are they going to do about it?
+ 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
like they're going to do sh*t about it.
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Just take the pictures with flash. What the hell are they going to do about it?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverport_Riot
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Well, that's Axl Rose, I mean seriously.
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just watched the video again. Man, his singing sucked.
rumborak
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Well, that's Axl Rose, I mean seriously.
That dude is a joke.
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No..THIS is Axl Rose!
October 26, 1987
The Living Room
Providence, RI
(https://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z246/TACPics/Guns4.jpg)
(https://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z246/TACPics/Guns3.jpg)
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Just take the pictures with flash. What the hell are they going to do about it?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverport_Riot
Just watched a corresponding youtube clip.... what a tool.
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I do concert photography, imo flash makes just about every picture look junky. Therefor, for good concert pics you have to know the settings of the camera. For the low light of a concert, you're gonna need to crank the iso in order to get a good shutter speed to prevent motion blur. keep the aperture wide-open, and shoot away. shoot raw if the camera allows and try and adjust the white balance to a good setting if it does not.
Your advice sounds really cool. I'm going to play around with the iso and aperture things. What do you mean by shooting raw?
RAW is the file format. It's an extremely large file, which is a great thing. You can go into photo editing programs later and adjust things like exposure, color, shading...LOTS! The larger the file side, the more you can tweak it. If your cam doesn't do RAW, do the highest JPEG setting you have.
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RAW is my way of life. The flexibility you have with adjusting white balance alone is worth the large file sizes, plus it just looks better. I agree Rumborak, flash is something I never EVER use when taking a serious photograph. If a friend wants a quick pic with someone I'll slap on auto mode just to not deal with the hassle of any tweaking and live with the ugly ass flash.
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Just out of curiosity what kind of cameras do you guys use? I'm looking for one that can take good pictures and video (especially at concerts) but still small enough to be able to easily sneak into the venue. Any recommendations?
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Problem is, if you are looking for good photos at a concert you won't be able to find something like that in a point and shoot camera. DSLRs have the power necessary for live concert photography. I use an Olympus E500. It's actually a pretty bad camera for concert shooting, but I manage to make it work most of the time. Looking to upgrade, most likely to a Nikon in the near future. But as I was saying, little cameras don't have the power to work under low light conditions and still keep the picture noise free and clear. They're meant for, well, pointing and shooting applications.
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Depends on the people.
I know Mike Portnoy didn't mind, as he used a couple of my pictures on the back of the L2E2 disc.
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Thanks for all your help. I think they turned out okay, but I don't have a card reader, so I can't be sure yet. I'll post some pics if they're good enough.
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A lot depends on the stage lighting. Taking pics with flash sucks. You either get the back of the heads in front of you lighted, but besides that, almost no effect.
I hate people who use the flash all the time.
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A lot depends on the stage lighting. Taking pics with flash sucks. You either get the back of the heads in front of you lighted, but besides that, almost no effect.
I hate people who use the flash all the time.
By the way, it was the Moon Safari concert, and it was last night, and it was absolutely amazing!
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That's because Moon Safari rules. :hat
Still slightly OT: this I took (without flash): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkGfKK_994E
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Constant Bloom was one of their encores. It was flawless. All of their harmonies were. I didn't expect it to be THAT good.
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It is absolutely moronic that bands aren't cashing in on concert photography. Get 3 people with professional cameras, one in the middle the other two on the sides, take good pictures, and then give people a link to a website where they can buy good pictures of the concert they went to.
rumborak
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Hmm, for me it's a different animal looking at pics I personally shot and those of some other photographer. It's just not the same. My pics are MY experience of the show. Of course the other pics might be much better (like the ones of a friend of mine: https://www.progrockfoto.de/ ), but it's simply not the same.
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It is absolutely moronic that bands aren't cashing in on concert photography. Get 3 people with professional cameras, one in the middle the other two on the sides, take good pictures, and then give people a link to a website where they can buy good pictures of the concert they went to.
rumborak
Great idea, I think Vai did something like this. I would totally be a part of that.
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Just take the pictures with flash. What the hell are they going to do about it?
Eject you from the venue, that's what.
I saw several people get kicked out or damn near close when I saw Tool last summer. Sure, that's partly because Maynard is kind of a douche and implements this policy at every venue Tool plays at. But a policy is a policy, and the venues follow them.
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Hmm, for me it's a different animal looking at pics I personally shot and those of some other photographer. It's just not the same. My pics are MY experience of the show. Of course the other pics might be much better (like the ones of a friend of mine: https://www.progrockfoto.de/ ), but it's simply not the same.
This. Part of it for me is that I try my best to get good seats, and it feels good when people see pics you took and say 'damn, you had good seats!'
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Built-in flashes suck ass, that's true. But with a decent flash you can get great natural looking pictures. Not at concerts of course.
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It is absolutely moronic that bands aren't cashing in on concert photography. Get 3 people with professional cameras, one in the middle the other two on the sides, take good pictures, and then give people a link to a website where they can buy good pictures of the concert they went to.
rumborak
Rumbo, you're exactly right. Shit like this should be a no brainer. Even if they took shots from the first half of a show and made them available to the crowd before they left.