Taking Photographs Guide: 1. The Band Photo
Over the next few weeks I’m going to go through a selection of photography use cases, starting with the band photograph.
Everyone likes taking photos of bands, it captures a real moment of energy, but it’s a notoriously tricky place to get a good shot. Hopefully the following will help you work out the kind of camera you want to get the results you’re after.
The Band Photograph
The angle
Angles are important in band photos. There’s often more than one person on stage and you will want to do 2 things.
1. Capture the whole band
You’ll need a wide angle lens for this, something like 18mm. Most compact cameras go this wide and most dSLRs come with a wide angle kit lens so there’s not too much to worry about here.
2. Focus on the main performer
It’s easy to forget about the band as a whole so I always start with the wide shots and then start my close up work. I usually use a 105mm lens. It gives the freedom to do mid range shots but is fine for closeups so long as the stage isn’t too far away. You’ll obviously need a telephoto lens for this.
The rules of shooting will be reasonably similar in wide and close angle work in a gig situation so let’s go through the process:
Setting up
There are 3 important variables when taking band photos. They don’t always apply when you arrive at the gig but they always need to be considered at the preparatory stage.
1. The constant
As you work you’ll need a constant. That is to say, a setting that never changes. Some compacts and virtually all SLRs allow you to change all of your settings. The constant at a gig is shutter speed.
Set your shutter speed to 1/60th of a second. You’ll need it to be this fast for telephoto work as anything slower will amplify the shaking of your hand. A 60th is also good for capturing motion in the band members at wide angles but fast enough to get a crisp shot of a singer at their microphone.
With this constant in mind we work in the other settings, with the end goal being a correctly exposed image.
2. Light
As I said earlier, light is something you need to plan for. It is always a good idea to research the venue beforehand, look at their image gallery to see what kind of light is likely to be available. Then expect them to have forgotten to hire a lighting technician or that they decided to go for a dark, moody set the one night you choose to take photos!
At best expect the light to be changeable.
If you want to be safe, and also to get some great results, pack a flash. If you’re using a compact you’ll have one built in. If you’re using an SLR you can get a hotshoe-mountable flash. I highly recommend one with a pivotable head. You will want to bounce the light.
For non flash work you will now need to determine a balance between your ISO sensitivity and your aperture.
3. ISO and Aperture
As discussed in my Digital Camera Video ISO determines the sensitivity of your camera’s sensor to light and aperture determines how much light is let in through the lens. The trade off is graininess at high ISOs and a shallow depth of field at wide apertures.
Having a wide aperture is going to be fine for the close up shots as you don’t need anything in the background. With this in mind set your aperture as wide as possible. My 105mm goes to f2.8 so that’s what I use.
Now that we have 2 settings we need to determine the 3rd, ISO.
This is easy now. Just look at the scene through your viewfinder and adjust the ISO until you are correctly exposed.
You’re now ready to start taking photos. I hope the band are still playing!
Taking the Photo
How you take the photos is up to you. My advice is to get close. Get closer than anyone else. Don’t be afraid to intrude. These people are performers, they want to have their photos taken and people want to see those photos!
What you will need to do as you work is watch the light. If it’s changeable you’ll need to be prepared to adjust accordingly. If it’s static look for the interesting shot. If it’s too dark to get a decent picture use it to your advantage. Look for what’s called ‘rim lighting’ and set your camera to expose for that. The result will definitely be interesting. It will reveal form and features through shadow and I guarantee you you’ll be the only person with a sharp photo that night.
When you’re taking wide angle shots you might want to try increasing your ISO and your aperture. That way you will get the drummer, who is always tucked away at the back, in more focus. If you ever plan to sell your images to the band make sure you get lots of the drummer! Drummers always get missed out and they’ll be very pleased to see you’ve snapped him or her.
If you’re using a flash you can bring your ISO down. Point the flash at the ceiling but pick where you stand. Lots of venues have strange black ceilings or piping for their air conditioning. All of these things will cause you to either lose light or get a colour cast in your photo. The latter isn’t much of a problem as you can correct it at a later date or just work in black and white but make sure you’re not wasting those precious flash batteries by firing it into a ceiling cavity!
There’s nothing left now but to get out there and start snapping! Look for interesting angles, try and be different, be aware of your surroundings and your settings. Get to know your camera and the nuances between the way the settings interact and you’ll have a very satisfying evening.
Recommended Cameras for Band Photography
Compacts
Canon Powershot G10
Nikon Coolpix P6000
With vibration reduction to help stabilise the shot, a full set of manual functions and high ISO ranges the Nikon P6000 and Canon Powershot G10 are the compact gig cameras of choice. They’re both robust enough to put up with anything and have proper viewfinders. Using the viewfinder helps stabilise the camera further as it’s close to your body and rested on your face instead of at arms length. Both cameras also come with hotshoes totally freeing you to experiment with an extra flash. Both have bright lenses at f2.8 and f2.7 at their widest and have good telephoto zooms at 140mm and 112mm respectively.
dSLRs
The K200D is an excellent starting dSLR. It has vibration reduction built in to the camera body itself which means that you don’t have to pay a fortune for expensive VR lenses. Pentax have a vast range of lenses, almost all of which will work on this feature packed entry level dSLR.
Built on a legacy of prosumer camera ranges that made headlines years ago with the D70, the D90 builds on and expands with a sturdy body and VR lens ranging from 18 to 105mm, perfect for band photography.
Over half of the photos on this article were taken with my old D70. It’s still going strong!
Next week… The Portrait
Tags: band, camera, compact, flash, guide, photo, photography, shoot, slr, tutorial
Blog posted on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 4:55 pm under Cameras. Leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.
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