Lupe Fiasco at Northwestern University

Concert photography is one of the most fun assignments a photographer can get. It’s the best seat in the house, and you get to document it all. But with the wrong equipment or the wrong approach, bad photos can spoil your night.

There’s no doubt that concert photography is a difficult assignment to shoot. It’s dark, the stage lighting is constantly changing, and the band is always in motion. It’s enough to drive even the most seasoned professional batty.

While I can’t profess to be an expert at all things concert, I have had to shoot shows on occasion. Here’s how I get through the night and get shots that work.

Stumble It!

Bring the right equipment.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first: concert photography is difficult to do well on the cheap. The standard lens for most concert photographers is a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, typically with image stabilization. This lens is fast and offers a useful telephoto range, but it does so at a hefty price - typically retailing for upwards of $1500 depending on the brand. The Canon version is a typical example:

This lens is typically paired with a camera with strong lowlight performance and a fast frame rate. This typically is a mid- to upper-class digital SLR, which adds at least another $1000 to the cost. Even entry-level digital SLRs like the Canon Rebel XTi or the Nikon D40 are too slow and too noisy at high ISOs to be a true concert-photography workhorse.

That said, it’s possible to get strong results with cheaper equipment. What approach would a Cheapshooter take? A good setup for a beginner looking to get into concert photography would be a cheap digital SLR and either a 50mm or 85mm fast prime. These lenses offer the capability of shooting at a moderate distance for a much cheaper price. The flexibility of the zoom lens is lost, but it’s possible to compensate by moving yourself around to recompose the shot.

A wide-angle lens, like the 28mm prime that produced this photo of the lead singer of the band Cake, is typically less useful in concert photography, unless you’re able to get flush with the stage.

A wide-angle lens is usually less useful in concert photography, except for a few specific situations. If you have room in your kit bag, there’s no harm in throwing one in - it can occasionally come in handy for getting a both the crowd and the band at the same time or for getting a different angle if you’re able to get flush with the stage. Just don’t make it your primary choice.

Unfortunately, point-and-shoot digital cameras are typically ill-suited for concert photography. In most situations, shooting concerts well requires settings and apertures that most consumer digicams simply cannot support. It’s not to say that it cannot be done out of hand, just that the results may not be as good as you hoped.

Max out your camera.

Noise is an unfortunate consequence of maxing out your camera for concert photography, as seen in this 100 percent crop of the image of Lupe that led of this article.

Concert photography requires camera settings maxed to the limit. Since the stage environment is typically relatively dim, the camera needs to be set to admit as much light as possible. This means a high ISO and a wide aperture. I wouldn’t recommend dipping below f/5-6 for any sort of concert photography, and I typically have my aperture set to a much lower F/number, especially at telephoto range where camera shake is more of a problem. Dipping below ISO 800 is likely to introduce problems as well, and results are usually better at ISO 1600 or ISO 3200.

These settings don’t come without their sacrifices. Depth-of-field becomes very small, especially at range. Noise levels creep upwards pretty quickly as well, especially since concert photos usually have an abundance of darker areas. But typically these are necessary evils. Flexibility and speed are key for concert photography - everything else comes secondary. Pushing your equipment right to the limit is typically part of the job.

One other setting that’s important to keep in mind is the burst rate of the camera - how many frames per second it is capable of taking. Simply put, the more the better. Lights will swoop in and out throughout the show, changing your shot in a hurry. Get a fast high-capacity memory card, and keep your finger firmly planted on the shutter. More is always better.

Consider shooting in RAW

Complex lighting conditions can wreck havoc with your camera’s metering and white balance. Shooting in RAW allows you to correct some of the problem after the fact.

One of the most frustrating aspects of a concert - especially rock concerts - is that the coloring of the stage lighting is constantly changing. While setting manual white balance may be possible at classical recitals or other, similar types of performances, it will likely be quite difficult at a lot of shows. While you’ll likely sacrifice some of your burst speed by shooting in RAW, the flexibility to fine-tune white balance after the fact is well worth it.

Set your camera to spot meter.

Spot metering tells the camera to take an exposure reading from a very small part of the frame. Since lighting conditions are usually not uniform across the stage, this is an essential setting. Use the spot metering and meter right on the artist’s face for the most consistent exposure.

Be aware of time constraints.

If you ever obtain credentials to shoot a concert, don’t expect carte blanche access. Most bands I’ve shot have a strict, three-song limit for photographers. This doesn’t give you a whole lot of time, and security is unlikely to let you push it at all. You have to do the best with the time available.

Be prepared to set up and move in a hurry. Be aware of where all your lenses, caps and equipment are at all times - it’s easy to lose them in the dark. Make sure you can change lenses in a hurry, especially if you are using a variety of primes. Get your camera settings set before the show starts so you don’t lose any time.

Shoot at a variety of focal lengths

Shooting at 200mm enabled me to get this detailed shot of Lifehouse lead singer Jason Wade

One of the advantages of having a fast zoom lens or a collection of primes is that they enable you to capture a lot of different parts of the show. Don’t just settle for one shot - get a variety. Use something in the telephoto range to get tight on the singer’s face and capture some emotion. Get wide to get the interaction between band members. Zoom in on the guitar player’s hands. You only get one chance to be close - capture as much of it as you can.

I use a series of primes - a 50mm, 85mm and a 200mm, typically. My approach is to change lenses at the end of each song. This forces me to look for a variety of different shots in the limited time I typically have.

Shoot from a variety of positions.

Rapper Lupe Fiasco - shot from beside the stage.

Perhaps more than anywhere else, the temptation is always there to stick front and center at a concert. It’s the coolest place to be, but you may miss out on a lot of shots. Some of my favorite concert photographs have been ones where I’ve moved to the side of the stage, or even around back. You can capture a lot of different angles this way that make your shots more distinctive.

Backing up into the crowd and using a telephoto lens allowed me to include the hands in this shot of Lifehouse.

Don’t forget the crowd, either. After your three songs are up, it’s typically pretty easy to slip in with the fans and keep shooting. Once you have some solid shots, spend some time experimenting. Wedge into the front rows and use people to frame your shots. Get up high in the balcony and shoot down on the stage. There are a bunch of great shots from these areas, as well.

Organize and post-process.

Concert photography is tough, and post-processing can make a lot of difference. Your goal when shooting a show is to come away with a lot of different photographs from a lot of different positions. You want as broad a selection as possible, because there will be a lot of great shots that are inevitably ruined by an errant spotlight or a careless fan. Spend some time going through your memory card the day of the shoot and toss out all the losers, and then take the remaining shots into Photoshop or your own favorite graphics editor. Spend some time tweaking the color and contrast of the images, especially if they were taken in RAW. Tinker with shadows and highlights, and noise reduction may make a difference as well. Crop to remove dead space and eliminate distracting details. You’ll likely be able to create a stronger shot than what you got straight off the camera.

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