I suck at concert photography

[ebenbrooks]

I went to the Steam Powered Giraffe show in Balboa Park on Saturday with my sweetie (somewhat to make up for the fact that we missed their show at Queen Bee's on March 16th due to there being nowhere to park). I brought along my camera, got permission from the band to photograph them while performing, and proceeded to do so

Comments

[stellatangdele]

Practice makes perfect. At least you got a couple of good photos. I really like the one at the top.

I remember the professional wedding photographer we hired for our wedding took many hundreds of photos, only some of which were good enough for the album. I think when you have live, moving subjects you just have to snap a lot of photos to get good ones.

[ebenbrooks]

Yeah, that part I know. But when I have resources such as Steve Covault and Richard Rasner (both excellent concert phtographers) to call upon, why not do what the wise man says to do and learn from other people's mistakes? ;-)

But thank you. I am actually very pleased with the top photo, but it's about, oh, 10% of the original image. Fortunately I was shooting in VERY high res, so cropping to that size didn't make for a ridiculously small image.

[bluejogger]

When I took my first photography class, they told me that you will often get only one good shot out of a roll of a film. Remember, film, that expensive stuff? So yeah, not every picture is going to be a masterpiece

[ebenbrooks]

How weird. LJ ate my first comment. Oh, well.

Anyway, thank you for the stories. They actually do help. I know that posing a subject is a very different skill from capturing anything candidly, but ... well, I guess I was hoping that more of the skill in one carried over to the other. C'est la vie.

And yes, I remember film. I was shooting in film almost exclusively until December 2008, when I got my DSLR. If I do more shoots for the UnCommon Women project, they'll be on film as well.

And no, I'm not discouraged, but I am ... a bit disappointed. And I'm not sure if what I learned from this shoot is applicable to all concert photography or just to outdoor, "concert on the green"-type situations. Which is why I was hoping that someone with concert photography experience could help me. But thank you for the encouragement. It does help.

Not bad...

[niall_shapero]

My father was a professional photographer for much of his life. He was in advertising, but this is hardly the bottom end of the business; he would be quite happy to shoot a roll of film and get one or two good shots. I learned from him, and would expend several rolls of film to get what I would consider a good shot or three. Of course, this was over forty years ago.

With the newer digital cameras I'd expect to take even more shots, expecting to delete all but perhaps 1 in 30 or 40 (the equivalent of AT LEAST one roll of film, old style). So do not be disappointed or discouraged at "only" getting two decent shots out of three dozen. You'll learn...

Commentary...

[niall_shapero]

I rather like the first of the two shots that you posted. The second, I'd delete, but the first is ... interesting. Take heart; Rome wasn't built in a day. Just keep looking for good photos (more than just at concerts), and it will come to you. It just takes time...

Re: Commentary...

[ebenbrooks]

Thanks, my friend. :)

[fionn320]

National Geographic photographers take hundreds of pictures for every one that makes it into the magazine. Even when you think everything is perfect, once you get into the lab / production, little things you didn't notice before become make-or-break points. Sometimes a tiny detail you didn't see before suddenly becomes the focus of a shot and you get to crop out 90% of what you thought was a good shot to begin with, and sometimes you realize that the one wrong detail in the center means you have to throw out an otherwise perfect shot.

With a digital camera, don't be afraid to take as many shots as your memory card will hold. Even if you only get to use one or two percent, you'll come out ahead in the long run.

[ebenbrooks]

Yeah, do you have a point there. I was hesitant to take more or move around much more because I didn't want to make a nuisance of myself. But perhaps if I invested in a good zoom lens...