Back in May 2009 I put up a post about some band photography tips which listed some general tips about shooting bands for the 1st time. Over the last year I’ve been approached by photographers itching to get into band photography and if I had any tips for them… Heres a few tips that I personally found helpful while shooting.
1. Learn, Learn… Learn.
In my opinion band photography is one of the most challenging forms of photography. No event is ever the same, band members can sporadically change positions, crowds can press to the front and not to mention the lighting can be very random! This means you have to know your camera before you ever step foot into a venue to take professional photos, this means practice and reading up about your camera, the lenses it uses and the best way to get the most out of it.
You will find it a lot easier to start in the smaller venue’s shooting and practicing with bands, not only will you gain experience but you will also start getting contacts from venue organisers and the bands themselves. A lot of bands will be very grateful that you are spending your time to do photos of them and will be happy to let you take some snaps.
2. Positioning
Angles, angles… angles. I tell this to everybody, the view finder is the equivalent to a canvas that an artist uses to paint on. If you take every shot with the singer centred doing the same expression you will find your shots will look very plain. Every successful photographer will have some sort of favourite style or shot so practice yours. Work the floor and work the stage if you have access to it. Your feet/arms/legs should feel like you’ve been at the gym all day… you will find you get better angles and hopefully stronger shots.
3. Equipment
Go prime! If your shooting in small venues you’ll find that the lights can be sometimes dark… using prime lenses like the 1.8F 50mm will help you. It’s cheap and fast. The prime will be a great lens for portrait shots.
Nikon: Amazon Link
Canon: Amazon Link
I always recommend in getting a zoom lens to help get a decent few shots of the drummer. 55-200/300mm should be fine, but be weary that the cheaper zoom lens are not very fast at low light. To capture the stage I recommend a wide angle lens again the decent ones with low F-Stop can be expensive. Save your money for a full frame camera and fast zoom lenses: 24-70mm 2.8, 70-200mm 2.8 for best results.
If your having problems with lots of Red’s and purples making your singer look like an alien then switch it to black and white later, you’ll find they will look a lot more human!
4: Lighting
Learn to shoot without your flash just as well as with it! I see a lot of photographers blasting away in small venues for entire sets with the flash on full pelt. The problem with this is that all your shots will look the same… the light rig set up for the show might not even feature in any of your shots and the picture won’t have as much ‘soul’. Not to mention that it might annoy the band blinding them every 2 minutes!
Remember this… when your at a festival or large even the chances are that not only will you have to do all your shots in 1-3 songs but you won’t be able to use flash.
5. Enjoy yourself!
To be fair when you start off in band photography you have to be in it for the passion, you will be very lucky to make any decent profit from it until your established and even then you have to carry on working very hard nationally and globally! But to me and many other photographers it’s probably one of the best ‘jobs’ in the world… when you can shoot some of your favourite music idols/bands, 4000 screaming fans behind you, massive stage in front the rush you get is amazing and it will feel even more amazing when you capture a great shot.
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